Santa Maria della Vittoria

The second item on the young receptionist's list was in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.
+ Probably the finest statue in the world IMHO, the Transverberation of Saint Teresa was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1652 and depicts an episode of angelic shafting as described by Teresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite nun, in her autobiography, 'The Life of Teresa of Jesus' (1515–1582):
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying."
+ Bernini's work struck me as the finer, but there are many more expert than I am who reckon that Michelangelo's Moses in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, is the best.
The 1513 statue shows Moses sitting with the Tablets of the Law under his arm, while his other hand fondles his long beard, which according to Vasari was carved with such perfection that it seems more a "work of brush than chisel". Moses is angry having found the Israelites worshiping a golden calf, and seems to be on the verge of getting up and destroying everything. An anger which is perfectly conveyed in marble by the swollen veins and tensed muscles. The horns on the head of Moses apparently result from an incorrect translation of the Exodus book which says that as Moses came down from Sinai, he had two rays on his forehead. The Jewish "karan" or "karnaim" - "rays" - may have been confused with "keren" - "horns".
According to many critics this was one of Michelangelo’s favourite works as he considered it extremely realistic. Once the work was finished he hit it and ordered it to speak, but of course he knew that the statue only spoke to tell the sculpture what the marble contained..
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The third statue in the Campo de Fiori is of Giordano Bruno, a 16th C Dominican friar during in the 1500s who came to believe that the universe was infinite and that there were multiple important worlds, all of which were equally overseen by an aspect of God. After a 7 year trial, on 17 Feb 1600 he was led into the Campo de’ Fiori with a spike through his tongue, and at the request of Cardinal Bellarmine, burned at the stake before his ashes were cast into the nearby river Tiber. The Vatican has failed in its attempt to have this commemorative statue removed and has refused to remove the taint of heresy from Bruno.

+ Modern art which perhaps someone can explain to me.Read more