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Bernini hid a window above his Ecstasy of Saint Teresa in Rome. Daylight falls through it onto gilded rays behind the marble figures.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Religion & BeliefArt

The story behind the card

The sculpture stands in the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, finished in 1652; Bernini's marble angel stands over Teresa, holding a gilded arrow. Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) was a Spanish nun and mystic who reformed the Carmelite order. In her autobiography she described a vision in which an angel drove a golden spear into her heart, leaving a pain she called both intense and sweet. She was declared a saint in 1622, and in 1970 became the first woman named a Doctor of the Church, a title the Catholic Church gives to saints whose writings it especially values. The Venetian cardinal Federico Cornaro commissioned the chapel as his family's burial chapel. Bernini combined sculpture, coloured marble, a painted ceiling and hidden light to stage a single moment for anyone who walks in, and reportedly called it the least bad thing he ever made.

Türkçe oku
Bernini, Roma'daki Azize Teresa'nın Vecdi heykel grubunun üstüne gizli bir pencere yerleştirdi. İçeri süzülen gün ışığı, mermer figürlerin ardındaki yaldızlı ışınlara vurur.

Heykel, Roma'daki Santa Maria della Vittoria Kilisesi'nin 1652'de tamamlanan Cornaro Şapeli'ndedir; Bernini'nin mermer meleği, elinde yaldızlı bir okla Teresa'nın başında durur. Avilalı Teresa (1515–1582), Karmelit tarikatında reform yapan İspanyol bir rahibe ve mistikti. Otobiyografisinde, bir meleğin kalbine altın bir mızrak sapladığı bir görüden söz eder ve geride kalan acıyı hem çok şiddetli hem de tatlı diye anlatır. 1622'de azize ilan edildi; 1970'te de Katolik Kilisesi'nin, yazılarını özellikle değerli bulduğu azizlere verdiği “Kilise Doktoru” unvanını alan ilk kadın oldu. Şapeli, ailesinin mezar şapeli olsun diye Venedikli Kardinal Federico Cornaro yaptırdı. Bernini heykeli, renkli mermeri, boyalı tavanı ve gizli ışığı bir araya getirerek içeri giren herkes için tek bir anı sahneledi; anlatılanlara göre bu eseri, yaptıklarının “en az kötüsü” sayarmış.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
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