Bust of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (first version)

This is the bust that went wrong. In 1632, as Bernini's assistants were polishing it, a fault in the marble opened into a crack running right across the cardinal's forehead. Bernini's answer was to carve the whole portrait again from a fresh block, and that second version stands nearby. His early biographer Filippo Baldinucci tells it as a piece of theatre. The cardinal was shown the damaged bust first and tried to hide his disappointment, then Bernini produced the flawless copy. Bernini's son told a different version, and both bring in Pope Paul V, who had been dead for 11 years, so the details are shaky. The flaw is still there. Look for the fine line crossing the brow, above the eyes. The rest of the bust is as lively as anything Bernini made, the head turned and the lips parted as if Scipione were about to speak. Many scholars, among them Rudolf Wittkower, have preferred this first, damaged version to its replacement.