Name of Object:

Truth

Also known as:

Truth Unveiled by Time

Location:

Rome, Latium, Italy

Holding Museum:

Borghese Gallery

 About Borghese Gallery, Rome

Original Owner:

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Current Owner:

Italian State

Date of Object:

1647–1652

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598, Naples-1680, Rome)

Museum Inventory Number:

CCLXXVIII

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Carrara Marble

Dimensions:

H: 277 cm; w: 142 cm; d. 114 cm

Provenance:

Heirs of Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Type of object:

Sculpture

Description:

Sitting on rough-surfaced rock the figure of the smiling maiden holds an image of the sun in her right hand. She represents “Truth” according to Cesare Ripa's famous Iconologia, an encyclopaedic repertoire illustrating the personifications of abstract concepts, widely used by artists during the Baroque period to represent allegorical figures. A recent study has also shown that the marble figure of the maiden is a faithful sculptural representation of a painting by Correggio, Allegory of Virtue, which was in Rome at the time, incomplete, as part of the Pamphilj Collection. According to ideas expressed by the artist in his preparatory drawings, the statue was to be part of an imposing group showing a moral theme, Truth Unveiled by Time. It was intended to be overseen by an old man with a scythe, the symbol of Time, intent on lifting the cloth to reveal the radiant beauty of the maiden. The work was conceived during the pontificate of Innocent X Pamphilj (1644–1655). It was a particularly difficult time in the artist's life when he was unjustly accused of causing structural instabilities in Saint Peter's, resulting in the demolition of the bell towers that he had designed. Bernini, who never completed the sculptural group, arranged for the statue to remain at his home as a warning to his descendants. The different ways in which the marble is finished represent an important example of Bernini's extraordinary technical skills. The well researched contrast between the crystalline finish of the figure and the “non finish” of the rocks is also evident in the detail of the foot resting on the globe.
The typically Baroque practice of using a metaphor of the personal to illustrate a universal warning is particularly noteworthy.

Bernini carved the sculpture for himself at a difficult time in his career (during the pontificate of Innocent X Pamphilj, 1644–1655) when he was accused of causing structural problems at St. Peter’s bell tower. The group, which was never finished, was to include the figure of Time. Bernini left the sculpture as an eternal warning to his heirs, with whom it remained until 1924.

How date and origin were established:

The sculpture was kept in Rome at Bernini’s home in Via della Mercede until 1852, before being moved to Palazzo Bernini in Via del Corso. In 1924 the heirs to Bernini’s estate transferred it permanently to the Galleria Borghese.

How Object was obtained:

Acquired by the Italian State in 1957

Selected bibliography:

Winner, M., “Veritas”, in Bernini scultore. La nascita del barocco in Casa Borghese, exhibition catalogue, edited by A. Coliva and S. Schütze, Rome, 1998, pp. 290–309.
Herrmann Fiore, K., “La Verità”, in Gian Lorenzo Bernini regista del Barocco. I restauri, edited by C. Strinati and M. G. Bernardini, Milan, 1999, pp. 27–35.
Minozzi, M., Sorrentino, M. A., Tauschnig, G., Rockwell, P., “La Verità”, in Bernini scultore. La tecnica esecutiva, a cura di Anna Coliva, Rome, 2002, pp. 234–247.
De Marchi, A. G., “La verità sulla 'Verità' di Bernini: interferenze fra quadri e sculture”, in Bollettino d'arte, 6.Ser. 90.2005, 2006, Nos.133/134, pp. 127–132.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.

Citation of this web page:

Sofia Barchiesi, Marina Minozzi "Truth" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;7;en

Prepared by: Sofia BarchiesiSofia Barchiesi

SURNAME: Barchiesi
NAME: Sofia

TITLE: Author and Researcher

CV:
Sofia Barchiesi, a graduate and specialist in Art History and recipient of a scholarship from the School of Mediaeval and Modern Art History at Lumsa University, has been working with the Superintendency for Historical Artistic Heritage and the Museums of Rome since the late 1980s. She was responsible for cataloguing the art of the region and museums of Rome, studying the period of the Counter-Reformation particularly closely. She works with journals and writes essays, alternating her research and teaching work., Marina MinozziMarina Minozzi

SURNAME: Minozzi
NAME: Marina

AFFILIATION: Borghese Gallery, Rome

TITLE: Head Art History Co-ordinator

CV:
Marina Minozzi, a graduate and specialist in Art History, is currently the Head Art History Co-ordinator at the Borghese Gallery, where she curates the collections from the 18th and 19th centuries and heads the museum’s Documentation Centre. She has published a range of papers, including many on art-collecting in Rome and particularly the Borghese collection. She is currently involved with the Ten Great Exhibitions project underway at the Borghese Gallery, and has written essays on the work of Bernini, Raffaello, Canova and Correggio.
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: IT1 10