The art of sculpture came to us from the depths of millennia. Europe recognized the classical Hellenic works of art during the Renaissance from Roman copies. But the movement moved inexorably forward. The 17th century required other forms of expression of thought. So there was a "bizarre" and "strange" baroque. Sculpture, painting, architecture, literature - all responded to the call of time.
Origin of the term
The emergence of the word "baroque" causes a lot of controversy. The Portuguese version is proposed - the “pearl", the shape of which is irregular. Opponents of this trend called it “ridiculous”, “pretentious,” because combinations of classical forms and emotionality reinforced by light effects bizarrely merged in this style.
Signs of style
Magnificence and grandeur, illusion and reality, deliberate excitement and some unnaturalness - this is all the Baroque style. Sculpture is an integral part of it, which shows the disclosure of the human image in conflict, with increased emotionality and psychological expressiveness of the character. The figures are given in quick and sharp movements, their faces are distorted by grimaces of pain, grief, joy.
Lorenzo Bernini created the dynamics of images and tension in his works. With the help of a dead stone, he depicted dramatic narratives, especially skillfully using light. Artistic superiority in comparison with contemporaries of L. Bernini is indisputable for our time. The
baroque sculpture was raised by this genius to an extraordinary height. She strove to become like a painting thanks to the skillful transitions of light and shadow. Works can be viewed from all sides, and each time they will be perfect.
This is because the material is completely subordinate to the artistic idea. The work of the Baroque sculptor, sculpture in particular, comes in contact with the environment, with the airspace around it. It is Baroque that opens in nature, in gardens and parks, a new milestone in the history of secular sculpture.
How the sculptor works
Only the ingenious Michelangelo was able to take a block of marble and cut off everything unnecessary, creating a masterpiece. The main thing is how the image is born in the sculptor’s head, what creative torments it is associated with, how every detail is thought out, how the sculptor sees the future result in advance, and how he seeks to approach an imaginary ideal. So for centuries creative people worked. Baroque style is no exception. The sculpture was created using the same technique. Lorenzo Bernini, as he himself said, subjugated marble like wax.
The Proserpine Abduction Myth
The sculptural composition "The Abduction of Proserpine" was commissioned by the young talented sculptor L. Bernini (1621-1622) Cardinal Scipio Borghese. The master was only 23 years old. He decided to express as brightly as possible all the feelings that arose at the time of the capture of young Proserpine by Pluto. Happily passed the youth of the daughter of Demeter, who frolic and led dances with friends in the meadows and forests. She and her mother did not know that the powerful Zeus decided to make her the wife of the ruler of the underworld of Pluto. Once, during a walk, she liked a flower. Proserpine tore him off. It was at this moment that a gloomy lord of the kingdom of shadows and the dead Pluto appeared from under the earth on a golden chariot. Only Helios from heaven saw how the powerful god grabbed and took the beauty under the ground. Proserpine only managed to scream.
Sculpture of Lorenzo Bernini
The dynamic composition “The Abduction of Proserpine” is well balanced and symmetrical.
Pluto’s powerful body with tense biceps and carefully carved calf muscles, swollen veins and ligaments is very stable thanks to widely spaced legs and an elbow extended forward. The figure of Proserpine wriggles in his hands. With one hand she pushes the head of Pluto away from her, and the other, in a plea for help, is thrown up. With her hips and whole body, the young lad repels from the formidable god. Tears flow down her face.
It is all - a rush up, to the will. The delicate body of the girl firmly and gently hold the graceful fingers of God. Their bodies form a stable X-shaped composition. The first diagonal runs from Pluto's legs set aside to the side of the reclined head. The second - through the right leg of Proserpine, the body and head of God. The bodies of the characters and the Cerberus including, which is designed to balance the composition, look extremely realistic. If you look at it from different sides and with different lighting, you get either sinister effects or warm on the faces. The contrast of smooth, with soft roundness bodies with shaggy wool of Cerberus is also interesting. Art can be so exciting. The sculpture gives the impression that they are made of different materials. But this is not so. In addition, it should be added that the hair on the head of God seemed to be lifted by the wind, and they look extremely natural. The work “Abduction of Proserpine” should be circumvented, then it will be revealed that with a minimum of details the master created a masterpiece with a completely helpless girl and Pluto, unshakable in his pursuit.
Cardinal Borghese's second order
Delighted with the perfection of the sculptor's work, Cardinal Borghese ordered the following composition in 1622. It was also based on Greek myth. He was familiar to enlightened Italians in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The bottom line is that Apollo, struck by Cupid's arrow, when he saw a beautiful nymph, began to pursue her. Here he already overtook her, but the runaway began to beg her father, the river god, for help, and in the eyes of the shocked Apollo turned into a laurel tree. The sculpture "Apollo and Daphne" by Bernini depicts exactly the moment when the nymph's legs turn into roots, and the fingers of her hands - into branches with foliage.
There was nothing left of her but the radiant charms. Phoebe did not lose her love. He kissed the bark that hid the body of the nymph, and put a wreath of laurel branches on his head. The genius of Bernini turned poetry into reality. He showed the dynamism of action and change. Especially with Daphne. Her outfit, falling from her shoulder, turns into a bark, her hands into a branch. The nymph's expression is a tragedy. God looks at her with infinite hope and does not believe that she will change. This sculpture illustrates vain love. She says that the pursuit of earthly pleasures can lead to disappointment and, moreover, harm another person.
Both compositions are now on display at the Borghese Gallery in Rome.