Kepler, Galileo, Bernini e Gaspari. Note sulla controversa associazione tra Ellisse e Barocco

It is commonly attributed to Kepler’s discovery of Martian orbit by the early seventeenth century the certification of the universal value of the ellipse that would legitimize a widespread use both in the literature as well as figurative arts and architecture. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, inventor of the Baroque art destined to influence the whole of Europe together with Borromini and Berrettini, would have been the most enthusiastic user of the new mathematical model. Yet the analysis of the geometrical layouts and perceptive evaluation of the spatial results seem to indicate a different attitude, which suggests more elements of continuity rather than discontinuity with the previous experiments of Peruzzi and Vignola.