Apollo and Daphne, by Bernini

Apollo and Daphne

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

It was a sculture made  by the Italian Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1622 and 1625, this artistic work is displayed in Rome, in the Gallería Borghese, to be specific.

Bernini was born in Nápoles, on the 7^th of December, in 1598, and he died in Rome, on the 24^th of November, in 1680.

He was a fantastic sculptor, painter and architect in the Barroque period who stood because he could capture the dramatic feelings and the motion really well, as we can see in the Apollo and Daphne sculpture

The work is 243 cm high and it’s made up of marble.

The work speak about the myth that it’s in the name of the sculpture, Apollo and Daphne, that is part of the Greek mythology, always in art, the most important part that you have to look for is the story that there are behind the work.  

A greek love

The myth starts when Apollo challenged  to Eros with the bow. Eros feel cross, so he threw a golden arrow to Apollo, that caused an instant fall in love, and the woman that he wanted was Daphne, who was injured by the lead arrow, that caused the opposite effect.

One day, Apollo saw Daphne and pursued her, and she escaped as fast as possible until she arrived to her father, the Peneus river, who transformed her into a laurel.
Apollo, when he saw her, hung the woman that was transforming, cried, and said: ‘’You can’t be my woman, you will be my favorite tree, your leaves will always be green and will crown all the people’s heads as victory symbol.’’

In this sculpture, Bernini tried to represent the motion and the dramatic feelings of the moment.

If you round the Bernini’s work, you can find  the back of Daphne  transforming into a three, just where Apollo is touching her, and in the front, Dafne has the form of a woman, this image capture the feeling of anxiety  of Apollo when he saw his love transform into a three, but he continued to be in love

Photo sources

Bernini photo:http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/b/bernini.htm

Apollo and Daphne photos:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_and_Daphne_(Bernini)#mediaviewer/File:ApolloAndDaphne.JPG,https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WzNT5dIo3YXyTXoqizVi3v_4C08MxxWpHguYNuGIY0Qz83m34m_yB2UjrkALbyTdhaUfXuKS-MZGmb2hbNCwDcHKz1U8ujg31Ik3jn-zwygRf1DgCj4EvCzH2vpuJMU7iNIHU_LL5HeB/s1600/bernini_apollo_and_daphne.jpg and http://domuspucelae.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/visita-virtual-apolo-y-dafne-el-mito.html

Information sources

Bernini information: http://domuspucelae.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/visita-virtual-apolo-y-dafne-el-mito.html and http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/b/bernini.htm

Apollo and Daphne information: http://domuspucelae.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/visita-virtual-apolo-y-dafne-el-mito.html and http://mitosyleyendascr.com/mitologia-griega/grecia58/

Fco.Javier Martín-Pueblas Pérez-bustos 4ºB  ''Apollo and Daphne''

Immaculate Conception, ALONSO CANO.

The Immaculate Conception was made by the sculptor Alonso Cano. This sculpture was initiated in Seville and it was finished in Granada, in 1655. The sculpture was commissioned for the Facistol of the Cathedral of Granada.

The size of the Immaculate Conception is about 50 cm and the material Alonso Cano used to do the sculpture was polychrome wood. At present the sculpture is in the Sacristy of the Cathedral of Granada.

http://vuelvoagranada.blogspot.com.es/2009/12/dia-de-la-inmaculada-concepcion-en.html

The base of the sculpture is like a cloud and inside it there are three faces of angels. If we go upwards we can see a cape in blue around the body and the size of the body is a little bit strange because it is so much narrow in downwards than in upwards. The face of the Immaculate Conception sculpture transmit peace at the same time the eyes are big, the mouth is small and the nose is thin.

It's made up of polychrome wood, represent a peacefull virgin like a little girl. The clothes that dress the sculpture are a cape in blue around the body and below the cape there is a habit in green that goes down to her feet.

The influence Alonso Cano received was try to caused the plastic effect in formal sculpture and the symbols this caused for him was spirituality.

The Immaculate Conception belongs to the Baroque Art of the Hispanic Monarcy, whose features are religious themes for altarpieces made with polychromed wood and realistic image.

Alonso Cano received influence from Alonso Cano and José de Mora and his sculpture influenced Granada School. 

                                

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_Cano          

http://todayinsocialsciences.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/monday-november-112013.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_Cano

http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/obras/16383.htm

https://albayalde.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/inmaculada-de-alonso-cano-para-el-facistol-de-la-catedral-de-granada-1655-1656/

Penitent Magdalen, Pedro de Mena. Nuria Iniesta

Penitent Magdalen, Pedro de Mena.

This sculpture was made for the casa profesa of the Jesuits in Madrid during a voyage of Pedro de Mena to Madrid. It was finished in his studio of Malaga in 1664.

Technical data:

• Size, dimensions: 171 cm x 52 cm x 61 cm
• Material used: Polychromed wood, carving.
• Actually, this sculpture of Pedro de Mena is on the National Museum of Sculpture, Valladolid.

The Penitent Magdalen is distinguished for the simplicity of its forms. She looks like a young and Hebrew woman. This sculpture is the living image of penance and repentance. It is made up of polychromed wood. The colors are inside the ocher and brown variety, very appropriated with the theme and spirit that Pedro tried to transmit with this sculpture. This is one of the finest examples of the realistic language of Spanish Baroque sculpture, steeped in emotion and religiosity.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpieS41GgO7r27luz32i32Z8ognz6hT8qRY2gubiVZl1PsnOBLxTPJ-onANQVBqV79OZIspdMR2piHHthZO_LnC1CNt8RwxLv7gtC5hxf6nBBYIQA4dtoakqD0QdI7oOZRoKXeu71C1J1h/s1600/mena1.jpg

Mary Magdalen contemplates a crucifix she holds in her left hand. Her right hand is on her bosom, indicating her love and devotion to Christ. She feels empathy for Christ's suffering. The movement begun by her left foot represent a dynamic pose. She has a sad look with red eyes, caused by tears and her mouth is slightly open and dry. For the long and flowing hair, Pedro de Mena used several strands of twisted wicker, painted with a chestnut colour. She is wearing a simple long dress, down to his feet and tied around her waist with a rope. X-radiography has revealed that the main body of the figure was created from a column of wood to which Mena attached the separately carved body parts using animal flue and long nails.

The theme of the Penitent Magdalen is a representation of the repentance of the Cristian believers. This sculpture it isn’t very common at the time and in the Andalusian school neither. There aren’t many sculptures of this style during the Baroque period in Spain.

It is a sculpture with a lot of realism that transmits a spiritual value that shows the influence of some Castilians sculptors, like Gregorio Fernández.

http://esunmomento.es/Arte/Magdalena%202.jpg

In this sculpture we can recognize different features of the Baroque style, like: movement, realism in representations, interest in surprising the audience, capturing fleeting moments,  use of curved lines and cloths folds…

The subject belong to be religious, representing drama and realism, using: wounds, blood, expression of suffering (like the Penitent Magdalen) and pain.

Pedro de Mena

Pedro de Mena was a Spanish sculptor who is considered the most famous representative of Granada during the Baroque period in Spain. He dedicated his life's work to producing sculptures about religious imagery, just as his father had done before him. He shared his workshop with a famous Spanish sculptor and artist, Alonso Cano. As a result, the pair worked together and collaborated in many projects during their lives.

Bust of Pedro de Mena http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Malaga-Pedro_de_Mena-20110921.jpg/250px-Malaga-Pedro_de_Mena-20110921.jpg

Pedro de Mena has been one of the best sculptors of all time, he was able to create naturalistic iconographic on the Granada school, and he was one of the most influential sacred sculptors in the Spanish religious art during the 17th century until today.

He kept alive the Granada school and he created the focus of sculptors from Malaga. He had influence one hundred and fifty years after his death. 

Sources

Atlas ilustrado de la Historia del Arte, Susaeta.

Historia del Arte, Vicens Vives. J. R. Triadó Tur, M. Pendás García, X. Triadó Subirana.

http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/contextos/4771.htm

https://www.museodelprado.es/index.php?id=250&tx_indexedsearch[sword]=%20es%20pagina%20principal%20coleccion%20galeria%20on%20line%20galeria%20on%20line%20obra%20magdalena%20penitente%202

http://arte.laguia2000.com/escultura/magdalena-penitente-pedro-de-mena

Lying Christ by Gregorio Fernández

This sculpture was made in Valladolid in 1634 and it was commissioned by the church of Saint Miguel and Saint Julián. Now is in the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid.

With respect to the features of the Baroque art this sculpture didn´t represent many movement and fleeting movements that because is lying in place like a bed, but the author (Gregorio Fernández) makes this sculpture to surprise the public, he started with the theme of the "Santo Entierro" and from this theme he pruposed an other "cuerpo muerto".

In this picture Christ alredy was crucified and was nude only with the "paño de pureza" above him. This kind of blanket was made by Gregorio also, it have a lot of rigid folders.

Appart to the polychromed wood of this that done, to made it more realistic Fernández used some different materials: ivory tooth, cristal eyes, lumps of sawdust in the wounds and also in his nails from his feets and hands.

This work was made to show it from a lateral, because the head of Christ was tilted to his right, the left leg it´s above the right leg, and his position is also a little bit tilted from the rigth.

http://museoescultura.mcu.es/coleccion/obrasImprescindibles/gal18.html

The ideal of death is represented by the wounds and courts in his skin, and also the blood that have around this wounds, all of this is supposed that is produced by the "via crucis". Fernández was represented this very well with hard work he made a lot of little details to impress the public and to do that they have a feeling of realism.

This work was made by Gregorio Fernández a spanish Baroque sculptor who was born in 1576 in Lugo and was died in 1636 two years after made this scupture. His main themes for the scupture were religious, like Christs, Virgins,etc.

http://www.xn--espaaescultura-tnb.es/es/artistas_creadores/gregorio_fernandez.html

The other sources of the project are:

http://contemplalaobra.blogspot.com.es/2009/04/gregorio-fernandez-cristo-yacente.html

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorio_Fern%C3%A1ndez

http://www.xn--espaaescultura-tnb.es/es/artistas_creadores/gregorio_fernandez.html

http://www.spanish-art.org/spanish-sculpture-fernandez.html

http://www.revistadearte.com/2010/07/06/lo-sagrado-hecho-real-en-el-museo-nacional-colegio-de-san-gregorio/gregorio-fernandez-1576-1636-cristo-yacente-1625-30-madera-museo-nacional-del-prado-madrid-depositado-mncolegio-de-san-gregorio-valladolid/

Eneas, Anchises and Ascanius ( Bernini).

SCULPTURE: Eneas, Anchises and Ascanius ( Bernini).

Author:

Bernini (1598-1680) was an architect, sculptor, painter... Bernini in sculpture always represents the feelings, passions, and what it's attached to them, life, agitation... It does through rhetorical and theatrical methods. Through this representation seeks to involve the view. Always represents the action and movement. The representation of this action results in open lines, diagonals and the projection of the figure in space.

Bernini will combine these two things can surround the sculpture, but there will always be a principal point of view (typically, his sculptures are designed to be viewed on a background).

Bernini break the wall between reality and fiction, especially creating different levels of existence, which will lead to the configuration of religious subjects. Often (not always) uses different materials, allowing you to distinguish the levels of living and make different light effects views in the work.

 

Work:

Is the most representative sculpture of Baroque period. This sculpture is made of marble and can find it in the Borghese Gallery. It's about a mythological theme, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, called Apollo's love for Daphne. In these sculpture is very important to represented the movement, expression and the exaggeration theatre.

The moment of the myth represented in this sculpture is when Apollo reaches to Daphne and becomes laurel. This is essentially the myth of the unattainable, that we want it, we lose it. Also represented the emotions: Daphne's face shows the fear to be reached and requesting to the gods. The open-mouthed and theatrical expression contributes to complete the scene dramatic and prodigiously. But also there are represented idealization, we can see the ideal young body.

Bibliography.

http://html.rincondelvago.com/escultura-de-gianlorenzo-bernini.html

http://www.artecreha.com/El_muSeO_creha/sala-9-bernini-qapolo-y-dafneq.html

Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

This famous sculpture was made in Rome, and Bernini started making it in 1671 and finished it in 1674. The sculpture was commissioned by the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Rome. Then, it was placed in the left part of the church, in the Altieri Chapel.

This is a sculpture made with only one material: marble. It represents Ludovica Albertoni, a roman noblewoman who lived a pious life, and who worked to the poor of Tratesvere neighborhood under the San Francesco Church, where she was buried in 1533. This woman is represented on a mattress in the moment of mystical communion with God, that’s because he’s got her hand in her chest and that exhausted face. She’s represented with clothes similar to nun’s. This sculpture is so realistic: the face of Ludovica shows an state of ecstasy because her soul is gathering with God. In his sculpture,  concentrates a lot of light. Bernini thought in everything: he designed an architectural setting that focuses attention and light in the sculpture. There is a painting behind the sculpture painted by Baciccio.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/te_whiu/6120984019/

As is a Baroque sculpture, we observate the following features:

• ·         The sculpture represent movement: it represents the movement of Ludovica Albertoni while she’s reuniting her soul with God.
• ·         The sculpture cause a sensation of emotion because it represent a fleeting moment: it’s a very unsual position because the movement is due to divine nature, and for that it causes us emotion.
• ·         We can observate curved lines over all the sculpture but above all in the Ludovica Albertoni’s clothes.
• ·         The sensation of movement in the sculpture is intensify by cloth folds over all the sculpture. They are recognized easily, for that we have a big sensation of movement when we see at first sight the sculpture.

• 
  

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_Ludovica_Albertoni

There is another interesting information about the sculpture:

Bernini lasted so much in finishing this famous sculpture, from 1671 to 1674. Three years. This was due because he concentrated the majority of his work in other two works: The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII and The Altar of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Here there is a portrait of Bernini:

Sources: http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/b/bernini.htm

Other sources used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_Ludovica_Albertoni

                                http://www.italianways.com/the-ecstasy-of-blessed-ludovica-albertoni/