Beata Ludovica Albertoni

Sculpture


title = Beata Ludovica Albertoni
artist = Gian Lorenzo Bernini
year = 1671-1674
type = Marble
city = Rome
height =
museum = San Francesco a Ripa

The monument to the Beata (or Blessed) Ludovica Albertoni (1674) is a sculpture group by the baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was commissioned from Bernini by Cardinal Paluzzi degli Albertoni, who had taken the name Altieri after the elevation of a kinsman of his family by marriage, Pope Clement X (1670-76). It is not clear how much Bernini was paid; he was 71 years old when he began the work, and it was one of the last sculptures executed by Bernini. The work depicts Ludovica Albertoni on her deathbed, experiencing both mortal suffering and religious ecstasy, surrounded by putti, and awaiting to rise to the Holy Spirit. Ludovica (who died a nun in 1533) was also a distant relative of the Cardinal, and had been found blessed by 1671. The monument is in its specially designed chapel in San Francesco a Ripa.

The altarpiece behind the sculpture is by Baciccio.

Ercole Ferrata's dying Saint Anastasia statue in the basilica of Santa Anastasia seems almost like a copy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni.

*Howard Hibbard, Bernini, Pelican 2971.