Bernini: The Shakespeare of Sculpture

Bernini received commissions from an early age, designing architectural features such as the Baldacchino in St Peter’s Basilica, the colonnade of the Piazza, and large fountains across 17th century Rome. It is his figurative sculpture however which ensures his reputation as one of the greatest European sculptors, the equal of Michelangelo, Canova and Rodin.

His works were famous in his lifetime, and are credited with introducing the dynamic form of the Baroque in sculpture.

Bernini’s life and reputation,is described along with several of his key works including Apollo and Daphne, the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, David, and the intriguing character studies of Charles I and of Louis XIV.

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Mr Justin Reay

After officer service in the Royal Navy, Justin entered a long career in business, becoming CEO of a healthcare company, Director of European Cultural and Business Studies for a Japanese executive school at Oxford and Washington DC, and a consultant in management development. Retiring from business in 2001, he lectured and wrote on naval history and, as one of the historians working towards the bicentenary commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, Justin was given unprecedented access to the former Admiralty buildings in London. This encouraged him to study the History of Art and Architecture, for which he was awarded the University of Oxford’s Diploma with Distinction. He later completed a doctoral thesis on medieval naval weapons systems with the University of Exeter.

From 2002 he was senior lecturer in post-graduate marketing at Oxford FE College and is a qualified teacher. For six years from 2004 he also delivered courses in the Oxford / UCal Berkeley accredited residential schools. In 2011 he was appointed as tutor in the History of Art and Classical Civilization at leading tutorial colleges in Oxford, and also privately tutors undergraduate and post-graduate art history students.

Formerly a senior academic manager at the Bodleian Library, Justin is a published historian, and among his impending works are an edition of Samuel Pepys’s naval papers in the Bodleian’s collections, and a study of the Admiralty buildings in London. He is frequently engaged as an enrichment speaker on art history for a European cruise line. Justin is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society, a Governor of the RNLI, a Founder Member of the Grinling Gibbons Society, and a member of The Arts Society Cheltenham.