The two Geniuses of the Baroque in Rome, Bernini and Borromini, were divided by an unfriendly rivalry, which had outbursts which remained famous among Roman people.
The two artist often competed to obtain the assignment of the construction of buildings, fountains and statues, but, more than anything else, they competed to be considered the best artist operating in Rome.
Bernini was considered by far a better artist, given the marvelous artworks he adorned Rome with during all his life, while Borromini prided himself with his superior technical knowledge. being more of an Architect, and less of a Sculptor. This difference became especially evident when Bernini was appointed the construction of the 3 fountains in Piazza Navona, with the one in the middle of the square being the famous "Four Rivers' Fountain" (depicting the Tiber, The Nile, the Hindus and the Rio de la Plata), right in front of the church of S. Agnese in Agone, built by Borromini.
Bernini started his work, but got stuck at a given point, because he did not manage to get water flowing from the fountain, and could not figure out why. His rival Borromini, being a great techinician, knew the solution to the problem, but he declared that he would rather be torture than telling his arch rival how to fix it. Bernini was desperate, but he came up with one of his great ideas: he paid some people to invite him to dinner, and made him drunk. Under the effect of alcohol, the intoxicated artist revealed that the problem was in one of the pipelines bringing water to the fountain. Armed with this insight, Bernini performed the necessary adjustment, and, to his rival's astonishment, made the water spring out of his brand new artwork.
Not satisfied with this victory, Bernini enjoyed also some revenge over his rival: looking at the statue facing Borromini's church's façade, you can notice the man is in an odd position, gesturing as if he is prefenting the church from falling down, or scared by the building's ugliness.
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