Original Sin and Church

Bernini's David

The Baroque was a dramatic period in Europe: the religious unity the continent had enjoyed for centuries had come to a crashing halt with the Protestant Reformation. King was turned against King, prince against pontiff. Persecution and war were dominant themes, especially following the excommunication of Henry VIII from the Church. Bernini's David, sculpted between 1623 and 1624, represents the swirling, dramatic, grim activity of the times (Avery). It is indeed a strong manifestation of the Baroque principles and themes: David is reared back, depicted in mid-action, like a lock ready to be sprung on his foe. He is full of conviction, bent on striking, Unlike Michelangelo's Renaissance Era David, which aimed mainly for a frontal view to show off the human form and which conveyed a sense of the confidence, leisure, pride and grandeur of the Renaissance Age, Bernini's David is a figure of determination -- a sculpture designed to give a 360-degree effect of engaging with its surroundings, just as many works of Baroque art meant to push the boundaries and convey the world in its entirety, with great care for detail, action, and dramatic effect. This paper will interpret Bernini's David to show how it is a perfect representation of the Baroque for both its religious connotations and its action-oriented depiction of a hero engaged in one a tremendously lopsided conflict.

The chiseled face of Bernini's David is stern, grim, and full of life and fury. He is a character who is bent on slaying the opposition -- Goliath from the Old Testament narrative -- the foes of Catholicism in the Baroque Era narrative. His teeth are set: his eyes narrowed in extreme focus. His brow lowered sternly and intensely, as though the full force of his energy were concentrated there. His muscles are taut, his torso twisted, his legs set wide apart, giving the sculpture a triangle shape -- which in and of itself is symbolic of the Trinity -- the symbol of the Christian Godhead, the three Persons of God -- Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Laux). Embodied in the stance and posture of David is the expression of the faith of the Old World. Implicit in the sculpture is the militancy and immediacy of the Old World Faith finally taking action -- the sort of action it should have taken centuries earlier in order to correct the abuses committed among churchmen. Savonarola had decried these abuses in Italy and been murdered for them. Dante and Chaucer had depicted them in literature. The Church, slow to react, lost its footing and moral high ground to those who were willing to raise their voices in protest. Bernini's David is a reflection of the Church no longer delaying to act -- no longer putting off what it should have done earlier: it is the Church taking aim and about to fire.

The Counter-Reformation was already in full swing: it had begun with the Council of Trent at which the Church had reiterated the basic core beliefs of the Faith in Nicene Creed (Elton). The Church was no longer on the defensive but rather on the offensive -- just as David is crouched back and in mid-launch of the rock that will take down the giant. The heresies that had sprung forth from virtually everywhere in Europe -- Luther in Germany, Knox in England, Zwingli in Switzerland, Calvin in France -- were like many several giants gathering about the Church, shaking her foundations and causing many to lose the faith they had once held dear (Shearer). Bernini's David had been commissioned by Cardinal Borghese. While Churchmen in Italy and all over Europe had been commissioning works of art for centuries, the design of Bernini's David illustrates how the world had changed since Michelangelo had sculpted his masterpiece by the same name. Michelangelo's art works were designed to express the ideal form of beauty, the human nature that we were meant to have but which we had lost as a result of Original Sin. Michelangelo was holding the mirror up to perfect beauty, to perfect forms, to nature in terms of every muscle being shown and demonstrated much in the same way that a body builder flexes to demonstrate the parts of the body that he or she has worked hard to tone to perfect shape. This was often the focus of the humanistic world in the time of the Renaissance. But that time had ended with the rise of Protestantism. The Church could no longer afford to relish in reflection of its humanity's natural gifts and talents. Cracks had appeared and the Devil had let loose in the details: Luther's attack on the Mass; Calvin's sense of predestination; Henry's annihilation of marriage vows and hierarchy in the Church -- all of it was related (Laux). All of it was an echo of Satan's "non servium" to God -- and in Bernini's David, one sees the response of St. Michael to Satan: the same spirit is there, the same avenging flame of passion. David, like St. Michael before him, is there to defend what belongs to God. He is no longer there solely to be admired, as Michelangelo's David is there. Bernini's David is there to fight, to enter into combat. Michelangelo's David is seen post-combat, his sling resting on his shoulder, his face pondering the horizon and his future glory as King. None of this "glory" matters to Bernini's David. What matters to him is that the deed be accomplished, that the stone hit its target: David is concentrated and coiled like a spring. The viewer almost expects him to snap out of his posture at any minute and launch the deadly blow that will bring down the Goliath of Bernini's times.

This was nothing new for Bernini: he had already expressed this kind of religious zeal in other works. He would express it in "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" -- a mixture of gilding, stained glass, colored marble and painted fresco that conveyed the spiritual ecstasy of the saint in a visual style that is overwhelming for the viewer: it literally draws the viewer into the exhibit so that the space between art and audience is diminished and set to flight. The purpose of Baroque art was to do just this -- and Bernini was an expert at achieving this objective. While the Protestants and Puritans were smashing works of art and calling them graven images (Laux), Bernini was taking the offensive and reminding what was still left of Catholic Europe that art was a craft that could raise the mind and intellect and will to God. Bernini did it again and again -- and in his David, one senses the boundless energy and devotion that he himself possessed in undertaking this serious effort.