The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
Gian Lorenzo Bernini's The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, completed in 1652, is one of the most celebrated Baroque sculptural ensembles ever created, depicting the Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun Saint Teresa of Ávila at the transcendent moment of divine union described in her autobiography. Carved from luminous white marble and set within an elaborate architectural frame of colored marbles and gilt bronze rays, the work transforms the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome into a total theatrical experience that collectors and scholars regard as the supreme expression of Baroque illusionism. The dynamic composition, with its breathtaking rendering of billowing drapery and the angel poised to pierce Teresa with a golden arrow, showcases Bernini's unrivaled ability to convey spiritual ecstasy and psychological intensity in stone.
- Medium
- Marble, stucco, and gilt bronze
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Spotted works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
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Alessandro Algardi
Italian · b. 1598
Algardi was Bernini's primary rival in 17th century Roman Baroque sculpture, creating similarly expressive marble figurative works with dramatic drapery and religious intensity, including large scale relief sculptures depicting sacred narratives with comparable emotional and spiritual fervor.
Francesco Duquesnoy
Flemish · b. 1597
Duquesnoy worked in Rome during the same period as Bernini, producing highly refined marble figurative sculptures of saints and religious subjects with luminous surface treatment and expressive spiritual characterization closely related to the idiom of the Saint Teresa ensemble.
Pierre Puget
French · b. 1620
Puget created intensely emotive Baroque marble sculptures depicting religious and mythological figures with dramatically swirling drapery, contorted poses, and psychological depth that parallel Bernini's treatment of ecstatic spiritual experience in white marble.
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