Bernini and the Statues of Christian Feeling

HISTORY OF ART

FOLLOWING THE COUNCIL OF TRENT (1543 - 63), THE COUNTER REFORMATION CHURCH REQUIRED THAT ART SHOULD PROVIDE AN EMOTIONAL STIMULUS TO PIETY AND INVOLVE THE SPECTATOR. WITH THIS IN MIND, HOW DID GIANLORENZO BERNINI (1598-1680) FIND NEW WAYS OF REINVENTING STATUES OF CHRISTIAN FEELING?

Quod non fecerunt barbari
Fecerunt Barberini
Anonimous[1]

Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) is considered to be “the artist who most profoundly shaped the public appearance of the Roman Papacy.”[2] He was an artist in every sense: painter, architect, actor and theatre director, but above all, a sculptor: the sculptor that reinvented Rome as we know it today. To fully understand Bernini’s work, it is crucial to view it in the context of the religious revolution that took place in the seventeenth century, that is the Counter Reformation. In Hibbard’s words: “Bernini was the great exponent of triumphant Catholicism in the period following the Catholic Counter reformation.”[3] In contrast with the previous Renaissance ideas, the Counter Reformation was led by the Catholic church to restore its own image.[4] By using propaganda, it demanded that art should be easily read by all, stimulate piety and to involve the spectator. Bernini achieved spectator involvement through the use and development of un bel composto, in particular two elements: architecture and sculpture; and his innovative concetto. To understand these two ideas, their definitions must be clarified: Un bel composto is seen as the unification of visual arts or “the challenge to create integrated environments” in order “to heighten religious experience”[5]; while Concetto refers to an artistic concept or “the poetic invention”[6] of the

artist. In this way, Concetto is more than an original idea or thought. In describing Michelangelo’s poetry, Alma Alitzer describes it as a term that brings together “imagination and reality, subject and object.”[7] To illustrate how

Bibliography: Altizer, A.B., Self and symbolism in the poetry of Michelangelo, John Donne, and Agrippa d’Aubigné, Springer, 1973 Avery, C., Bernini: Genius of the Baroque, London, 2006 Baldinucci, F., The Life of Bernini (Translated by Catherine Enggass), US, 2006 Bell, J., A New History of Art, London, 2007 Briggs, M.S., The Genius of Bernini. The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 26, 143 (1915), pp. 197-198 & 200-202 (Consulted 31-01-2012) Call, M.J., Boxing Teresa: The Counter-Reformation and Bernini 's Cornaro Chapel Careri, G., Bernini: Flights of Love, The Art of Devotion, Chicago, 1995 Hibbard, H., Bernini, China, 1990 Lavin, I., The Sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini by Rudolf Wittkower. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 38, 4 (1956), pp. 255-260 (Consulted 31-01-2012) Montagu, J., Roman Baroque Sculpture: The Industry of Art, London, 1992 Perlove, S. K., Bernini and The Idealization of Death: The Blessed Ludovica Albertoni and the Altieri Chapel, US, 1990 Peterson, R Scribner, C., Transfigurations: Bernini 's Last Works. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 135, 4 (1991), pp. 490-509 (Consulted 31-01-2012) Toman, R., Baroque, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Cologne, 1998 http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1670/ludovica.html (Consulted 25-2-2012) http://ortodoxiacatolica.org.mx/2009/12/02/iglesia-santa-bibiana-en-roma/ (Consulted 26-2-2012) http://www.mindeguia.com/articulos/EGA_8_SBibiana.pdf (Consulted 1-3-2012) http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/baro/hd_baro.htm (Consulted 1-3-2012) http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1986/issue10/1029.html (Consulted 2-3-2012) ----------------------- [1] “What wasn’t done by the barbarians, was done by the Barberini” Hibbard, H., Bernini, China, 1990. 78 [2] Baldinucci, F., The Life of Bernini (Translated by Catherine Enggass), US, 2006 [3] Hibbard, H., Bernini. 68 [4] Peterson, R.T., Bernini and the excesses of art, Italy, 2002 [7] Altizer, A.B., Self and symbolism in the poetry of Michelangelo, John Donne, and Agrippa d’Aubigné, Springer, 1973. 21 [8] Toman, R., Baroque, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Cologne, 1998 [15] Careri, G., Bernini: Flights of Love, The Art of Devotion, Chicago, 1995. 225 [16] Perlove, S [27] Peterson, R. T., Bernini and the Excesses of Art. 39 [28] Bell, J., A New History of Art, London, 2007