Whether you’re an art lover or you just like to read Dan Brown books, the name Gian Lorenzo Bernini should ring a bell. This prolific Italian artist was born today in 1598. About.com has a great bio:

A classic “Type-A” personality, Bernini lived a long, passionately creative life. He was a child prodigy who attracted Papal patronage before the age of 20. While in Rome, over the course of the next 60 years, he was Architect of St. Peters (it was he who designed those arms around the “Square”) and is the one person responsible for Rome becoming a “City of Fountains”. While best known for his monumental Baroque (verging on Rococo) sculpture, Bernini was also an architect and a gifted painter.