In what ways did Bernini go about uniting architecture, sculpting and painting to create what his biographer Filippo Baldnucci called a beautiful whole?
In what ways did Bernini go about uniting architecture, sculpting and painting to create what his biographer Filippo Baldnucci called 'a beautiful whole'?
Bernini went about the unification of sculpture, architecture and painting to a 'beautiful whole' in the commissions of a few chapels, particularly that of the Cornaro family in Santa Maria della Vittoria and with the building of three small churches notably San Andrea al Quirinale, Rome. It can be argued that Bernini right from the beginning of his career endeavoured to eliminate the barrier between the work of art and the beholder. Works such as his Pluto and Persephone (1621-25) surpassed the constraints of marble and invited the viewer to view the work from many angles. Even so Wittkower believes it was only when Bernini had the chance to 'carry out, not only a part with in an existing structure, but a whole, consisting of architecture, sculpture, decoration and painting' that he could elevate himself from normal existence 'to replace reality by a different, dream-like reality.'1
By the time Bernini participated in the decoration of the Barberini Chapel at Sant' Andrea della Valle, he would have had an experienced hand in matters of structure, embellishment, and applied decoration. These skills earned him important commissions like the renovations of the high altar of Santa Bibiana and the design of the crossing at St. Peter's. These acclaimed triumphs led to the unification of the arts seen in the chapels of the 1640's and 50's, which T.A Marder believes to be his chief contribution to Western art.
The concept of unifying the arts is known as bel composto or maraviglioso composto. These terms were mentioned specifically in the contemporary biographies of Filippo Baldinucci and Domenico Bernini. They refer to Bernini's unique ability to unite architecture, painting and sculpture 'to create a new genre in which the concepts of all three arts are conjoined to compelling effect'.2
Before we discuss ways in which he unified the arts in more detail, I feel it necessary to elaborate on the concept of bel composto. There had been much debate of whether sculpture or painting was the superior art form in the early sixteenth-century. It was believed that sculpture and painting were seen to have inherent limitations in their ability to carry out a visual idea. In Bernini's time the debate had become almost cliché and new debates about the 'theoretical exploration of the congruence of the arts '3 would undoubtedly have created more interest. The idea of a 'unification' of the arts in order to create a new genre was a theme in Federico Zuccaro's Idea de' pittori, scultori e architetti of 1607. It was Bernini that realised these ideas.
For Bernini to achieve bel composto he had to bend the rules of current practice for each medium. He introduced livening contrasts which he gave the term 'i contrapposti'. We will see a contrast of old and traditional against new and unexpected to create a powerful visual statement. Marder goes on to explain that 'the potential exists for expanding the expressive language of design by pointedly denying tradition and using it as a foil for compelling new effects.'4He used architecture, decoration and hidden light sources to dramatise sculptural imagery and realise its meaning.
When discussing some of the influences for Bernini's bel composto it is impossible not to address the religious aspect for this method. Bernini was a profoundly devout Catholic and strongly influenced by Jesuit teachings. It is evident in works such as the Cornaro Chapel that the architectural framework is an extension of Bernini's sculpture The Ecstasy of St Theresa (1645-52). The work depicts a single climactic religious moment, which the spectator is invited to participate in. This meant that Bernini paid particular attention to the environment of his works. We will see that Bernini's incorporation of the works ...
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When discussing some of the influences for Bernini's bel composto it is impossible not to address the religious aspect for this method. Bernini was a profoundly devout Catholic and strongly influenced by Jesuit teachings. It is evident in works such as the Cornaro Chapel that the architectural framework is an extension of Bernini's sculpture The Ecstasy of St Theresa (1645-52). The work depicts a single climactic religious moment, which the spectator is invited to participate in. This meant that Bernini paid particular attention to the environment of his works. We will see that Bernini's incorporation of the works surroundings offer a more powerful religious experience than that of the piece by itself. The Ecstasy of St Theresa could be considered an exercise of devotion for Bernini and it will be argued that Bernini had to incorporate the three arts to realise his 'ecstatic art'. This idea can be seen in the architecture and decoration of his churches, Sant Andrea al Quirinale in particular. The unification of the arts to a 'beautiful whole' undoubtedly had a greater spiritual significance for Bernini.
An example of Bernini unifying architecture with sculpture would be the use of the hidden light source. The Raimondi Chapel (1640-7) is focused on an altarpiece in relief depicting the Ecstasy of St Francis framed by columns. The relief sculpture appears to inhabit a space unto itself because of a light source admitted by narrow windows from above, which are hidden by the two columns. The effect for the viewer who is unaware of these openings is one of separation, 'two separate worlds of illumination.'5 One source of light falls on the relief from diagonally above and the other comes from two windows either side of the columns. The quality of light differs from each source and the objects on which they fall on. The light falling on the relief of St Francis acts as a heavenly light that confirms the canonisation depicted.
Another example of the theatrical use of a hidden light source is in the Cornaro Chapel. Here a light from a concealed window falls on the Ecstasy of St Theresa. Again the light source acts as a dramatic device. A rectangular box-like extension of the transept projects through the exterior of the church to contain the niche, and a series of baffles carries natural light into an oval oculus above the sculpture. The light is reflected and carried on brass-gilded rods behind the sculpture. The culmination of the light effect creates an ethereal aura that dramatises the sculpture and at the same time separates the viewer from the supernatural event.
The hidden light source is just one of the theatrical effects in which Bernini can be seen to be uniting architecture and sculpture. To examine the full use of bel composto it will be necessary to examine the Cornaro Chapel and Sant Andrea al Quirinale in their entirety as Bernini intended us to.
The Cornaro Chapel is an example of Bernini's ecstatic yet contemplative use of bel composto. The main sculptural event, as mentioned earlier, is the Ecstasy of St Theresa set above the high altar in a deep niche. It is the moment of ecstasy felt by the Saint that has been attained by prayer. Bernini pulls the main entablature of the church into the chapel. The ceiling vault above the entablature is a painted illusion containing the real architecture of the church, which opens to the heavens signified by a golden light and the appearance of the Holy Spirit as a dove. This illusion connects painting with the architecture which in turn relates to the sculpture, a heavenly moment that occurred on earth. Bernini forces the viewer to contemplate Theresa's ecstatic moment through the bel composto. Bernini can be seen to integrate decoration in the painted stuccoes of clouds and putti that actually overlap the real windows of the church. This is an example of Bernini bending the rules of his medium to create a more powerful effect. The pediment is an unusual shape for a chapel as it 'is cast over a convex plan, its raking cornice curved like a pagoda, and it cornices and entablature pulled back in relief to reveal sharp angles in prominent projection.'6This dramatic use of invention is an example of Bernini denying tradition and using it as a foil for compelling new effects. The pediment pushes forward to echo the levitation of St Theresa on her cloud having the powerful effect of the religious ecstasy manipulating the viewer's actual surroundings.
The use of a hidden light source as mentioned earlier is not the only theatrical device used by Bernini to create a 'beautiful whole'. On the sidewalls of the Chapel Bernini sculpted members of the Cornaro family as portraits. They appear in heated discussions and lively in gesture. They appear to be watching and discussing the ecstatic event. They also welcome the viewer to contemplate the event. The sculpted figures appear in theatre-like boxes made of richly coloured marble. It is thought that boxes in theatres were not yet established in Bernini's time and this is another example of Bernini's innovation contributing to the bel composto.
The Cornaro Chapel is comprised of richly veined and colourful marbles. They were undoubtedly expensive and rare but they help relate the more meaningful 'whole' making the Cornaro Chapel according to Hibbard 'an unparalleled religious experience.'7Thus the painted ceiling, the innovative pediment, the walls, just about everything helps form part of a grand dynamic unit. Bernini changed the conventional view of sculpture to a pictorial scene framed by the architecture that involved the viewer in an 'ecstatic' moment. 'Architecture, sculpture and painting all lose their traditional independence in favour of new roles in a single religious experience.'8
Although Bernini decorated the Cornaro Chapel he did not design the architecture of Santa Maria della Vittoria. He went on to be in complete control of the architectural proceedings in the building of Sant Andrea al Quirinale in Rome (1658-1676), a Jesuit church built with funds provided by Cardinal Camillo Pamphili. The architecture of the church is an unusual shape because of difficulties with space during planning. The high façade is unusually narrow with the main entrance and the high altar on the short axis of an oval plan. The curved wings of the entrance area that joins the church to the street mirror the curved walls of the oval interior. The walls of the entrance area draw the visitor to the stairs, which is reflected in the shape of the roof above. When approaching the church there is a sense of different parts relating to the whole, a unification.
The high altar immediately faces the viewer as they walk through the entrance with chapels at the long axis at each end. The altar is separated from the main church interior by two pairs of fluted columns of richly veined marble that recalls the Cornaro Chapel but on a much grander scale. All the lines of the architecture converge upon the ascending sculpture of St Andrew situated in a innovative separation of the pediment above the high altar. Below in the recess of the altar is a richly coloured Martyrdom of St Andrew painting by Guillaume Courtois. The scene is lit by a natural light source in the form a secondary dome above the altar space. Only the priests and communicants would have seen this light source directly. The hidden light source that we have seen both in the Raimondi and the Cornaro Chapels has a similar effect here. The light falls on to gilded decoration and rods, which make the space around the painting, glisten creating a heavenly space fit for St Andrew to ascend into heaven. Bernini draws the viewer in by placing the heavenly focal point in light with the viewer's space in the dark creating a dramatic effect.
The painting seems to be carried downwards by golden angels as though a replacement for St Andrew. Bernini, through the use of the theatrical effects seen in the Cornaro Chapel has conveyed the martyrdom of the Saint through the use of architecture, painting and sculpture. The overall effect is one that overawes the senses.
Again we see the bel composto effectively convey narrative. The central dome is decorated with stuccoed putti, flowers, ribbons and fisherman that were St Andrew's companions. The gilt dome is richly stuccoed in gold and shines brightly under the light from the windows placed above the cornice creating a vision of 'heaven'. The figure of Andrew looks up to the Holy Spirit stuccoed in the lantern.9
The material relics of the saint symbolise the "micro cosmos", and the carved figures beneath the dome express a yearning for the "macro cosmos", for communion with God.10
Bernini is able to unite architecture, painting, and sculpture to create an entire religious experience, 'the church is a framework and in a sense the theatre of action.'11 The drama unfolds to the senses through the bel composto creating a new genre in the Baroque, an ecstatic art.
Bernini broke down traditional and familiar boundaries. He used effects such as the hidden light source to dramatise the particular event sculpted. Illusionistic painting and stuccoes that overlapped the real architecture helped bring a heavenly presence to the chapels and churches of the 1640's and 50's. He fused various media as Wittkower points out 'just as the various levels of reality-psychological, chronological, and tangible melt into one'12 beautiful whole.
Bibliography
Bernini, Howard Hibbard, Pelican Books 1965
Bernini in Perspective, ed. George C. Bauer, Prentice-Hall New Jersey 1976
Bernini and the Idealization of Death: The Blessed Ludovica Albertoni and the Altieri Chapel, Shelley Karen Perlove, Pennsylvania State University Press 1984
Bernini and the Art Of Architecture, T.A Marder, Abbeville Press Publishers 1998
Bernini, Rudolf Wittkower, Phaidon Press 1955
Bernini, Rudolf Wittkower, pg 28
2 Bernini and the Art Of Architecture, T.A Marder pg 103
3 Bernini and the Art Of Architecture, T.A Marder pg 104
4 Bernini and the Art Of Architecture, T.A Marder pg 104
5 Bernini, Howard Hibbard, pg 128
6 Bernini, Howard Hibbard, pg 128
7 Bernini, Howard Hibbard, pg 130
8 Bernini, Howard Hibbard, pg 130
9 It should be worth noting that Bernini did not sculpt the Ascension Of St Andrew, it was carved by Antonio Raggi (1624-86). Bernini considered it subordinate to the whole conception and entrusted his studio to carry out the work.
0 Unknown source from the Internet.
1 Bernini, Rudolf Wittkower pg 31
2 Bernini, Howard Hibbard, pg 135