Baroque Sculpture

Question 1

Saint Cecilia

Answer 1

by Stefano Maderno from 1600 in Italy

• St. Cecilia is known as the patron saint of music
• Made for Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome
• St. Cecilia and her husband were both martyrs. At her execution, she survived three blows to her neck by a knife and survived three days of it while preaching
• The sculpture is placed over the preserved remains of Cecilia
• Commissioned by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfrondrato

Question 2

Assumption of the Virgin

Answer 2

by Pietro Bernini from 1606-10 in Italy

• Made for the Pauline Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore
• It was originally for the outer wall of Pauline Chapel but was built in the new sacristy instead
• Commissioned by Pope Paul V
• Bernini is best remembered as the devoted father and teacher of Gianlorenzo

Question 3

Apollo and Daphne

Answer 3

by Gianlorenzo Bernini from 1622-25 in Italy

• Commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V
• Currently in the Villa Borghese in Rome
• The sculpture is the third in a series of four narrative sculptures for the cardinal
• Depicts a story from the ancient Roman work, The Metamorphoses, by the poet Ovid
• The story details how the laurel tree and the crown of laurel leaves associated with the sun god Apollo came to be