Gianlorenzo Bernini's The Ecstasy Of Saint Teresa

The baroque style was established in the seventeenth century in order for the catholic church to win back the citizens who were being converted to the protestant reformation. Therefore, the church turned their artistic expression into a more extravagant, grandiose style. Viewers were now being emotionally drawn to the sensual attitudes of the churches. The style of this period would then be called Baroque. Which is the term that’s name was taken from the Portuguese barroco, which is a deformed pearl. This disrespectful term was implied to a style too ornate and on the verge of bad taste.
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, is a baroque styled sculpture standing eleven feet tall, created in 1652, by Gianlorenzo Bernini (The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa). The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is a mirror image of St. Theresa of Avila, whom was a Spanish nun during the counter reformation. Bernini had realized St. Teresa’s rapture veiled the topic of sexual orgasms. Also, Bernini saw that the catholic and protestant church had …show more content…
Bernini carved David at the age of 25 between 1623 and 1624 (Bernini's David). Bernini’s David captures the moment the young hero David throws the rock. The way David is twisted shows the dramatic contrasts between light and dark spaces. With the onset of the baroque era, art took on a form which was very intricate, ornate, and detailed, almost to the point of negativity. Some of this can be seen in David, specifically in the detail shown on his pouch and in the ground beneath his feet. As the book mentions, the effect of the incredible amount of detail put into David is that viewers are inclined to stand to the sides of the sculpture rather than face it directly, as it appears so realistic that it could actually inspire some degree of fear or caution in the audience. This portray of David is in line with the concept of the baroque; extremely ornate and yet unsettling in a