Ecstasy of St. Teresa

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini was created for the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. Bernini's piece brings together architecture, sculpture, and theatre into one complete work of art. It was finished in 1652, about half a century after the Baroque style gained popularity. This particular style was created and heavily endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, which demanded that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed. The Baroque style employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and dramatic, as opposed to the humanist, classical direction of the Renaissance. In addition, Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, in the sense that they are less ambiguous. Baroque gestures have a point and they are seen very easily.

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa is the central sculptural group in white marble that sits elevated in the Cornaro Chapel. The two central sculptural figures are of St. Teresa and an angel with the spear described in St. Teresa of Avila's description of God. The two figures are illuminated by a hidden window in the Chapel, which when paired with the fact that St. Teresa lies on a cloud, creates an image of divine mystique. On the side wall, the male members of the Cornaro are pictured in high relief sculptures. Bernini created a mixing of the divine and the real by placing the ecstasy of St. Teresa and the angel alongside the commissioners of the work.