Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini is famous as the greatest sculptor of the Baroque, but he also painted. He is thought to have made around 150 paintings, of which only a few dozen survive with secure attribution. They are mostly small portraits and self-portraits, with quick, loose brushwork and a lively, informal feel.

Born in Naples, he worked in Rome for popes and cardinals for most of his long life, and his sculptures, fountains and buildings still shape the city. His painted self-portraits date mainly from the 1620s and early 1630s, and one is in the Uffizi. His Saints Andrew and Thomas, painted around 1625, is in the National Gallery in London.

Look at the quick, painterly brushwork, which has the same energy as his sculpture.