Plague and hell fire: the V&A's window on to a dark, disturbing world

In the museum’s new permanent display of art from 1600 to 1815, a breathtaking Bernini sets us off on a journey from plague-ridden Baroque darkness to Enlightenment exuberance

Ludovica Albertoni was a 16th-century noblewoman who gave her wealth and ultimately her life to help the poor and the sick of Rome. After she was beatified by the pope in 1671, Gian Lorenzo Bernini created a stupefying sculpture for her tomb statue. With her head thrown back and one hand caressing her right breast, she seems to writhe in ecstasy.

It’s a staggering way to start the V&A’s new permanent display of European arts and crafts from the age of Caravaggio to the defeat of Napoleon. This museum has so many great works that it is always unveiling new wonders. For the spectacular first room of these galleries, it has reunited the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni with other terracotta models by Bernini. Also present is his sublime full-size marble statue of Neptune, taken from a Roman fountain and brought to Britain in the 18th century. This is now the best display of the great Baroque artist that you can see outside Rome – and it doesn’t even include every Bernini in the V&A collection.

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