Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

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Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

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Artist

Year

1647

–1652

Catalogue

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

Life-size

Location

Preceded by

Followed by

The

Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

(also known as

Saint Teresa in Ecstasy

;

L'Estasi di Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa in estasi

) is a sculptural

group in white marble set in an elevated

in the Cornaro

Chapel of the church of

It was designed

and carved by

, the leading sculptor of his day, who also

designed the setting of the chapel in marble, stucco and paint. The

commission was completed in 1652.

The ensemble includes at the sides two sets of

of members of

the

, who watch the main central group as though in boxes in a

theatre. The group is generally considered to be one of the sculptural

masterpieces of the High Roman

. The sculpture over the altar shows

Saint

, a Spanish

nun (1515–1582), swooning in a

state of

, while an angel holding a spear stands over her,

following her own account of a vision she had.

Commission

[

]

The entire ensemble was overseen and completed by a mature Bernini during the

papacy of

. When Innocent acceded to the papal throne, he

shunned Bernini's artistic services; the sculptor had been the favourite

artist of the previous and profligate

pope,

. Without papal

patronage, the services of Bernini's studio were therefore available to a

patron such as the Venetian

(1579–1653).

Cornaro had chosen the hitherto unremarkable church of the

for his burial chapel.

The selected site for the chapel was the

left transept that had previously held an image of 'St. Paul in Ecstasy',

which was replaced by Bernini's dramatization of a religious experience

undergone and related by the first Discalced

saint, who had been

canonised not long before, in 1622.

It was completed in 1652 for the then

princely sum of 12,000

A small format terracotta model of about 47 cm (19 in) was created between

1644 and 1647. The sculpture represents the first embodiment of the project,

with traces of Bernini's fingerprints still visible. The model belongs to the

collection.

Sculptural group and its setting

[

]

Wider view, including the

Cornaro portraits, but omitting

the lower parts of the chapel.

The two central sculptural figures of the swooning nun and the angel with the

spear derive from an episode described by

, a mystical

cloistered Discalced Carmelite reformer and nun, in her autobiography,

The

Life of Teresa of Jesus

. Her experience of religious ecstasy in her encounter with

the angel is described as follows:

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.

The group is illuminated by natural light which filters through a hidden window in the dome of the surrounding

aedicule, and underscored by gilded stucco rays. Teresa is shown lying on a cloud indicating that this is intended to

be a divine apparition we are witnessing. Other witnesses appear on the side walls; life-size

of male members of the Cornaro family, e.g. Cardinal Federico Cornaro and Doge

, are

present and shown discussing the event in boxes as if at the theatre. Although the figures are executed in white

marble, the aedicule, wall panels and theatre boxes are made from coloured marbles. Above, the vault of the chapel is

frescoed with an illusionistic cherub-filled sky with the descending light of the

allegorized as a dove.

The art historian

wrote:

In spite of the pictorial character of the design as a whole, Bernini differentiated between various degrees

of reality, the members of the Cornaro Chapel seem to be alive like ourselves. They belong to our space and

our world. The supernatural event of Teresa's vision is raised to a sphere of its own, removed from that of the

beholder mainly by virtue of the isolating canopy and the heavenly light.

Gallery

Interpretations

[

]

The effects are theatrical,

the Cornaro family seeming to observe the scene from their boxes,

and the chapel

illustrates a moment where divinity intrudes on an earthly body. Caroline Babcock speaks of Bernini's melding of

sensual and spiritual pleasure as both intentional and influential on artists and writers of the day.

Irving Lavin

said "the

becomes a point of contact between earth and heaven, between matter and spirit".

Bernini biographer

points out, although Bernini's point of departure for his depiction of Teresa's

mystical experience was her own description, there were many details about the experience that she never specifies

(

e.g.

, the position of her body) and that Bernini simply supplied from his own artistic imagination, all with an aim

of increasing the nearly transgressively sensual charge of the episode: "Certainly no other artist, in rendering the

scene, before or after Bernini, dared as much in transforming the saint's appearance."

Criticism

[

]

Some scholars argue that there are sexual implications of the work. It has been called "decidely (

) risqué";

"the most astounding peep show in art";

and "the grossest and most offensive example of Baroque art."

Some

authors have argued that its popularity "has a lot to do with sex."

And by placing the sculpture in a theatrical

setting, Bernini is accused of turning "a private moment into a very public spectacle."

Victorian art critic

wanted it destroyed: "even those least prudish in matters of art, would here willingly throw the first

stone."

Regarding arguments against sexual implications,

has said "none of these defenses are

completely accurate."

and

, has argued: "Critics and scholars tie themselves in knots, trying to avoid

stating the obvious."

Other scholars argue that there is no sexual content in the statue, saying:

Bernini faithfully followed Teresa's description of the experience.

The Church accepted that mystical union often involved

elements.

There is no nudity in the statue.

Similar works by Bernini

[

]

See also

[

]

References

[

]

Notes

Cornaro had reason to avoid burial in Venice, since his appointment as a cardinal by

while his father

was

Doge had created a furor in his home-city, which banned families from holding such powerful positions simultaneously.

Corresponding to c. $120,000

Citations

An alternative title as the

Transverberation of Saint Teresa

is sometimes seen on religious sites on the internet. The

describes "transverberation" as obsolete in English, with only one usage, in the 1880s. It means piercing through the breast, as

Teresa describes in her vision.

, p. 135

. Archived from

on 28 December 2005

. Retrieved

23 October

2005

Hermitage Museum, The State.

Hermitage Museum

from the original on 20 May 2021

Retrieved

24 March

2021

(1515–1582).

The Life of Teresa of Jesus

. Chapter XXIX; Part 17.

Wittkower, Rudolf (1980).

Art and Architecture in Italy 1600–1750, Pelican History of Art

. p. 160.

Greer, Thomas H.; Lewis, Gavin (2005).

A Brief History of the Western World: To 1715

. Wadsworth Thomson. p. 392.

Khan Academy

. Archived from

on 15 June 2010

. Retrieved

12 February

2010

academia.edu

. Archived from

on 19 July 2011.

, p. 138

Mormando, Franco (2 October 2023). "Did Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa cross a seventeenth-century line of decorum?".

Word

& Image

(4):

351–

383.

Marshall, Lee (17 September 2020).

The Telegraph

. Retrieved

13 June

2024

Bowden, Alana Louise (2001).

Literature & Aesthetics

(1):

132–

147

. Retrieved

22 January

2024

. University of Arizona Press. 20 September 2010.

; A Gift of Angels: The Art of Mission San Xavier del Bac (Southwest Center Series) by Bernard L. Fontana and Edward

McCain | 20 Sept 2010, page 236

Weretka, John (2018).

. In Beaven, Lisa; Ndalianis, Angela (eds.).

Emotion and the Seduction

of the Senses, Baroque to Neo-Baroque

. Medieval Institute Publications. pp.

217–

234.

Church, Chloe (2020).

Annunciating the Word in Image: Visual Exegesis of the Annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:26-38) in Counter-

Reformation Italian Altarpieces

(Thesis). p. 314.

(PDF)

arts.unl.edu

{{

}}

Cite uses generic title (

)

robertspublications

. Retrieved

13 June

2024

Schama, Simon (2006).

. London: BBC Books. p. 125.

Mormando, Franco (2 October 2023).

Word

& Image

(4):

351–

383.

wga.hu

Official Site Borghese Gallery Bernini

. Archived from

on 25 October 2005.

Olson, Carl (4 January 2009).

Catholic Answers

. Retrieved

13 January

2024

. Archived from

on 25 April 2012

. Retrieved

20 October

2011

Infinite Detox

. 20

August 2009.

banksy.co.uk

. Archived from

on 21 October 2007.

Sources

Hibbard, Howard (22 January 1971).

. [Baltimore] Penguin Books.

Robert Harbison (2000). "The Case for Disruption".

Reflections on Baroque

. The University of Chicago Press.

pp.

1–

32.

Boucher, Bruce (1998). Thames & Hudson, World of Art (ed.).

. pp.

134–

143. Archived from

on 28 December 2005.

(click on

Ecstasy of St Teresa

)

Cocke, Richard (August 1972). "A Drawing by Bernini for the Cornaro Chapel, S. Maria della Vittoria".

The

Burlington Magazine

114

(833). The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.:

550–

553.

External links

[

]

External videos

Media related to

at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by

Landmarks of Rome

Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

Succeeded by

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1610s

1620s

(mattress)

1630s

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Enclave

This page was last edited on 11 January 2026, at 16:25

(UTC)

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