Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The man who gave Baroque Rome its shape: the colonnade embracing St Peter's Square, the baldachin beneath the dome, and sculpture that catches figures mid-movement rather than at rest. He worked for eight popes and understood commissions as instruments of persuasion, which is what the Counter-Reformation wanted from art.

• Lived: 1598 CE – 1680 CE
• Nationality: italian
• Roles: architect, sculptor