Baroque and Eroticism

After the period of reviving classical architecture in Renaissance, there came a time for, just like modernism and post-modernism, alteration and distortion of the existing form.  Baroque, as seen by the eyes of Renaissance architects, were preposterous and should not exist, because it also played on their beloved simple classical forms, bending and curving it.

For me, Baroque used more ornamentation than Renaissance.  The latter was also ornamented, but the former provided something more.  They provided movements, feelings, and association to religion.  As I looked at the slides last Tuesday I can’t help but thinking that sculptures and architectures cannot be separated for Baroque.  The sculptures have more movement, like the pose of human body and the flow of fabrics, and these were integrated into parts of the building, telling stories that simply only walls and façade failed to.  We can compare the sculpture ‘David’ of Renaissance and Baroque.  The former one is in the casual pose; displaying the proportion of human body, while the latter is all in action, ready to take down Goliath with intense expression on his face.

'David' by Michelangelo

'David' by Bernini

The example of how sculpture and architecture blended can be seen in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, displaying the famous ‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa’.  The sculpture itself gives out the movement, the angel lifting Saint Teresa to heaven.  There is the interaction between them and them to the surrounding architecture, which was designed to emphasis the scenario: rays of light as the background infusing with the natural light from the opening behind the aedicule.  The pediment was bent, giving the feeling of bigness and grandness.

I feel that Baroque is erotic because it has the sense of movement, the interaction between two things.  It also associated with feelings, which would differ in each person, and strong belief, in this case, in religion.  These can provoke strong feelings for people with the same faith and that, for me, is a very good quality of eroticism.