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Published: February 20th 2008
Ecstasy of St Theresa by Bernini
This statue, Ecstasy of St Theresa, was considered very daring in the 17th century. Some even thought it was pornographic.The art in Rome and the Etruscans
I arrived home from Rome one and a half months ago. But I never got around to finish the last blog entry I wrote when I was there. But better late then never so here it comes. The fourth and last blog entry on my trip to Rome.
Emma and I try to run regularly to stay fit. Not that we can claim to be any good runners. But we like it and it is good exercise. To get a variation to the training we sometimes also run when we are abroad. We then get to do sightseeing and exercise at the same time.
We are going to run a few races this year by the way. So far Emma has never been able to beat me in any race but that is likely to change this year. She practices much harder and run more frequently than I do. But I am not ready to let Emma beat me quite yet. Therefore I decided to go for a run when I was in Rome. The central of Rome is not very large. I ran from the Rome Central Station to the
Ecstasy of St Theresa - Close up
This statue, Ecstasy of St Theresa, was considered very daring in the 17th century. Some even thought it was pornographic. Vatican City with detours around the Spanish Steps and to the Colosseum and it still wasn’t more than an average exercise at home.
Just for the heck of it I actually ran around the
Vatican. So I can now say I have run
around an entire country. Where else can you do that? True, the Vatican is the smallest country in the World. But still it sounds cool, doesn't it?
I promised (or threatened?) earlier to write a little about the famous artists that have worked in Rome. I really know very little about art so don't expect me to write down anything really worth reading here. But here comes a little introduction to a few of the great artists who have contributed to the cultural heritage of the city of Rome.
In many churches, galleries and museums in Rome it is possible to find paintings by Raphael Sanzio, aka
Raphael. In the Vatican Museums there is actually an entire room dedicated to Raphael. Raphael was a great artist but also humble. He wasn’t afraid of letting himself get inspired by other great artists. The greatest of them all at the time Raphael was active was Michelangelo
Blessed Ludovica Albertoni by Bernini
The statue Blessed Ludovica Albertoni is not only daring. Only because Bernini was such a well known artist could he get away with this one. In the 17th century this was right out porn. di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, aka
Michelangelo.
Michelangelo is usually considered one of the greatest artists ever. One of Michelangelo’s finest works,
the Sistine Chapel, can be seen in the Vatican Museum. The Sistine Chapel is without doubt the most popular of all exhibits in the Vatican Museum and it is one of the most elaborate paintings ever conducted by any great artist in the World. The painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel took Michelangelo four years of hard labour. He had to lie down on high scaffolding and paint with his arms upwards. Anyone who has painted a ceiling knows how hard that is. 20 minutes and your arms go numb. Michelangelo painted a ceiling for ten, twelve hours a day! It's an incredible feat.
There are two other names that keep coming up when I have looked at art here in Rome,
Gian Lorenzo Bernini and
Francesco Borromini. These two artists were very sought after here in Rome during the 17th century. Both the church and rich families hired them to create art for them. Today their works can be found in many palaces around Rome and in various churches.
Some say that there was also a very strong
Palazzo Spada
Palazzo Spada is one of the many palaces in Rome. They used to be homes of the rich and powerful. Today many have been turned into museums. rivalry between Bernini and Borromini. People have tried to see evidence in their works that they tried to discredit each other. How strong the rivalry actually was I don’t know. Maybe it was nothing more than friendly competition. Competition has been known to make great artists reach a level of creativity they couldn't have reached without the rivalry.
It is a fact that Bernini and Borromini have produced some incredible art. Even I, being an art illiterate, can see that.
Among Bernini's most famous works are two statues that caused quite a bit of criticism for being daring, even to the point of being immoral. You might say it was pornography even. Maybe it hadn’t been so shocking if the statues were to sit in a palace or even in a public square. Nude statues weren't unheard of even back then. But these two statues were commissioned by the church and then you can’t even hint anything about sexuality.
The earliest of these two statues is named
Ecstasy of St Theresa and it shows a woman who is experiencing a religious ecstasy. Or is it sexual ecstasy? Well, that is what the criticism was all about. Porn or not porn?
Palazzo Spada
Palazzo Spada is one of the many palaces in Rome. They used to be homes of the rich and powerful. Today many have been turned into museums. Look at my photos and make your own decision or have a "go" at the link above.
Years later he created a piece of art that caused even more controversy -
Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. This statue shows a woman in an even more daring position. This woman is also experiencing some sort of ecstasy but she is also touching her breast at the same time.
The only reason Bernini could got away with these two sculptures is the fact that he was such a respected artist at the time. Anyone less famous would not. When that statue was uncovered I guess the reaction from people was something similar to what would happen if someone tried to show a John Holmes-flick in a church today. Interesting thought, isn't it? I wonder if there is any artist who could get away with such a stunt today?
One interesting work by Borromini is the Trompe-l'oeil Mural and Gallery in
Palazzo Spada. It is actually a corridor leading to a tiny courtyard. The courtyard is only about 10 meters long. But in creating the corridor Borromini has played with perspectives making it appear to be at least 20 meters long. But however skilful Borromini
Corridor in Palazzo Spada by Borromini
This corridor in Palazzo Spada is much shorter than it appears in the photo. I wasn't allowed to take photos there so I took a photo of a postcard instead. ever was he could not fool the human brain. When you look through the corridor you can easily see that it is only 10 meters deep. The human brain can measure depth in two different ways. One is by reference to other objects, and this part of depth vision Borromini is trying to fool by distorting all references. But the other way the human brain measure distances is by stereo vision. Most people have two eyes and in the skull they are placed a few centimetres away from each other. This makes the picture seen by one eye slightly different from the picture seen by the other eye. The human brain combines the two slightly different pictures into one picture. This magic by having two pictures melt into one is that the combined picture is three dimensional. The brain can use this three dimensional information to determine distances.
If you couldn't follow that, don't worry. The point is, when I looked at it with two eyes I could easily see that the corridor in reality is shorter than it first appeared to be. I could easily see that the Borromini had played around with perspectives. However, when I closed
Etruscan tomb
A typical Etruscan tomb in the necropolis outside Cerveteri one eye and looked at the corridor I couldn't see that there was anything wrong with the proportions and the corridor looked much longer. In the first case my brain could use both stereo vision and external references and when the two measurements didn't add up my brain relied on the stereo vision and could tell the corridor was fake. But when one eye was closed my brain had to rely entirely on references and since the references all said that the corridor was 20 meters that's how long my brain told me the corridor was. If you look at a photo of the corridor the same thing happens - you have to rely only on references and the corridor appears deeper than it actually is.
Not far from Rome there is a town called Cerveteri. In the outskirts of this town is a large complex with
Etruscan Tombs. The
Etruscan civilization flourished before the Roman Empire, so the tombs are all more than 2000 years old. Most of the tombs are either entirely or partly carved out of the rock. Some of the tombs are just one simple burial chamber but others are more elaborately carved and also painted. Most
Etruscan tomb
A typical Etruscan tomb in the necropolis outside Cerveteri of the painted tombs were not open to the public however to prevent the paintings from deteriorating.
The last few days of my visit in Italy I also went to a town called Spoleto. I went there to see a spectacular aqueduct that spans a gorge in the outskirts of town. The town in itself also is of some interest. There is an imposing castle sitting on a hilltop overlooking the town and the old town was founded some time in the Middle Ages. I didn't have enough time to see all of that though. But I was happy anyway. I went there to see the aqueduct and I saw it!
The last day I was in Rome I finally managed to see the Vatican Museums. I tried several times to visit the Vatican Museums but each time I went there I was put off by the number of visitors standing in line to get in. The exhibits in the Vatican Museums are so vast that it is impossible to more than a fraction of it in one visit. I decided to limit myself to a few sections and leave the less interesting ones for my next visit
Etruscan tomb
A typical Etruscan tomb in the necropolis outside Cerveteri in Rome. But still I tried to see too much so I was pretty exhausted when I reached the end and the grand finale - the Sixtine Chapel. I was tired and it was so packed with people that I couldn't even enjoy it.
One of the silliest exhibitions in the Vatican Museums is the various horsedrawn carts and cars that has been used by popes over the centuries. The most famous vehicle in the collections is the
Pope-mobile, a Mercedes that has been fitted with bullet-proof glass.
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simon lee
non-member comment
Nonsense
You have spent to much time hunched up over men's magazines if you think this sculpture is remotely concerned with pornography. She is either dying or has just had a visionary experience and so the only way to suggest this is to show her ecstatic and with agitated drapery. Don't judge the past by the low and smutty standards of the present.