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68 The Art Professor Discusses Bernini’s Teresa in Ecstasy Depicting her, Bernini did not sculpt the woman who would counsel popes or dance flamenco in the convent when the nuns were bored. Instead, he focused solely on her face contorted in an agony of pleasure, her eyes half-lidded and her parted lips unwilling to return the oval of her mouth to silence. A bride outspread and straddling her lover’s loins would look like this, her body primed for what she hopes will happen and desires more than breath itself. It’s possible Bernini watched or fantasized a woman locked in such a wild tussle. Why not transfer this image to a sainted nun? With consummation as his parable, Bernini carved Teresa swooning in God’s orgy as any woman might when yielding to a love both wanton and permissible. ...

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