Slashed with a knife: the tender sculpture that hides a shocking but common crime against women

Costanza Piccolomini was physically disfigured by her lover, the Baroque sculptor Bernini: 400 years later her story can finally be told

Around 1637, the Baroque “superstar” artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini ­created his first, and only, non-commissioned sculpture: an intimate portrait of his lover, Costanza Piccolomini. Captured for eternity, the smooth contours of her face are chiselled with a tender sensitivity, there is a softness to Costanza’s flesh, a sensuality to her slightly parted lips, and her chemise falls invitingly undone. Yet, there appears to be a defiance too, as if Costanza is about to deliver a witty riposte or give Bernini a piece of her mind.

Hers is also a sculpture which changed the course of art history. Marble busts of living women were relatively rare in the early 17th century, and usually of noblewomen, following strict rules of modesty and decorum. By contrast, Costanza was relatively poor, the wife of one of Bernini’s assistants. Her portrait introduces an unprecedented level of raw expression, capturing Costanza’s vitality, and Bernini’s naked desire. As the historian Simon Schama once said, it is “the sexiest invitation in the history of European sculpture”.