"I have been wounded like this since about half past eight this morning and I will tell you how it happened"
About this Quote
Francesco Borromini, one of the most influential architects of the Italian Baroque, was known not only for his visionary designs but also for his turbulent personality and emotional sensitivity. The sentence “I have been wounded like this since about half past eight this morning and I will tell you how it happened” offers a gaze into his psychological state toward the end of his life. The words indicate that Borromini is recounting a recent and specific personal injury, possibly physical or, metaphorically, a psychological or emotional wound, precisely timestamped, making the experience immediate and visceral.
The explicit reference to the hour suggests deep self-awareness and acute memory, highlighting a moment that left an indelible mark upon him. Such precise detail reflects the intensity of his suffering and the weight he assigns to the event. Borromini’s willingness to narrate how he was wounded shows his desire for understanding or perhaps exoneration, as if by verbalizing the injury, he seeks empathy or justification from his interlocutor, or even from himself.
During Borromini’s lifetime, he was embroiled in fierce rivalries and often felt misunderstood and undervalued compared to contemporaries such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini. His work was frequently criticized, and late in his life, he became consumed by melancholy and paranoia. This sense of being “wounded” can allegorically point to the accumulation of professional slights, disappointments, and inner turmoil. The passive construction “wounded like this” avoids naming the perpetrator directly, suggesting a more generalized sense of being wronged by fate, fortune, or societal forces beyond his control.
Ultimately, the phrase encapsulates not merely a single moment of pain, but an ongoing struggle with adversity, framing Borromini as a sensitive soul battered by the circumstances of his existence. His willingness to narrate his wound may be read as a plea for recognition, an artist’s poignant cry for acknowledgment and understanding in the face of suffering.
