In class we further discussed the Baroque period in Italy and Spain. Most intriguing to me was the sheer increase in dynamism that the period ushered in. Bernini’s David in particular echoed the Renaissance ideal of antiquity, but it was fundamentally more dynamic and involved than sculptures from that period. With the inclusion of the audience in the work’s scope via coextensive space, the viewer is hit with an immediate sense of action.
After the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church engaged in a counter reformation with art as one of their primary weapons. Where Protestantism shuns images, Catholicism doubles down on including the faithful in religious images. The Ecstasy of St. Teresa uses sculptures on the walls, a hidden window, and a sympathetic center to convince a worshiper that they are witnessing a saint have a vision. Bernini was a devotee to Ignatius of Loyola’s ‘Spiritual Exercises,’ wherein people were encouraged to visualize being involved in biblical stories. More than simply being present, these exercises urged the faithful to imagine interacting with figures and events–imaginings which Bernini throughly encouraged with his immersive works. This deliberate inclusion of the audience in the drama and spirituality of art, along with the emphasis on dynamism define the Baroque period.