The Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Terracotta sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Terracotta store

Inventory

PV 14011

Material and technique

Terracotta

Author

after Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)

Dating

18th-19th century

Dimensions

45x38.5x28 cm.

Origin

Gorga Collection (1948)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

This small group in light terracotta depicts the ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avile, on the verge of being pierced with a golden arrow, after the composition conceived by Bernini in the chapel of Cardinal Federico Cornaro in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome (1647-1652). It is not in perfect condition and, together with numerous tiny cracks on the surface, the right hand and left wing of the angel have been lost. Some parts of the drapery are modelled rather simply and the composition is compressed and tends more toward the vertical when compared to the arrangement of space in Bernini’s marble and the other model, of almost identical height, at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (inv. 619; 47 h.). The latter, which formerly belonged to the Venetian Abbott Filippo Farsetti, is well executed, enough indeed for Androsov (1991; 1998) to believe it to be by Bernini himself. Though a good deal of critics do not agree with Androsov, the technique is clearly superior to the work in question here, which can be considered a piece after Bernini, probably made between the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cristiano Giometti

Bibliography

Unpublished