 The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini The Ecstasy of St Theresa (alternatively St Teresa in Ecstasy or Transverberation of St Teresa) is a marble masterpiece sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which is part of his complete architectural design, construction, and decoration the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome completed in 1652 for the then exorbitant sum of 12,000 scudi (~$120,000).[1] The entire ensemble was completed or overseen by a mature Bernini during the Pamphilj papacy of Innocent X, when the sculptor's involvement with the profligate expenses of the prior pope, Urban VIII (Barberini), had caused Bernini to fall out of papal patronage. Cardinal Federico Cornaro, son of a noble Venetian family, had chosen the church of the Discalced Carmelites for a burial chapel. The chapel chosen had previously depicted St. Paul in ecstasy, and the Cardinal replaced it with the ecstatic event undergone by the recently (1622), and first Carmelite saint. Image File history File links PD_BerniniEcstasy. ...
Image File history File links PD_BerniniEcstasy. ...
A sculpture is a three-dimensional, man-made object selected for special recognition as art. ...
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Berninis Ecstasy of St Teresa Santa Maria della Vittoria is a church in Rome. ...
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The chapel is an explosion of colored marble, metal, and detail. Light filters though a window above Theresa, underscored by gilded rays. The dome is frescoed with the illusionistic cherub-filled sky with the descending light of the Holy Ghost allegorized as a pigeon. The two focal sculptural figures derive from an episode described by Teresa of Avila in her autobiography; 'The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus' (1515 - 1582), a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite reformer and nun. The chapter describes divine visions, including one where she saw a young, beautiful, and lambent angel standing aside her body: Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens Saint Teresa of Avila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptised as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Avila (53 miles north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515; died...
I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying. (Chapter XXIX; Part 17 Teresa's[2])
Critical assessment
Some modern critics dismiss the semi-syncopal religious experiences as orgasmic psychologic phenomena rather than spiritual encounters. In particular, the body posture and facial expression of St Teresa have caused some to assign her experience as one of climactic moment.[3]
Titillating as such theory may be, however, most serious scholars of Baroque scholars doubt that Bernini, a follower of the mystical exercises of followers of St. Ignatius of Loyola consciously intended to depict an episode of lust fufilled. Bernini here matures his attempt to express the facial and body expressions of a neurologic state of divine joy, and the results are a transfiguring coma, the so-called Sleep of God, common to the mystics. It would have not been unusual for devout daily church-goers like Bernini to spend hours at prayer each day. Mystics like Theresa would affect days, often unfed, to achieve such visions. The expression here is more like that of the joy of heavenly encounter found in Bernini's Blessed Ludovica Albertoni in her deathbed. Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In the arts, Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the artistic style that dominated it. ...
Ignatius of Loyola Saint Ignatius of Loyola (December 24, 1491? – July 31, 1556), baptized Íñigo López de Loyola, was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order commonly known as the Jesuits that was established to strengthen the Church, initially against Protestantism. ...
This scenographic chapel unites lifelong themes for Bernini. True to Baroque sentiment, it illustrates a moment where divinity intrudes on a earthly body. The unity of architecture, theater, and sculpture is also a baroque feature, with the holy ghost as light bathing or guided by the gilded rays framing the stature from windows atop the chapel, allowing the sky to enter church. It also aims to capture a complex emotion equidistant from desirous fear, divine joy, complete awe, and physical satisfaction. The effects are theatrical, including the discourse the saint renders among the flanking Cornaro pedigree in their oratory boxes,[4]. The cherubic details around Teresa may repel a secular minimalist, yet they add to the notion that we are seeing a moment of time where God has intruded into one woman's soul, if not pierced her literal body.
Finally Bernini, as usual, shows staggering ability to tame stone into ripples of fabric. The virgin marble has lost its immaculate conception. The unpolished cloud looks superfluous, since Theresa's gown appears to suffice to allow her to levitate, if not force her or her observers to swoon. A divine wind ripples the gown of the angel, who bears a tender expression of mischief. If nothing else about this statue moves viewers, at least they should be amazed at how Bernini has crumpled the statue's gown.
- See excellent discussion of this work in a section of the entry for Baroque
Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In the arts, Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the artistic style that dominated it. ...
Similar works by Bernini ...
Works influencing or influenced by this sculpture - Stefano Maderno's sculpture of St Cecilia in her namesake church in Trastavere neighborhood (1600).
- Melchiore Caffa's Ste Rose of Lima (1665) in Lima, Peru
- Melchiore Caffa's Assumption of St Catherine.
- Francisco Aprile and Ercole Ferrata's Sant'Anastasia in her namesake church in Rome in the basin between Palatine and Quirinal quarters [8]
Stefano Maderno (1576-1636) was an Italian sculptor in Rome, brother of Carlo Maderno, the architect. ...
Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia in the Catholic Church the patron saint of music and of the blind. ...
Melchiore Caffa (also known by Cafá or Gafá) (1635-1667) was an sculptor of the Roman late-Baroque school. ...
Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686) was an Italian sculptor of the Roman Baroque school. ...
See also Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In the arts, Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the artistic style that dominated it. ...
While sexuality is not an overt topic in Christian art, it is widely claimed that certain works have certain sexually-suggestive themes, either as the main focus of the art or as a subtle undercurrent. ...
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Bibliography - Howard Hibbard, Bernini
- Bruce Boucher, Italian Baroque Sculpture, Thames and Hudson publishers (Penguin), 1998, [9]
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