BERNINI’S CORNARO CHAPEL: VISUALIZING MYSTICISM IN THE AGE OF REFORMATION A thesis submitted to the School of Art of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Adam J. Ladd August 2012 Thesis written by Adam J. Ladd B.A., Kent State University, 2009 M.A., Kent State University, 2012 Approved by __________________________________ , Advisor Gustav Medicus __________________________________ , Director, School of Art Christine Havice __________________________________ , Dean, College of the Arts John R. Crawford ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ iii LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................1 II. THE SAINT: TERESA OF AVILA............................................................3 Early Life..........................................................................................3 Career..............................................................................................7 Mystical Experiences.....................................................................11 The Transverberation.....................................................................12 Mysticism and Femininity in the Post-Tridentine Church...............14 The Inquisition................................................................................19 After Life.........................................................................................22 III. THE PATRON: FEDERIGO CORNARO..............................................28 Acquisition of the Chapel...............................................................28 Life and Career..............................................................................30 Retirement in Rome and the Propaganda Fide.............................33 Federico and the Discalced Carmelite Order.................................34 IV. THE ARTIST: GIANLORENZO BERNINI.............................................37 “This Child will be the Michelangelo of His Age”............................38 Restorer of Antiquity.......................................................................40 Maturity..........................................................................................43 Il Cavaliere.....................................................................................44 Minister of the Papal Public Image................................................45 A Career in Distress.......................................................................47 Master of Stage and Illusion..........................................................51 V. THE CORNARO CHAPEL: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.......55 The Pavement................................................................................56 The Vault........................................................................................58 The Altarpiece................................................................................60 The Cornaro Portraits....................................................................70 Bernini’s Theatrum Mundi..............................................................73 VI. CONCLUSION.....................................................................................80 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Gianlorenzo Bernini, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, 1647-52. Rome. Mixed media......................................1, 55, 72 2. Anonymous artist, The Cornaro Chapel, 18th cent. Oil. Staatliches Museum, Schwerin.................................................1, 55, 72 3. Detail of vaulted ceiling from below, Cornaro Chapel. Fresco, stucco..............................................................................................1, 58 4. Detail of vaulted ceiling from nave, Cornaro Chapel. Fresco, stucco..............................................................................................1, 58 5. Detail of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Cornaro Chapel. Marble, gilded wood...........................................................................................1 6. Portraits of the left niche, Cornaro Chapel. Marble.........................1, 70 7. Portraits of the right niche, Cornaro Chapel. Marble.......................1, 70 8. Detail of the floor pavement with skeletons, Cornaro Chapel. Marble.............................................................................................2, 56 9. Mosaic skeleton of the floor pavement (left), Cornaro Chapel. Marble.............................................................................................2, 56 10. Mosaic skeleton of the floor pavement (right), Cornaro Chapel. Marble.............................................................................................2, 56 11. Gerrit van Honthorst, St. Paul Ravished to the Third Heaven, c. 1616-1620. Oil. Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome...........................29 12. Pietro Bernini, Assumption of the Virgin, 1606-10. Marble. Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.............................................................38 13. Gianlorenzo Bernini, The Goat Amalthea Nursing the Infant Zeus and Faun, c. 1609-15. Marble. Galleria Borghese, Rome.........39 14. Ludovisi Ares, Roman copy after Greek original from c. 400-330 BCE. Marble. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome..............40 15. Borghese Hermaphrodite, c. 2nd cent. BCE. Marble. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome..................................................................40 iv 16. Sleeping Nude, attributed to Gianlorenzo Bernini, after 1627. Red and white chalk. Tadolini Collection, Rome.................................41 17. Barberini Faun (Sleeping Satyr), c. 220 BCE. Marble. Glyptotech, Munich.............................................................................41 18. Gianlorenzo Bernini, Pluto and Persephone, 1621-22. Marble. Galleria Borghese, Rome....................................................................43 19. Gianlorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-25. Marble. Galleria Borghese, Rome....................................................................43 20. Gianlorenzo Bernini, David, 1623-24. Marble. Galleria Borghese, Rome.................................................................................43 21. Ottavio Leoni, Portrait of Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1622. Engraving. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.............................44 22. Gianlorenzo Bernini, Bust of Pope Gregory XV, 1621. Bronze. Museo di Palazzo Venezia, Rome......................................................45 23. Gianlorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino, 1623-34. Bronze. St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Rome...............................................................47 24. Giulio Parigi, Temple of Peace, sixth intermezzo for Il Giudizio di Paride (Judgment of Paris), an opera Presented in Florence at the Wedding of Cosimo di Medici and Maria Maddalena, 1608. Engraving. British Museum, London.........................................56 25. Detail of vault decoration (left), Cornaro Chapel. Stucco....................59 26. Adriaen Collaert and Cornelis Galle, Teresa and Her Brother Go to Seek Martyrdom, plate 3 from Vita B. Virginis Teresiae a Iesu ordinis carmelitarum excalceatorum piae restauratricis, Antwerp, 1613. Engraving...................................................................59 27. Detail of vault decoration (right), Cornaro Chapel. Stucco..................59 28. Adriaen Collaert and Cornelis Galle, St. Teresa Doing Penance, plate 7 from Vita B. Virginis Teresiae a Iesu ordinis carmelitarum excalceatorum piae restauratricis, Antwerp, 1613. Engraving............59 29. Detail of vault decoration (left), Cornaro Chapel. Stucco....................59 30. Pietro da Cortona, St. Teresa Crowned by Christ, 1635. Oil on canvas. Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome..............................................60 31. Detail of vault decoration (right), Cornaro Chapel. Stucco..................60 v 32. Adriaen Collaert and Cornelis Galle, Betrothal of St. Teresa to Christ, plate 13 from Vita B. Virginis Teresiae a Iesu ordinis carmelitarum excalceatorum piae restauratricis, Antwerp, 1613. Engraving..................................................................................60 33. Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Cornaro Chapel. Marble, gilded wood.............60 34. View of south exterior wall, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome..................................................................................................61 35. Exterior view of window chamber, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome..................................................................................................61 36. Interior view of window chamber, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome..................................................................................................61 37. Detail of the window chamber above the Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Cornaro Chapel...................................................................................61 38. Adriaen Collaert and Cornelis Galle, Transverberation of St. Teresa, plate 8 from Vita B. Virginis Teresiae a Iesu ordinis carmelitarum excalceatorum piae restauratricis, Antwerp, 1613. Engraving............................................................................62, 68 39. Antonius II Wierix, Transverberation of St. Teresa, c. 1622-24. Engraving. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.......62, 67 40. Peter