Buy essays on “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” and “The Swing”

I find the works “The Swing” of Fragonard performed in the style of Rococo and “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” of Bernini which is a brilliant example of Baroque great masterpieces. Although these works of art have different cultural and historical contexts, and they are performed in different artistic styles, there are a lot of things in them which are worth of comparing and contrasting.
The central sculpture of the Coronaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” (1647-1652) was produced by Gianlorenzo Berini . The time period the sculpture was created is known as a Baroque era. The sculpture is made of marble and bronze. Its height comprises 3,5 meters. The painting “The Swing” or “The Happy Accidents of the Swing” was produced in 1767 by Jean-Honore Fragonard, a French painter, and is a bright example of the Rococo artistic style. “The Swing” is an oil canvas painting measuring 81 cm x 64.2 cm, which presently is the part of the Wallace Collection in London .
Both works are quite different in their subject and message and that may be linked with difference of cultural backgrounds and styles of both of them. Frequently historians underlined that during Baroque – the style of “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” – the Roman Catholic Church had to suppress multiple new forms of society, religion and science known as Reformation. Moreover the style of Baroque had to restore the prestige of Papacy. The fiercest conflict in Baroque times was the Thirty Years War – the war between Catholics and Protestants. In the sculpture “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” we may point out the deep feeling of pain and excitement at the same time, which can probably be the reflection of dramatic historic environment of that time period and style. In the 17th century though Europe faced many significant changes in financial systems, lifestyles and trade organization. Besides, during the Baroque times there were many important scientific discoveries: such outstanding scientists as Galileo and Newton made their contribution to science through mathematics and various experiments. In accordance to this information we see that “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” is deeply religiously, probably in an attempt to restore people’s belief in God, not only in scientific progress. As for “The Swing” its light and gay atmosphere may be such due to the epoch of its creation. As a matter of fact the time the painting was produced is often called “the epoch of reigning of King Lois XV”. This time may be characterized not with the thrust for science or religion as during Baroque era, but with that for happy time spending, aristocratic beauty and luxurious fashion. The Duke of Orleans who succeeded King Lois XIV in 1715 . After that there appeared a tendency of diminishing the formal courts and flourishing of the salons. Nevertheless the two works are different in their general mood we still may find elements of Baroque in the Rococo styled ‘The Swing” in elaborate forms, and sophisticated and delicate lines. s
The two figures of the sculpture group “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” represent the episode of Teresa of Avila, a mystical reformer and nun, from her autobiography. The subject of this piece of art is sacred. She described the vision she had where a young delicate angel was standing aside her body .We see the long spear of gold in the hands of the angel on the sculpture and on the point of it there is a fire. An angel came to pierce her with his arrow. Teresa told that it was a great pain, but not bodily, but spiritual. Her look on the sculpture is more blessed, satisfied with nothing but God, than painful, so we may conclude that Bernini succeeded in giving the right embodiment for Teresa’s experience. The episode takes place on a cloud, where Teresa is in a large robe with many heavy folds. Her eyes are half shut, her moth opened in a moan; and it seems that she is unaware of what is happening around her. She has gentle hands and bare feet. The angel instead is smiling; it is standing near the saint with a golden arrow in his hand. He evidently has just pierced her. The whole work looks very lively and real. Describing the subject of the famous piece of art “The Swing” we may say that we see a young beauty in marvelously colored flowing airy dress and a trendy hat. The picture shows us a garden where the girl has swings, pushed by her probable shadowy lover from a large massive tree in the right hand corner of the paining. This man is a bishop, so the relationships of the two lovers are definitely secret . Also we may find another man on the painting: a young fellow who watches the swinging beauty from behind the bushes. There are some particularly erotic details: alongside with going high on the swing the legs of the beautiful girl become easily seen by a man. The special light feeling we also get observing how carelessly the girl lets off one of her shoes in the air . In comparison to strict and dramatic Teresa of Avila we see tender and naughty beauty whose life is concentrated on bare amusement. It goes without saying that the subject of ‘The Swing” is absolutely secular incomparison to “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa”. Nevertheless these pieces of art have something common in their subject: each of them gives us gentle hints on their eroticism.
The stylistic features of a sculpture “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” are very exquisite and complex. In this work Bernini used his widely known principle of transverberation . As for “The Swing” we may observe the pyramidal shape of the works. The trajectory of the swing suggests an unseen but existing point which is high in the trees where the swing is tied to. The sculpture of Saint Teresa has very special lightning: it is lighted from a hidden window above it. The white marble figures are shimmering in the golden light.”The Swing” stands out for its mixture of soft colors and lightning. The color scheme is monochromatic applying to trees and their shadows while the central part of the painting is definitely polychromatic – so that the lady and her dress look especially bright. Generally the colors used for this painting are soft and delicate. Moreover solidness is almost absolutely diminished from the work probably to underline its flirting and inviting message. It’s worth mentioning that brightness adds much space to “The Swing” . Besides, while the mistress in “The Swing” looks tender and delicate due to exquisite lines and soft patterns, the drama of Saint Teresa is underlined by the massive and heavy folds of her dress. Both works represent movement, but the movements of Teresa of Avila are as though controlled by the gravity and the movements of the lady in “The Swing” are light and small. Nevertheless Bernini managed to add some erotic hints in his sculpture: half-shut eyes and mouth of Teresa, as well her turned back head suggest some sensuality; in “The Swing” we see erotic context in the whole episode of a young man in the bushes peeping under the girl’s dress. Bernini managed to convey the spirit of the emotional Baroque style – Saint Teresa reflects the combination of ornamentation and drama as well as Fragonard, who pointed out the privilege of the beauty over the depth of meaning producing amusing, cheerful and frivolous painting – so characteristic of the Rococo style.
The chosen works differ much in their message. The message of the sculpture of Saint Teresa was created in order to restore people’s deep beliefs in God – it lies in depicting the union of the Saint with God and shows people how the woman is happy to care for anything but God, though it is painful for her. The day light having its way to the sculpture of Teresa of Avila due to the window thoroughly concealed from the view of audience symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The arrow which pierces Saint Teresa embodies the glow of fire. The sculpture gives us a view with Saint Teresa in the state of transfiguring come symbolizing the Sleep of God. In contrast to this the message of “The Swing” produces the message of infidelity and process of deciding of the woman whether to remain with her husband or go to her lover. The bishop pushing the wing symbolizes her husband, and the young guy in the vegetation – her young lover. As a matter of fact swing and peeping as childhood games are the kind of iconography of rococo era; nevertheless using these games in the context of adult world add them desire and childish natural joy of movement and play .
“The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” and “The Swing” differ first of all in styles: Baroque and Rococo accordingly; cultural and historical backgrounds: while the first one was created in times of Roman Catholic Church suppressing the first signs of Reformation, the second one was created in the epoch of cheerful and frivolous King Lois XV; type of subject: the sculpture of Saint Teresa is sacred and “The Swing” is secular” and many stylistic features. Nevertheless there are some important similarities between the works. Both works have a lot of symbolism in them, though their messages differ. Evidently, both works of art show us sensual context: gentle hands and bare foot of Saint Teresa and her half opened eyes manifest spiritual ecstasy, but we get some erotic signals anyhow; “The Swing” let us see the man having a chance of peeping over the legs of the beauty. In both works we may observe soft lines and delicate gestures of Teresa and the girl in “The Swing”. Another feature to compare is the perfect depicting of movement on both works: we unmistakable percept the natural movements though the movements in “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” are heavier then in “The Swing”. We proved the worthiness of both masterpieces to be compared and contrasted.

References
1. Avery, Charles. “Bernini: Genius of the Baroque”. London, 1997.
2. Lavin, Irving. “Bernini and the Unity of the Visual Arts.” New York and London, 1980.
3. Posner, Donald. “The Swinging Women of Watteau and Fragonard.” The Art Bulletin LXIV, 1982.