Art and Architecture
Baroque is often considered to have offered only dark and heavy art, maybe because so much painting, music and sculpture so often represented important figures of the Catholic religion and the Bible. The epicenter of the European Baroque period from 1650 to 1700 was Italy. Both Rome and Venice were influential in creating and popularizing Baroque art and music. Rome though was more influential because it was the center of the Catholic Church and the Church was undergoing a reformation during that time. The writings that were allowed had become more mystical. The rituals of church mass became more theatrical and allowed for more movement, in other words for more use of space. Bernini’s David exhibits deep emotion, theatricality and a sense of movement. Comparing the David’s sculpted by Donatello, Verrocchio and Michelangelo will demonstrate the innovative use of space and movement which Bernini used very well.
The artistic talent of the Italian Gianlorezo Bernini (1598-1680) was encouraged as soon as it was recognized. He seemed to have been born to create marble sculptors. Bernini was respected as “a highly original thinker, not merely a consummate craftsman” (Lubow, 2008, p. 79). Bernini had an ability for representing deep emotions in his sculptures. He is said to have captured “the essence of his subject’s personality as well as appearance” (Lubow, 2008, p. 78). Bernini’s sculptures all have some type of movement. It may be dramatic movement like his David ready to throw his sling. The movement may be much more subtle like the way David’s simple garment folds to drape naturally on the body. The details Bernini developed made his figures seem warm and real.
David by Bernini is a life size sculpture of David from the Bible. The sculpture represents David as he is about to use his sling to attack Goliath. The Biblical subject sets this sculpture very much in the Baroque period. Also David has strong emotions etched deeply on his face. David is facing Goliath and he is pulling all his strength together to face his enemy. So the figure of marble seems to have deeply felt emotions. David’s expression was call “intense emotionalism” and some have suggested that the sculpture might be a reflection of the feelings of the sculptor (Martin, 1977, p. 77-78). Bernini was about 25 years old when he sculpted David, who was represented at about the same age. It is possible that some of Bernini’s feelings of courage, frustration, or concentration on meeting his goals were reflected in the emotions on David’s face.
Lubow (2008) noted how different Bernini’s David was than Donatello’s or Michelangelo’s David. Both Verrocchio’s and Donatello’s David were incredibly dramatic because they are represented with the head of the slain Goliath. (Shaked, 2010, 43) Michelangelo’s David is much more calm and relaxed in the way Michelangelo represents him before the battle with Goliath; coolly standing erect waiting for battle.
Michelangelo also represents David as super human, very tall and muscular. There is a movement and a concentration to his task in Bernini’s David not found in the other three sculptures. Bernini was similar to Michelangelo because of the way he transformed Rome into the City of Fountains as Michelangelo had changed Rome 100 years before. (Lubow, 2008, 76). They were also both geniuses who had and still have a large impact on art. Bernini’s David was a young man of average size who was focused on a challenging task. David did not stand stiffly and unmoving. David is more dramatic yet more natural than his predecessors not only in his personality but also how he seemed just about ready to let his sling shot fly. Bernina filled the space he had available and because of that his David seems to be ready to take action.
References
Lubow, A. (2008). Bernini’s Genius: The Baroque master animated 17th-century Rome with his astonishing sculpture and architecture. Smithsonian. Vol. October, pp. 76-83
Martin, J. R. (1977). Baroque. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Shaked, G. (2010) “Rome: Bernini’s David.” Secrets of Italian Sculpture. Publisher: lulu.com, pp. 42-47.
