Today we started off class by diving into the spectacular works of Gianlorenzo Bernini. He thought of himself as Michelangelo’s successor, but I think it can be a bit hard to compare the two considering how different their works are. Bernini’s works are certainly more theatrical and engaging, while Michelangelo’s work create distance between the viewer and the sculpture by being incredible paradigms of mathematical proportion and heavenly serenity. Given Bernini’s extensive background in set design and the performing arts, it makes sense that his work is a bit more theatrical and certainly emotionally charged. We can literally see the physical effort Bernini’s David is making to hurl the stone, and the design for the Cornaro Chapel with The Ecstasy of St. Teresa resembles the architecture of a theatre. Bernini’s works draw us into moments, and help us visualize biblical scenes so we cultivate our own emotional and spiritual reaction to them.
We talked about a few different pieces of Italian Architecture before moving into a discussion of the Spanish Baroque. I think this period is really interesting because the Spaniards (being so religiously conservative) found very subtle ways to pack Christian imagery in paintings that one might assume are secular. With Ribera’s The Club–Footed Boy, for example, on the surface the painting just seems to be a beggar standing on top of a hill with a bucolic Neapolitan landscape behind him. It was interesting to learn that Ribera dove deeply into Counterreformation literature and motifs (smiling as a means of warding off unholy things, holding cane as a musket shows the boy as a “Soldier of God,” charity as an important alm, etc.) to underscore the holiness of the poor and destitute.