Focus on this artwork and explain the Commissioning.
Bernini had been invited to Paris as part of a larger diplomatic exchange between the Papacy and France. The ostensible reason for the visit was to create new designs for the Louvre Palace, but the young king Louis XIV had declared he also desired a portrait bust. Bernini’s designs for the Louvre did not go down well and were not acted upon; indeed their failure to be accepted was a reflection of the general antagonism between the Italian Bernini and certain members within the French court. However, the portrait bust, which depended upon a more personal relationship between the king and the artist, was completed and largely considered a great success.
Louvre Palace Louis XIV Papacy Paris