Gian Lorenzo Bernini(Naples, 7 December 1598 – Rome, 28 November 1680)

IntroductionGian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian

artist and a prominent architect who worked principally in Rome.

He was the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture. 

In addition, he painted, wrote plays, and designed metalwork and stage sets.

Bernini possessed the ability to depict dramatic narratives with characters showing intense psychological states, but also organize large-scale sculptural works which convey a magnificent grandeur.

Bernini used light as an important metaphorical device in the perception of his religious settings, often using hidden light sources that could intensify the focus of religious worship,or enhance the dramatic moment of a sculptural narrative.

Commissions

Apollo and Daphne

Neptune and Triton

Medusa

Rape of Proserpina

Tomb of Pope Alexander VII

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa The sculpture was commissioned by a Venetian Cardinal.

It completed in 1652.

Region: Europe

Date 1647–52

Period: 1400 CE - 1800 CE

Material Marble, stucco, and gilt bronze

Medium: Sculpture Dimensions H: 11 ft. 6 in. (3.5 m.) Location Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome,

Italy

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa depicts a scene that Teresa wrote about in her own autobiography. In it, she described an angel who pierced her heart multiple times with fire-tipped spear. This act sent her into what she described as a spiritual rapture.

The sculpture shows a lithe, delicate angel who resembles cupid holding an arrow aloft, poised to strike Teresa. With curly hair and dainty features, the angel has a graceful air. Theresa herself seems to have collapsed. Her eyes are closed and her head is thrown back in what seems to be rapture. Bronze rains down behind the sculpture, seeming to illuminate it, and the figures appear to float on a cloud.

Features:The dark columns which make the

sculpture look brighter to the stained glass windows which illuminate and add to the story work together to form one complete artistic whole.

The sharpness of the arrow

The weight of Teresa’s clothing.

InterpretationSensual and Spiritual pleasure,

with some going so far as to state that the sculpture depicts the moment of satisfaction.

However, it is viewed as more likely that Bernini merely intended to depict intense joy.

David 

Commission by: Cardinal Scipione Borghese

Year 1623-1624

Medium Marble Sculpture

Location Galleria Borghese, Rome

Dimensions 67 in 170 cm

Features The face of David shows a crease of his frown, the facial

contortions indicate deep concentration.

David’s armor; cast carelessly aside at his feet creates the feeling of apprehension as the young man bravely faces the giant.

One can almost hear the grunts of his efforts as he slings the stone that brings the giant Goliath down and ends the war between the Philistines and the Israelites.

The marble statue can be viewed from any angle and from all sides, yet no matter the angle viewed the observer can easily envision the battle this young man was about to engage in.

Scala Regia

Background

In the midst of working on the Cathedra, Alexander VII endeavored to create another project that would be of the same caliber, and wished to have Bernini revolutionize and recreate the staircase located at a critical juncture of St. Peter’s Basilica and the pope’s palace. A Scala Regia, or “Royal Staircase”, already existed in this location.  Designed in the fifteenth-century by Donato Bramante, this earlier version was built by Antonio da Sagallo the younger. The pope, usually advanced in age, was carried up and down these unlit stairs fearing for the worst—a tumble that could result in a serious injury, if not death. Alexander VII felt that the appearance of the Scala Regia did not correspond to the splendor of the venues that it served to link.Moreover, ceremonial processions, like those for papal coronations, descended down the Scala Regia on their way into the basilica. Conscious of the ceremonial function of the staircase, Alexander VII desired a passageway that would impress ambassadors and foreign dignitaries. Therefore, Bernini was commissioned to create a nobler passageway that had the regal pomp of those that descended the staircase.

Design and Structural Innovations To exemplify the small space, Bernini used Baroque techniques

and barrel vaulted colonnades to make the space appear larger than it was. 

Where the passage telescoped in, Bernini placed the columns closer to the wall and reduced in height; where it telescoped out, Bernini placed the columns well out from the wall. 

The columns support a barrel vault. As a result, Bernini regularized an irregular space by an optical illusion. 

  To improve the lighting of the stairway, Bernini installed

skylights, and in one to the east of the middle landing set stained glass with the Chigi stars, the heraldic emblems of Alexander VII’s family, against a turquoise background. 

 Bernini originally constructed six skylights, two of which still exist, raising the level of illumination on the last leg of the stairs. Light acted as a metaphorical device by illuminating the route from palace to church. 

Structure of Sacala

Sources:WikipediaArt Through AgesGoogle Images

Submitted by:Marvi Imran Khan AR-030Sarosh Khalid AR-029