The Genius in the Design

The Genius in the Design is the true story of the great rivalry between two extraordinary men, the seventeenth-century architects Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, and how their antagonism changed the city of Rome and created the Baroque. Talented, driven, and ambitious, each man spent his career trying to outdo the other to become the greatest architect of his time. Each, in his turn, succeeded, only to be brought down by the machinations of the other. In the end, one became the most lionized artist of his time and died a rich, happy family man. The other, consumed by internal demons, committed suicide. This book is the story of their hostility. Part history, part biography, part adventure story, The Genius in the Design is narrative non-fiction that reads like a novel and brings to vivid life the struggle between two giants of architecture, so different in outlook, so similar in purpose.