The Truth unveiled by Time is one of the sculptural wonders by Bernini and it was sculptedt between 1646 and 1652. Located in the corner of the room where stands, in the centre, The escape of Aeneas which was always made by the master of the Baroque, you can find it at the Borghese Gallery of Rome. But now it is time to discover something more about this strange sculpted group, that can be considered like the most intimate and personal masterpiece made by Bernini. And keep in mind that we are talking about the man who, according to the famous Pope Urban VIII (who commissioned several masterpieces to Bernini), should be the Michelangelo of his time.

First of all you note that the Truth unveiled by the Time is incomplete. Not only the marble is not completely lucid and smooth, and even completely well-polished, but on the fingers of the left hand of the female figure are found the so-called "bridges", those small pieces that join the fingers, which were used by the sculptors in order to avoid that these fragile items could fall because of the shock caused by the tools. A clear sign of how the work is unfinished. Another feature that makes unique the sculptural group is the total absence of the customer: currently, in fact, we do not have any document that attests to the person who has commissioned the work. In fact it seems that Bernini had sculpted it for himself, almost to his beloved, letting it at the door of his studio at the time of his death. Why? Sometimes it is possible to know something about a masterpiece reading some literary sources, like the official agreements signed by the sponsor and an artists, contracts which were signed by a notary. Or we could have other sources, like for examples the biographies or the diaries wrote by the relatives or heirs of a master. But sometimes we have not nothing. And now, before understanding the possible reasons for this bizarre choice, let's see what we have in front of us.

This gorgeous girl, in marble, almost three metres high, is the allegory of the Truth: naked, as it must be clear and visible, with a globe under her left foot to symbolize how the Truth must be a universal value. And then the Sun on her right hand, to understand how now the Truth is revealed. But why does in the title appear the Time? Despite not appear any client, we know many of the details of the work itself, as the fact, precisely, that Bernini wanted to create the allegory of Time. Then, however, as we can see, the Baroque master failed to carry out its will. Why?

We do not know but of course when we talk about a mysterious masterpiece the legends are a lot! I think that first of all we need to think about the period in which Bernini did this sculpted group. For example we know that around the mid of the XVII century the master had a tempestuous relationship with Pope Innocent X, a man with a not polite character. Moreover it seems that the pope had never forgiven that Bernini have woven a profitable working relationships with members of the family of Borghese, bitter political enemies of the Pamphilj, the family of pope Innocent X. In addition, the reputation of the master of the Baroque was brought to a standstill because of some issues with projects, also important, which were made before and during his pontificate.

So, perhaps, with this unfinished business, we can imagine our Bernini say:"I will still be penalized from you, beloved Pope, but at the end, with the passage of Time, the Truth will all be revealed: I'm the best!". Other rumors say that with this work Bernini wanted to pay homage to his membership in the group of the Enlightened, a kind of society that is more or less a secret that in the XVII century would have gathered scholars, artists and men of various channeling under an idea and a vision of the world and unique of them, in spite of the Church, would have been in the possession of the real Truth. Then? Who knows, maybe our Bernini had only wanted to engage in a work all its own, attributable only to his imagination and to his will. Perhaps, however, we will never know the real reason. And the Truth will remain forever hidden...