Apollo And Dafne, Sculpture By Gian Lorenzo Bernini

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Apollo and Dafne, sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini one of the most representative and important works in what is the baroque period and a great influence for many other artists especially sculptors.

The statue tells us about the Greek episode of Dafne and Apollo, who tells that Apollo frequently mocked eros since he considered him a secondary god with a ridiculous task, which was for people to fall in love, eros angry decides to give a lesson to Apollo And he shoots a golden arrow, which would make him fall in love madly, and fired another arrow but this time one of lead to the nymph dafne daughter of the river thieves and the goddess Gea, to which when he touched the lead arrow this He would feel a deep contempt and rejection by the person of the golden arrow, then Apollo begins to chase Dafne, Dafne fearing that the God would do his his parents, the river thieve and the goddess that free her, and the Parents choose to turn it into a bay tree, Apollo, seeing how her beloved becomes a tree hugs the tree and cries for her beloved and said: «Since you cannot be my wife, you will be my favorite tree and your leaves, Always green, they will crown the ca Bezas of the people in victory ».

In this work we can see intense exciteFrom the statue we have a vision at the time of the metamorphosis of the nymph. And from Apollo as a statue, he shows his love desperately, in vain. Dafne seems to ignore his transformation as he looks back above his shoulder, with his lips ajar by fear. His sudden arrest, as a result of his transformation, shows immortalized Dafne hair while turning. Meanwhile, Apollo is stunned, he can’t believe what his eyes see.

Bernini uses an open composition, a three -dimensional figure that allows the spatial vision of all the angles of the sculpture, with a great diagonal line that gives the sculpture a great movement and dynamism to the whole set, especially in the waved clothes and in the hairof Dafne. The close position of the characters gives the work stability.

Birth of the Baroque

It is born in the Rome of the potatoes linked to the ideals of the counter -reform, it will be extended throughout Europe and Latin America, having in each nation its own characteristics. Baroque art is a formal change with respect to Renaissance art, classic values and balance is replaced by movement and free expression of feelings. This new style responds to a change of mentality both in the Church after Luther’s reform and for the formation of absolute monarchies

During the 16th century, Protestant ideas extended throughout Europe, Rome lost their political and religious hegemony. The division that occurs in the Church required a reaffirmation of the Catholic Church and the Catholic dogma. Baroque art will also become the propaganda instrument of absolute monarchies that strengthen n Europe, its luxury will transmit to the citizen the feeling of power of their kings.

The separation of the Netherlands from the Spanish crown and its approach to England gave rise to a politically facing Europe between the Protestant and Catholics monarchies, which to a greater or lesser extent, adapted their policy and ideology to the guidelines of Rome. France created an absolutist state, focused on the by King Najo the motto "The State is me". England on the contrary after the Cromwell Revolution and the decapitation of King Carlos I pass from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentarian.

Spain begins a very pronounced political and economic crisis, being the peak of the 1640It was one of the most fertile in the arts and lyrics of our history, knowing itself as the "Golden Age". The 18th century will bring, a change of dynasty in favor of the French Bourbons in the figure of Felipe V .Felipe’s victory over Carlos in the War of Succession will be reflected in a change in taste towards the French in our country a fundamental fact, which is considered the beginning of contemporary history is the revolution must be placed in the ideology of theIllustration, where thinkers like Rousseau or Montesquieu are going to exert a fundamental influence, not only in convulsion Europe, but also in the New World as in the United States or those of South America (Picersa, 2012)

 Gian Lorenzo Bernini was born in Naples, son of Napolitana and the Florentino Pietro Bernini sculptor. With the family he moved in 1606 to Rome, where most of his life would go. I work next to his father in the decoration of the Paolina chapel in Santa María la Mayor and from him acquired a great technical knowledge to carve the marble. From the Cinquecento teachers he learned the solutions to represent the figures. As a young man, he also learned from Carracci and Caravaggio, and from the works of antiquity that appeared as a result of the Vatican findings, such as the same confessed during his French stay in the theoretical discussions, when I declare his admiration for the Hellenistic works of the laocoonte the torso the torsoof Belvedere or L’antinoo de Belvedere, of which he was attracted to the feeling they locked and by the expressive freedom of his artists. 

As a restorer of ancient pieces, and as Miguel Ángel, Bernini rivaled the classic statues, to the point that one of his first works, Jupiter and Fauna breastfed by the Amaltea goat was held by Hellenistic for a long time. As before Domenichino, also for Bernini the classical sculpture was always a model to follow to achieve ideal beauty. In his works he imitates nature, but he is loaded with allegorical meanings. Cardinal Scipiona Borghese, the main antique collector in Rome of the moment, became Bernini’s protector when he was nineteen years old. He commissioned four sculptural groups;Aeneas and Anquishes, in which Bernini achieved different qualities on the skin of the characters, in merger of the age they represented;The abduction of Proserpina, in which Bernini was interested in capturing the most dramatic moment of the narrated episode;The David, debtor of the study of Giambologna sculpture;and the Apollo and Dafne, with influences from the Farnese gallaria of Carracci and the direct study of antiquity. The last two had to decorate the suburban town of Scipiona Borghese.

Analysis of the work

As we know "Baroque sculpture is characterized by the search for movement, the contrast between different surfaces when looking for light and integration effects in architecture to obtain dramatic intensity".

“The sculpture will participate in the same postulates stated for Baroque art in general. Like architecture, they govern Italy with its maximum figure that will be Bernini. However, there are other important schools in the seventeenth century. In France we can speak of a formal and conceptual classicism linked to the absolute power of the king. In Spain the imagery of a marked naturalism will triumph, putting exclusively at the service of the Church.

The materials vary according to school;In Italy, marble will be used, whose works will be located inside the church and palaces combined with alabaster and bronze. The stone will be used in a generalized way in all reduction areas, especially for those works that are designed to be located outdoors. Among the main characteristics are dynamism, expression and chiaroscuro:

Position

The composition of this sculpture is open, because it is designed to be seen from different points of view and clearly asymmetric and dynamic. The author uses a diagonal that provides dynamism and instability to the figures and also uses various curved lines, such as the two parallels that form the bodies of the characters or their arms, thus accentuating the baroque drama of the work. The dynamism that we have already mentioned is especially highlighted in Dafne’s hair, which seem moved by the wind by stopping the nymph in an abrupt way when their feet begin to throw roots on the ground or in the floating cloths of Apollo. In addition, we observe a clear serpentinite line of Mannerist influence on Dafne’s body, in Apollo’s clothes and Dafne’s hair is seen the movement of the figures.

Figures

The figures of this sculpture are idealized with a classic canon in the anatomies that makes them more slender and a sensual and delicate beauty on the face of the nymph. As we can see in the arms of the characters or at the foot of Apollo, which does not come supported, this work presents an unstable dynamic position, since the author wants to represent the moment of greatest tension.

As for the expressions, we can observe the contrast between Dafne’s horror and the beautification of Apollo’s face, thus highlighting the narrative, dramatic and theatrical character of the work, while the young man has a more hieratic expression, the woman is a lotMore expressive, they are totally individualized and there is a relationship between them highlighting that Dafne has a horror expression and that Apollo is surprised and stunned.

The chiaroscuro

In modeling this figure makes the light a dramatic sense, slipping on the most polished surfaces and softening them, as we can observe in the bodies of Apollo and Dafne, creating a great chiaroscuro on the most rough surfaces like hair like the hair. 

We arrived that in terms of what Gian Lorenzo Bernini wantedIt is atonic to see how his love is transformed into Laurel and watching his clothing he runs to catch it but when he manages to reach it, it is too late on the part of Dafne they look like his face represents the fear and rejection of Apollo watching himself as his skinHis feet becomes wood and especially his hair in flowers that is the most detailed point that I can carve Bernini, it can be seen that Bernini express very well the feelings of both parties in favor because one of the main most important characteristicsof the Baroque was to exploit the emotions in his works to the fullest

Another point is that although time passes, Greek mythology is still resortedAnd see that it is of great relevance

We can conclude that in that period it is seen how religious conflicts managed to give great importance to art by launching the Baroque against the reform of Protestants, and finally that this sculpture is a living image and great exponent of what the period includes the periodBaroque and what I tried to express

Bibliography

  1. Arthistory. (October 23, 2008). Baroque sculpture. Video file: https: // www.Youtube.com/watch?V = P8Myrvouiumw
  2. Camera, a., & Carrio, D. (2015). Art History of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries networks and circulation of artistic models . Ramon Areces University Editorial .
  3. Castellote, s. (1997). Reforms and counter -reforms in 16th -century Europe. Akal editions .
  4. Perez Sanchez, M., Duarte, i., Doval, g., & Flores, to. (2003). Agenda of oppositions to the body of secondary school teachers. Spain: Mad S.L.
  5. Picarsa. (September 11, 2012). Baroque historical-cultural context. Obtained from Picersa’s Blog: https: // picersa.WordPress.com/2012/09/11/context-historical-cultural-of-baroque/
  6. Villains, a. (May 6, 2016). Dafne and Apollo Bernini in final class. Obtained from slideshare: https: // is.Slideshare.Net/Grandecovian10/Dafne-y-Apolo-Bernini-en-Clase-Final

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