Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/38642
Title: Bernini breaking barriers – sensuality sculpted in stone
Authors: Mifsud Bonnici, Sandra
Keywords: Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 1598-1680 -- Criticism and interpretation
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 1598-1680. Costanza Buonarelli -- Criticism and interpretation
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 1598-1680. Blessed Ludovica Albertoni -- Criticism and interpretation
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 1598-1680. Ecstasy of Saint Teresa -- Criticism and interpretation
Teresa, of Avila, Saint, 1515-1582 -- Art
Sculpture, Baroque -- Italy
Sensuality in art
Issue Date: 2018
Publisher: University of Malta. Junior College
Citation: Mifsud Bonnici, S. (2018). Bernini breaking barriers – sensuality sculpted in stone. Junior College multi-disciplinary conference : research, practice and collaboration : Breaking Barriers : annual conference 2018, Malta. 393-404
Abstract: This paper will attempt to demonstrate that with his virtuosity, the Baroque sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini managed to challenge the barriers which the medium he worked with, namely stone (marble) offered, to produce dynamic, lifelike and realistic works that also managed to express a previously unknown element in sculpture, that of sensuality. It will try to highlight how the spiritual and physical could come together in his works. The first masterpiece that will be focused upon will be the portrait bust of Bernini’s lover Costanza Piccolomini, a private work Bernini sculpted when he was thirty-nine years of age, chosen to represent the passion and worldly love that he felt for this woman. By way of contrast, the second masterpiece studied in this paper is the figure of the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, one of his last works, chosen to represent Bernini’s concept of the culmination of spiritual love that also incorporated a sensual element. The third and final masterpiece is the ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila found in the Cornaro Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, considered by many as his greatest work, as an example of how mysticism also has a sensual element to it.
Description: Also published in Symposium Melitensia Vol. 15 (2019) p. 101-114
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/38642
Appears in Collections:Breaking Barriers : Proceedings
Scholarly Works - JCSOK
SymMel, 2019, Volume 15
SymMel, 2019, Volume 15

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