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Ecstasy...From New Life |
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written
by daw84 / 09.12.2005 |
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| The Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni |
1 of 1 |
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Assignment |
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Approaching the Blessed Ludovica Albertone, I had absolutely no preconceptions. Ignorance is often bliss, and in my ignorance of the true intent of this controversial and suggestive piece of art I was able to make observations and interpretations which were entirely my own, a perspective which would have been tainted had I already known what I was about to view.
When the sculpture entered my line of sight, my eyes shot straight to her face. Initially, it was a terrifying look of anguish, pain, and helplessness. Her right hand, the second place my eyes were directed, showed the pain and anguish as well, its thumb still tense from the previous moments which brought about the utter exhaustion I observed. Travelling down her body, her cloak floats as if she has just fallen from great heights onto her soft bed, and her garments have not yet settled about her beautiful, womanly figure.
Finally, I notice the colored cloth extending from the base of the sculpture, and only then does the realization that the statue only assumes its current shape due to the light shooting in from the window above her head. It perfectly accentuates each feature and fold. The reason that the lower cloth must have color, is because the powerful, natural light does not reach it. The rest of the figure is perfect though, gorgeous, smooth, continuous, white marble. The light gives the contrast illuminating gloriously and darkening mysteriously, so that the longer one stares at the image, eyes adjusting to the dim light of the dark areas, the detail seems to almost melt away. Bernini was an absolute genius to have such a command of the way light would manipulate his creation.
Stepping in for a closer look, I was once again drawn to the face. Her expression turns from anguish, to relief, to that of love in absolute and beautiful exhaustion, and for the first time, I wonder what her story is. With such love on her face, has she just been cast aside by her wild lover? The pain in her helpless position also communicates that of heartbreak and hopelessness. Is she collapsing to the couch due to her vain efforts to rekindle once-vibrant love? Or, has she just completed the exhausting task of bringing a new life into this world?
Not knowing about the usual interpretation of her having just experienced the pure ecstasy of the most-intimate love of her husband, I settled on the theory that she has just given birth. Her look of exhausted love and joy stems from the mysterious mixed emotions of pain after childbirth and yet complete bliss knowing that new life has come. Her right hand is ready for the approaching tasks of raising the little one. Her left hand explores the giant void inside of her shrunken belly. She feels the deep, painful loss, and yet in the midst of the heartbreaking emotions lies a deep, inexplicable joy of new hope.
The mastery of the dichotomy of pain and bliss continues in the two groups of faces floating above the woman. Later I was told that these heads were added to the scheme long after it originally was placed in the church, but they powerfully display the mixture of the two emotions. The faces on the left all look down at the woman. Their expressions show love and pride in her recent accomplishment. The faces on the right are focused back into the distance. Although still looks of love, they show the wariness of the new responsibility the woman has for her newborn child.
I walk away from the captivating piece, and turn around only once as I exit. In that single look however, numerous aspects of the work came together. On the wall directly to the right of the niche in which the woman lies is a picture of Jesus. Nothing about it is particularly impressive, he is simply being lowered off of the cross after having died via crucifixion. However, his body position, his head, hands, legs, and feet, mirror exactly the bodily position of the reclining woman. The 2000 year old story of Jesus and Nicodemus came to my mind. In His encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus teaches him that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he must be “born again.” Through her pain, the woman has just brought one life into the world, and through His Passion, Jesus had just brought new life to all mankind.
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