A marble bust of his lover which
Baroque genius Gian Lorenzo Bernini defaced after discovering
she had betrayed him with her brother has gone on show in
Florence's iconic Uffizi Gallery amid contemporary works on
acid-attack victims.
The bust of Roman noblewoman Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli,
disfigured in a fit of jealousy by the great 17th century
sculptor after he discovered her relationship with her brother
Luigi, is on loan from another Florentine gallery, the Bargello,
after being restored by the Uffizi.
It is being shown along with photos of women who were disfigured
with acid by their exes, taken by Italian photographer Ilaria
Sagaria.
The show, titled "Pain Is Not A Privilege', runs till December
19.
Bernini paid no penalty for defacing his work while Costanza
was punished with a four-month stay in a convent.
Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt said "we view the work not only as
a masterpiece by one of the greatest Baroque sculptors, but also
as a reflection of the heinous violence of the strong against
the weak".
Sagaria said "through these women's testimony I reconstructed a
tale that managed to bring back these moments of pain without
making a spectacle of them".
She said her photographs "focused on the psychological aspects
and the concept of identity".
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