Bernini Vs Michelangelo

When it comes to art, everyone knows of the two most infamous sculptors that have ever lain feet on this Earth. I am referring to the great Michelangelo and the brilliant Bernini. These two artists are known for being some of the best artists during their era. Michelangelo is one of the most well-known Renaissance artists to ever live, whereas Bernini is famously known as being a Baroque artist. Each era had a new style of art and these artists are the ones that really defined these new styles. These differences of styles are very apparent when you take a look at each ones art. For example if we look at the Pieta sculpture from Michelangelo, you can see how the bodies are not proportional to actual humans. This was a very popular style of sculpting …show more content…
What makes this piece of art so unique is that the chapel where it sits was actually designed just like a theatre just for this sculpture. The reason this sculpture has such a strong element of light because there is actually a window placed just perfect that allows light from the outside to seep into his piece. The light from the window reflect off of the bronze shafts that are behind the sculpture which gives the illusion that the shafts are actually rays of sunlight. Another reason why this piece is unique is because it consists of two figures in to. There is Teresa herself who is shown lying on a cloud with an angel standing over her, who is holding a golden spear which is point right at Theresa’s heart. This entire piece was also made out of white marble which makes it more amazing when you look at how much detail is actually in the piece. To help really capture the moment Bernini added great detail into Theresa’s body. Her mouth is open, her eyes are closed, both limbs are hanging as if they were limp and she looks as if she is swooning near erotic rapture. Also her cloths had a huge amount of details as well. The heavy drapery that is around her body helps add to the movement and drama of the piece. Artists during this time were very detailed and were sculpted to show movement within the scene. The angel that is hovering over Theresa appears as though he is prepared to …show more content…
This sculpture is 5-foot, 8-inchs and only a single block of marble was needed to carve this piece. Marble is the preferred stone for sculptors because it is very soft and can chiseled into very easily while also being able to show a lot of detail. Michelangelo was also famous for saying that he could see the piece inside the marble before he started chiseling. There are many reasons for Michelangelo’s “Pieta” being so famous, but the main reason was the amount of detail that he could out into marble. The cloths, skin, hair, and body each had their own kind of texture and he was able to make the scene seem so real. The actual term “Pieta” refers to Jesus Christ in the lap of the Virgin Mary after he was already hung from the chose. The theme of the “Pieta” became popular between many French and German people, which is another reason why this piece got so much attention. This is why Jean de Billheres (the French Cardinal at the time”) asked Michelangelo for a sculpture so that he may put it into his future tomb which was located in Old St. Basilica. In the sculpture “Pieta” Michelangelo shows the body of Christ placed in the lap of the Virgin Mary sometime after Jesus was released from the cross. This piece displays the idealism of the Renaissance period combined with the classical beauty that is very much evident in naturalism. The structure of Michelangelo’s Pieta somewhat looks like a pyramid