The ecstasy of Saint Teresa is one of the greatest sculptures from the era of Baroque art. This piece is located in the Cornaro Chapel of the Santa Maria Della Vittoria and was carved by Bernini between 1598 and 1680. The period of baroque art consisted of art pieces that were elaborate and highly detailed; influenced by the reformation and counterreformation eras influenced by the ideas of the Catholic Church[1]. The popularity of this style was encouraged by the Catholic Church as the church had decided that the arts would have to communicate religious themes and direct emotional involvement in order to respond to the Protestant Reformation. As the baroque art spread throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th
centuries, it manifested itself differently as it adapted to the unique political and cultural climates. The ecstasy of Saint Teresa has the exaggerated motion and clear detail that produces a dramatic, exuberant, and grand effect in the sculpture. The effect of this style is direct, obvious, and dramatic as it was intended to appeal to the senses and emotions of all[2].
The postcolonial view
Emma Barker defines baroque art in terms of the visual arts that came by in relation to commerce colonialism and cross-cultural contact. The baroque art was more relevant to the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies as they were interested in furthering more than trade intentions. This was in contrast to the Protestant powers such as England who were more interested in the trade proceeds that came from the monopolies, taxes, and tariffs[3]. These powers furthered their ambitions by promoting as well as regulating trade through indirect actions such as charters that gave their traders e exclusive rights to trade, wage war or mint coins. On the other hand, the Catholic powers emphasized on the missionary work with the same intensity as trade operations.
The baroque form of art came by as an effort to escape from the demonization the Spanish and Portuguese colonialists received from the Protestants. The Catholic powers were accused of brutally treating their colonial subjects a time that is commonly referred to as the black legend. Thus, the baroque served as a religious propaganda of sorts. Churches were constructed with facades and interiors decorated in a baroque manner[4]. Since the Spanish and Portuguese monarchies were in support of the religious activities of the Catholic Church, they bombarded the indigenous communities with awe-inspiring buildings aimed at communicating the combined power of the church and the state. The baroque arts were confined to the areas under the Roman rule. In order to be more appealing, the baroque arts were infused with the different cultures of the locals whereby the Catholic Church adopted the iconography of the continents in an effort to spread the faith.
Baroque arts such as the ecstasy of Saint Teresa were an expression of international colonial and mercantile power. The baroque art aimed at impressing and astonishing the viewer with the extravagant nature of the art as well as moving the soul as by using pathos and drama in the representation of the faith. As a tool of counter-reformation, the sculpture of the ecstasy of Saint Teresa was produced in a clear intelligible and clear realism with emotional intensity in order to stimulate the emotions of the viewer[5]. The sculpture by Bernini favors a theatrical drama with a movement that aimed at depicting the spiritual human experience through mystical passions and religious ecstasies. These were meant to inspire devotion as well as set an example for the Christian.
The ecstasy of Saint Teresa enabled the church to display its power through the extravagant decoration and deeply moving images that contributed to the righteousness in politics and religion. The sculpture aims to express the spiritual pleasure that Saint Teresa feels when serving Christ. Bernini uses an imagery that conveys sensual pleasure, which perhaps is the only way the joy of serving Christ could be expressed in a tangible manner[6]. This falls in line with the counter-reformation ideas that aimed to convey the religion through congenital means. The spatial construction, use of light alongside marble wood and bronze expressed piety of the nun. The intensity of Teresa's experience is also depicted in an erotic manner with her eyes shut, and mouth slightly ajar and limbs hanging slightly ajar. Also, the cherubic angel looks at the nun as he prepares to pierce her heart with the spear of divine love thus completing the union with God[7]. Also, Bernini added to the ingenuity of the sculpture by including four male witnesses on either side of Theresa.
A psychoanalytic view
Saint Teresa remains an important figure in the Catholic faith as well as other religions. She was considered a passionate and ideal person who found her epos in the religious function. Her mystical experience has thus been the discussion of many scholars and the source of many meanings. Her experience has received many psychoanalytic meanings with particular interest the relationship between her mystical union and the formation of her subjectivity. Tom Hayes view of the psychoanalytic experience of Saint Teresa as a jouissance that the woman may not know about similar to Lacan's views of the same[8].
The relationship between the man and a woman varies according to the construction of different societies. Thus, the relationship between man and woman in a patriarchal society is one of a complementary nature whereby one is defined by the absence of the other. The woman had no independent subject-hood or attributes that she can term her own[9]. However, in the ecstasy of Saint Teresa, there is a relationship where the man and woman accept their essential difference from each other. The irreducible difference achieved from such a relationship gives the women the subjectivity they have been denied for a long time. In the mystical union between Saint Teresa and the angel, the soul sheds its names and female properties and encounters God who has also denounced male properties. In their union, Saint Teresa is transformed into him[10]. This connatural experience denies the soul of the self-identity required for independent subjectivity.
Teresa in her mystical experience explains that spiritual marriage can only be compared to the rain that falls into the ocean. In this case, the water from the rain cannot be separated from that that was initially in the ocean; once the rain water falls in the ocean, it becomes one with the water that was initially there[11]. Teresa describes her god as a male figure with whom she achieves a relationship and a dialogue. The differences are well emphasized and may lead to a complementary relationship where the woman is denied an image of herself. In the patriarchal stricture, the male imposes his ego over the woman thus saint Teresa's imagery gives her an image that is not of herself but one of Christ. However, in other areas, she is able to extricate herself from this image thus earning her independence[12].
Saint Teresa humorously defines herself as melancholic by developing a theory that views melancholy as an ailment that she needed to be healed from. She attributes the melancholy to the excesses of asceticism. She also diagnoses symptoms that come from demonic influence such as the manifestations easily confused with spiritual experiences such as hallucinations and interior symptoms[13]. Teresa was also aware that these symptoms were more common in women than in men. This misogynistic view was similar to that of the church, but Saint Teresa used it as a curative measure.
In the ecstasy of Saint Teresa, she is seen to be escaping from the barrenness of a soul without God. It served to promote the church’s idea that a soul without God was a wasteland only occupied by sin. The rays of sun that are above Saint Teresa and the angel are symbolic of Teresa's escape from a dark prison where there is no sun[14]. The dazzling rays illuminate Saint Teresa's face symbolizing the transformation that she undergoes after her interaction with the angel. In her soliloquy, Saint Teresa narrates how miserable her life was before she was converted. She was not able to think about God and even when she read she would not understand. After her mystical experience, her soul is not agitated by seeing a devout image or hearing a sermon.
Conclusion
The baroque is viewed in both the post-colonial and psychoanalytic views. The postcolonial view of the baroque is politically motivated while the psychoanalytical view is inspired by a religion. Of these two, the post-colonial view is more interesting as it portrays the length to which man can go in an effort to spread his ideals. The dramatic effect brought about by the baroque arts was all a religious propaganda aimed at spreading the ideals of Catholicism. It was an effort to shadow the protestant reformation that was beginning to take route in European nations.
Bibliography
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art and psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2018.
Barker, Emma, ed. Art, commerce, and colonialism 1600-1800. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Hayes, Tom. "A" Jouissance" Beyond the Phallus: Juno, Saint Teresa, Bernini, Lacan." American Imago 56, no. 4 (1999): 331-355.
Zirpolo, Lilian H. Historical dictionary of Baroque art and architecture. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
[1]
Zirpolo, Lilian H. Historical dictionary of Baroque art and architecture. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
[2]
Zirpolo, Lilian H. Historical dictionary of Baroque art and architecture. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
[3]
Barker, Emma, ed. Art, commerce, and colonialism 1600-1800. Oxford University Press, 2018.
[4]
Barker, Emma, ed. Art, commerce, and colonialism 1600-1800. Oxford University Press, 2018.
[5]
Barker, Emma, ed. Art, commerce, and colonialism 1600-1800. Oxford University Press, 2018.
[6]
Barker, Emma, ed. Art, commerce, and colonialism 1600-1800. Oxford University Press, 2018.
[7]
Barker, Emma, ed. Art, commerce, and colonialism 1600-1800. Oxford University Press, 2018.
[8]
Hayes, Tom. "A" Jouissance" Beyond the Phallus: Juno, Saint Teresa, Bernini, Lacan." American Imago 56, no. 4 (1999): 331-355.
[9]
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art and psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2018.
[10]
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art and psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2018.
[11]
Hayes, Tom. "A" Jouissance" Beyond the Phallus: Juno, Saint Teresa, Bernini, Lacan." American Imago 56, no. 4 (1999): 331-355.
[12]
Hayes, Tom. "A" Jouissance" Beyond the Phallus: Juno, Saint Teresa, Bernini, Lacan." American Imago 56, no. 4 (1999): 331-355.
[13]
Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art and psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2018.
[14]
Hayes, Tom. "A" Jouissance" Beyond the Phallus: Juno, Saint Teresa, Bernini, Lacan." American Imago 56, no. 4 (1999): 331-355.
