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I think that movie was "When Harry met St. Teresa." K Christopher Crockett wrote: > > >If I must analyze it further, I get the impression that Bernini is being > >very cynical: Theresa's mystical experience is just theatre; the church >is > just theatre. So in the end, the mystical vanishes and all that >remains for > me is erotic. Sorry, but this fish won't nibble on that > >bait. > >mark > > Goodness. > > for a string with such a hi-falutin title, this one has sure been mucking > about on the low road. > > Alas, Professor Pippin Micheli of the art department of StOlof's college has > seen fit to hid her light under a bushel basket viz-a-viz this list for the > present (for reasons unrelated to the quality of the postings), but her > interesting post to this question --which, curiously, was > recently raised on the medart list-- might help raise the tenor of > things, just a whee bit. > > i quote from the medart list's archives: > > >>... She also found Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa entirely too erotic for a > church setting. > > >Put her onto John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul - he'll explain > the erotic aspect. Have her read St Theresa's own description of the > experience - that'll show the erotic aspect. Tell her everyone has noticed the > erotic similarities, ever since it was unveiled. I remember Robert Hughes > quoting some French courtier at the unveiling, who said, > "if that's the Beatific Vision, I know it well!" > > >I think this is where scenes like the various Rapes - Europa, Danae, Io, > Ganymede, Daughters of Leucippus, Daphne, Persephone - are going. Very > un-PC to say it, but rape in the Baroque period and a little before it, > seems to have been a metaphor for divine rapture. > > >Is the student protestant or catholic? My Lutheran students have in the > past demonstrated a strong dislike and disapproval of the idea of an > overwhelming God. > > >Interesting topic. > > >Pippin > >Pippin Michelli, Ph.D > >Assistant Professor of Art History, St Olaf College > http://www.stolaf.edu/people/michelli/index4.html > > Being considerably more mundane in my own associations, and in keeping with > the theatrical motif, i am put in mind of the scene in a 90's movie wherein a > particularly nubile hollywooditess demonstrates her ability to > "fake it" to a potenial lover --in a public restaurant full of people who are > all eventually drawn into the ongoing spectacle of the young lady's > crechendoing pantings and moanings. > > at the end of the demonstration (which of course she is able to turn off > abruptly), a stoutish matron at a nearby table is asked by her waitron unit > for her own order. > > With perfect timing, "I'll have what she's having," she says, nodding to the > starlette's table. > > intersting scene. > > Best to all from here, > > christopher > > ____________________________________________________________________ > Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%