This baroque masterpiece is in Santa Maria della Vittoria set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel. He sculpted the statue of the Saint raised from the ground and standing in the middle and the members of the Cornaro family -client of the work - overlooking in boxes as if at the theatre. A golden light falls upon the two characters in the sculptural group: the angel and the Saint. She lapses into mystical ecstasy after being pierced by the angel’s spear. Teresa, whose face appears strongly sensual, is almost unconscious and burns with divine love under the languid gaze of the angel. A chiaroscuro, carefully thought up by Bernini, who exploited the natural light filtering through a window opened in the dome of the Chapel, gives the whole group a spectacular impact. This work was largely criticized at birth. People thought the Saint’s ecstasy was too similar to an orgasm. However, researchers believe that Gian Lorenzo Bernini – a man of faith himself - loyally “translated” in stone what the Saint said in her autobiography. He succeeded in transforming this mystical union in an immortal masterpiece that he himself considered his best work (“men cattiva opera”). By looking at the Cornaro Chapel we can admire not only Bernini’s sculptural and architectural skills, but also his scenographic one, as he had a considerable “theatrical sensibility”. Despite its beauty, the sculpture was placed in Santa Maria della Vittoria that wasn’t a very important church in Rome at the time. Not because of the sensuality of the statue, but because since 1644, when Innocent X (Pope Pamphili) became Pope, Bernini was ousted by Francesco Borromini, the Pope’s favourite, falling from grace. Bernini saw the commission as a springboard to get back on track. He knew he couldn’t fail. He had to outdo himself. And he did.   

Giuseppe Rosselli