Two youthful masterpieces by Baroque
great Gian Lorenzo Bernini are on show at the Vatican Museums
after leaving their previous hard-to-visit seat at the Spanish
embassy to the Holy See.
The works, Damed Soul and Blessed Soul, are on show on the
occasion of the Jubilee Holy Year 2025 until January 31.
The two sculptures were created in 1619, when the artist was
just 21 years old, and each represents a face sculpted in marble
that portrays a condition of the spirit: a woman with an
ecstatic face, contemplating heavenly Grace upwards, is the soul
that has arrived, or is on the way, to eternal salvation, while
the man with his face distorted by a grin of anguish who looks
downwards represents the soul facing the prospect of eternal
damnation.
To portray him, explains the curator of the exhibition Helena
Pérez Gallardo, it is said that Bernini stood in front of a
mirror and let his hand be burned by the fire of a candle: from
there the artist created the sketch as a model for the work.
Whether reality or legend, the two heads placed one in front of
the other represent a 'memento mori' of great artistic
effectiveness.
They were commissioned by Pedro de Foix de Montoya, a literary
cleric of the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Resurrection of
Christ the Redeemer, based in the church of San Giacomo degli
Spagnoli, who most likely instructed Bernini to leave the two
busts to the institution after his death.
For the members of the latter, meditation on heaven and hell was
one of the central aspects of devotion.
"Bernini was the great director of the Baroque", underlines
Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, on the occasion
of the presentation of the exhibition.
An artistic period that in the Vatican "finds its maximum
expressions thanks to the works he created": for this reason the
Museums have welcomed "with enthusiasm" the proposal of the
Spanish ambassador to the Holy See Isabel Celaà Diéguez to
exhibit Bernini's Souls, works "that testify to the surprising
technical and artistic ability" of the artist since his youth,
underlines Jatta who was also the curator of the exhibition,
hosted in a separate room in the spaces of the Vatican art
gallery.
The exhibition also has a charitable aspect: the proceeds from
the sale of the catalogue will be donated to the victims of the
flood in Valencia, "a huge tragedy caused by climate change that
has caused a huge loss of human lives and property", says
ambassador Isabel Celaà Diéguez.
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