How does Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Altieri Chapel differ from the Cornaro Chapel?

Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s approach to the Altieri Chapel (c. 1674) differs significantly from his earlier work on the Cornaro Chapel (1645–52).

In the Cornaro Chapel, Bernini achieved a pinnacle of Baroque art by merging architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single, unified theatrical experience. This "three-dimensional picture" includes the viewer in a religious drama, featuring the Cornaro family in side boxes and a central niche that functions like a proscenium arch to frame The Ecstasy of St. Teresa.123

In contrast, the Altieri Chapel represents a more traditional approach where Bernini consciously separated these artistic disciplines, assigning them distinct roles. Rather than the immersive, integrated environment of the Cornaro Chapel, the Altieri Chapel places the statue of the dying Ludovica Albertoni at the bottom of a large, deep space. While both works utilize light to heighten emotional impact, the Altieri Chapel marks a shift toward a more restrained, late-style variation on his earlier church interiors.24