Analysis Of The Ecstascy Of St. Theresa

1099 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

Some art historians argue that Bernini could not have possibly intended to saturate The Ecstasy of St. Theresa with such an erotic energy, as that would have been unbelievably unorthodox for seventeenth-century Italy, but the sensual implications of this sculptural work are clearly apparent. Bernini purposefully incorporated Cupid, the God of desire, erotic love, attention and affection, into his sculptural piece. The beautiful, bare-chested Cupid gently raises Theresa’s robes, preparing to penetrate her with his arrow. The positioning of his arrow is no coincidence either. Aiming it directly at her genitalia, “Cupids arrow is no longer meant to be perceived as an arrow, but has transformed metaphorically into a penis” (Gian Lorenzo Bernini). The sensation of this has caused the saint to throw back her head with an intense expression of ecstasy.
The ecstasy of St. Theresa is a complete mockery of the Spanish nun. The sensuality of the piece is noted as being directly inspired by St. Theresa's own writings. Bernini chose to depict the saint in such an erotic state because he did not believe that she was experiencing the love of God or the presence of an angel. He believed that she was simply in a state of orgasm.
Annibale Carracci was a quiet, introverted man, unlike Caravaggio and Bernini. His lack of sensuous love affairs, erotic scandals, and violent behaviors has led to the gradual decline in the acknowledgement of his title as an artistic master, yet, his art was influential and key to the course of the Baroque art movement. His style was revolutionary for its unprecedented naturalism and careful, objective study of real life.
Annibale Carracci's The Butcher's Shop is a genre scene. The painting does not represent a specif...

... middle of paper ...

...ate Art Lovers. Web. 26 June 2014.
"Édouard Manet." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. Web. 26 June 2014.
Faerna, Jose Maria, ed. Great Modern Masters: Duchamp. Trans. Alberto Curotto. New York: Time Mirror, 1996. Print.
"Fig Sign." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 May 2014. Web. 26 June 2014.
"Gian Lorenzo Bernini." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. Web. 26 June 2014.
Janson, H. W., and Jenö Lányi. The Sculpture of Donatello. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1963. Print.
Moore, Malcolm. "Michelangelo 'hid Secret Code in Sistine Chapel'" The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 20 June 2008. Web. 26 June 2014.
Schama, Simon. The Power of Art. Ed. Esther Jagger. 1st ed. Great Britain: BBC, 2006. Print.
"The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. Web. 26 June 2014.
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance. PBS, 2012. Web.

Show More
Related

  • The Sistine Madonna in the Royal Gallery at Dresden, Saxony

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    When that room is entered all voices are hushed, and all merriment silenced. The place is as holy as a church. In the centre of the canvas is the Virgin Mother with a young, almost girlish face or surpassing loveliness. In her eyes affection and wonder are blended, and the features and the figure are the most spiritual and beautiful in the world's art.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Struggle in Dante’s Inferno and Book VI of The Aeneid

    4306 Words  | 9 Pages

    Eco, Umberto. Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages. Trans. Hugh Bradin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1986.

    Read More

  • Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes: An Example of the Baroque Era and Its Art

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes epitomizes the style of artwork during the Italian Baroque era. By using a Catholic subject and key elements and techniques essential to baroque art such as chiaroscuro and foreshortening, she was able to create a piece that gushes drama and realism. Without the use of all of these elements the effect would be lost, but instead the piece is one that moves the viewer with its direct and gritty realism of the religious subject, evoking emotion in a way that leaves the viewer in awe.

    Read More

  • Jean Hey’s Annunciation

    2188 Words  | 5 Pages

    By most accounts, the year 1500 was in the midst of the height of the Italian Renaissance. In that year, Flemmish artist Jean Hey, known as the “Master of Moulins,” painted “The Annunciation” to adorn a section of an alter piece for his royal French patrons. The painting tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary to deliver the news that she will give birth to the son of God. As the story goes, Mary, an unwed woman, was initially terrified about the prospects of pregnancy, but eventually accepts her fate as God’s servant. “The Annunciation” is an oil painting on a modest canvas, three feet tall and half as wide. The setting of the painting is a study, Mary sitting at a desk in the bottom right hand corner reading, and the angel Gabriel behind her holding a golden scepter, perhaps floating and slightly off the canvas’s center to the left. Both figures are making distinct hand gestures, and a single white dove, in a glowing sphere of gold, floats directly above Mary’s head. The rest of the study is artistic but uncluttered: a tiled floor, a bed with red sheets, and Italian-style architecture. “The Annunciation” was painted at a momentous time, at what is now considered the end of the Early Renaissance (the majority of the 15th Century) and the beginning of the High Renaissance (roughly, 1495 – 1520). Because of its appropriate placement in the Renaissance’s timeline and its distinctly High Renaissance characteristics, Jean Hey’s “Annunciation” represents the culmination of the transition from the trial-and-error process of the Early Renaissance, to the technical perfection that embodied the High Renaissance. Specifically, “Annunciation” demonstrates technical advancements in the portrayal of the huma...

    Read More

  • A Sculpture of Adam by Tullio Lombardo

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    This sculpture of Adam by Lombardo shows the true craftsmanship and skill of sculptors in the 15th century. It stimulated my curiosity because of its realism and the important religious story that it depicted. After examining this sculpture I was encouraged to explore similar works throughout the museum. I also enjoy the variety of art found at the Metropolitan and plan to you to visit again to wander through the galleries that I may have just passed by.

    Read More

  • Madonna And Child Giotto Comparison

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    The depiction of Madonna and Christ is among the most ancient and common in Christian iconography and has an extensive number of variations because apart from its symbolic religious functions, it allows one to interpret the link between mother and child in many aspects. (8)

    Read More

  • The Torment of Saint Anthony

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was purchased by an American art dealer at a Sotheby’s auction in July 2008 for $2MM. It was brought to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it was cleaned of grime, overpainting and discoloration. It was examined by infrared reflectogram and x-rayed for the first time and, on the basis of stylistic hallmarks such as “emphatic cross-hatching,” such as on the face of the saint, it was confirmed to be a Michelangelo (Michelangelo, n.d.).

    Read More

  • The Arnolfini Double Portrait

    2458 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nash, Susan. Oxford History of Art: Norther Renaissance Art. 2nd. New York: Oxford ​University Press, 2009. 30-65. eBook.

    Read More

  • Isabella d' Este: Great Woman of the Renaissance

    2573 Words  | 6 Pages

    Isabella d’Este left behind not only the great works of art that she collected and commissioned during her lifetime but a treasure trove “amounting to upwards of two thousand letters, which have fortunately been preserved.” Through these letters, scholars learn what kind of woman Isabella was, and what she expected from her patronage. One such example of Isabella’s correspondence is the “chronicles of [her] efforts between 1496 and 1505 to obtain the Battle Between Virtue and Vice from Pietro Perugino.” The Marchesa undoubtly, one of the great art patrons of her time, she lived among the masters of Renaissance art.

    Read More

  • Michelangelo's Motivation

    1901 Words  | 4 Pages

    Much of the art created during the Renaissance was geared toward religion, and with Michelangelo this was no exception. By th...

    Read More

  • Early Italian Renaissance Art

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brenner, Carla, Robyn Asleson, and Debra Pincus. "Virgin and Child." Italian Renaissance Learning Resources. Grove Art Online, 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. .

    Read More

  • The Annunciation: A Painting by Francisco de Zurbaran

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ability to create a picture of The Annunciation in one’s mind is a key factor in understanding the analysis of the work. Francisco de Zurbaran approaches the painting with a naturalistic style. The painting features a room in which a woman – like angel is seen at the left kneeling on the ground before the Virgin Mary. The figure of Mary is placed between a chair and a small wooden table draped with a green cloth. Mary disregards an open Bible on the table, as she appears solemn while staring at the floor. Floating above the two main figures in the upper left side of the painting are cherubs resting on a bed of clouds. They happily gaze down at Mary with eyes from Heaven.

    Read More

  • The French Revolution & Art

    2050 Words  | 5 Pages

    Barnett, Peter. “The French Revolution in Art”. ArtId, January 7th 2009. Web. 5th May 2013.

    Read More

  • Baroque Art

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    For instance, the great success that Bernini achieved was vividly making Saint Teresa vividly in the throes of Ecstasy. Bernini did this by translating Saint Teresa’s spiritual experience into a physical one that its worshippers could observe. According to Hunt, the Ecstasy has a passionate drama that evokes an emotional response from the observer (87). Also, it was believed that Counter Reformation theatricality and sensory experiences could increase the devotion and holiness of worshippers.

    Read More

  • Mona Lisa Essay

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mysterious smile of the painting Mona Lisa and her tenderness directly carry my imagination to the Renaissance era. Before the Renaissance liberated the thought of the public, most artworks focused to eulogize the holiness of God. The Renaissance successfully freed people from the shackles of theology and affirmed the value of human beings. Mona Lisa represented the highest art level of the Renaissance and became an important legacy for later generations to feel the spirit of the Renaissance. In this paper, I argue that Mona Lisa was a representative artwork of the humanism spirit of the Renaissance. The artist Da Vinci who created Mona Lisa managed to express the charm of human beings with delicate brushwork, exquisite expressions and

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Ecstascy Of St. Theresa

Open Document