When you are nearing the end of the alphabet (which in my case is the front end with A, since I started this exercise with the letter Z), you gotta go Italian. Personally, I don’t think it is ever wrong to go Italian.  It is my default.  I once spoke Italian to a man in Tokyo because my brain told me I was traveling and so it must be Italy.  It wasn’t.  But it was funny!

So, Bernini.  Think Rome.

Good.  Now, drill down.

Great. We are getting there.

The Triton Fountain by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  Check out the hotel at the top of the building behind the fountain.  In case you can’t tell who the artist is, they named a hotel for him!

I love the Triton Fountain in the daytime.

I love the Triton Fountain at night.

Very dramatic with the lighting!

But, let’s keep moving.  We have other Bernini works to admire.

Let’s go to the Borghese Galleries. First, let’s locate the Villa Borghese grounds in Rome.  There they are, at the top of the map below.  Gallery Borghese is circled in red in the Villa.  Rome looks small in this map.  It isn’t.

Now, for the building:

Got it!  Gorgeous, right?  This is one of my favorite spots in Rome.  I have a funny story about a red balloon and a red-haired boy, age 10, aka Jamie, for another day.  We bought this balloon just outside the Borghese and it went with us all around Italy, on trains, into buildings, it caused quite a stir.  That’s all I can say for now.

So, let’s go inside.

Uh huh.  Can you say beautiful in Italian?  Bella.  Actually, bellisimo would be more appropriate, don’t you think? I certainly do. This is Italian opulence at its finest.  Do you see that big white sculpture in the center of this lovely gallery?  Let’s go look at it up close.  It’s a Bernini!

Nice.  Let’s see another view including its luscious setting.

Sweet.  I think you can see now why Bernini is considered a virtuoso sculptor!  He carved this two figure group in his typically exuberant style, convincingly showing the female figure in the process of transforming from a woman into a tree.  What is going on?

The story Bernini is exploiting (in a good way) is that of the god Apollo, who has been struck by Cupid’s arrow.  The first girl he sees is Daphne, the maiden daughter of a river god, and he is overwhelmed by her beauty and his desire for her.

Unfortunately for Apollo, Daphne has also been struck by Cupid’s arrow, only her arrow was the kind that made her repel the love of men.  So, as Apollo chases her, promising her the moon, she prays to her father, who grants her wish to get away from Apollo.  The wish is performed by the nymph Daphne turning into the shrub Daphne.  And, for all you gardeners out there, that is where the evergreen Daphne shrub gets its name.

Pretty cool, yes?  Let’s look at a detail.  See how Daphne’s fingers are turning into leaves and branches?  It is very cool indeed.

Our time for today’s tour is almost up, so let’s quick hightail it over to the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.  Let’s find it on a map so you can go there someday without me.

You got it!  The A above.

Look for the church.

Isn’t it lovely!  Santa Maria della Vittoria. Saint Mary of Victory in English. The Italians have a lot of churches and dedicating a church to Saint Mary would not be specific enough in a city the size of Rome.

So, let’s enter.

Wow, gorgeous.  We are most definitely not in Kansas anymore.  Look around for the Cornaro Chapel. Let me know when you find it.

Uhh, yeah, you found it.  It is kind of hard to miss, don’t you think?  Look at all those expensive materials: all colors of marble for starters. Bernini designed the setting as well as the sculpture. Let’s see the statues in the center.

This is another Bernini masterpiece.  It is called the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.  A Catholic saint from Avila in Spain described her experience of religious ecstasy in her encounter with the angel is described as follows:

I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying.

Wow.  That must have been quite the experience. And you thought art history was boring?  Ha!  I rest my case.

I think that is enough art for today.  Ciao a tutti!