The artist obtained this commission from the Venetian Cardinal Federico Cornaro, who came to Rome and settled in the Palazzo Venezia. As a place for the posthumous glory of his family (from which the Venetian doges came), he chose a small chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. It was to be dedicated to a great Spanish mystic – St. Teresa of Ávila. We can only assume why he chose this particular chapel. While he was still in Venice, the cardinal brought the Order of the Discalced Carmelites there, of which as we know St. Teresa had been a member, taking care of them until 1644, when he moved to Rome. He also supported the order in Rome and maintained close relations with it. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that he desired to lay his earthly remains in the church of the congregation which was near and dear to him, by the altar of the Discalced Carmelite, canonized in 1622, in order to praise her and express his faith, as well as to add splendor the church with the work of an outstanding artist. He spared no expenses, for it was not a cheap investment. The design cost 12 thousand scudos, which even for Bernini, was an extensive sum. The Carmelites appreciated the great generosity of the donor. After the chapel was completed in one of the letters to the cardinal, the general superior of the order while thanking him, expressed hope, which was to be fulfilled in full. He wrote that thanks to the devotion and faith of cardinal Cornaro, he will be immortalized in metal and marble.

While working on his composition the sculptor based his work on the words of the mystic herself, who claimed that she achieved the highest level of meditation, meaning „surrendering to ecstasy”, being nothing other than a bodily, although invisible, union with God. Teresa described this moment with the following words:

  „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 Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (2006) translated by David Lewis).

Bernini depicted this inner movement in a surprisingly creative way – on one side he dressed Teresa in a creased robe with rich drapery and through it we can feel this bodily spasm, on the other side showing her inert foot and hand, portraying the passiveness of her limbs. The beautiful seraph piercing her body with his arrow gently touches her robe, as if in this way helping in the levitation which Teresa was supposed to experience. There is not too much nudity in this sculpture – it is only face, foot and the mystic’s hands, the rest of the body is covered, as was fit for a nun. Yet, that was enough for a highly sacral work to acquire an aura of another kind of ecstasy – sensual. This is the one Bernini had to know and it was this very kind that was a source of inspiration, although at the same time it seems that an artist devoted to the Church did not plan any ambiguity. An eighteenth-century French diplomat looking at this work was to have said: „if this is to be Divine love, eh bien I know it well.” Bernini’s contemporaries also thought of the work as such – yet surprisingly – nobody dared to doubt the artist’s meaning – it raised unanimous admiration.

The scene being played out in the chapel „of surrendering to ecstasy” is accompanied by eight men of different ages – mainly clergymen, representatives of the Cornaro family, placed in the two side balconies. However, they do not seem to be observing the saint – rather they are occupied with quiet conversation, they look like members of the audience in a theatre box. Above, there are two windows, one unseen by the spectator, from which the light directly illuminating the main group descends, the other, in a higher part, illuminating the sphere of clouds with a dove topping off the whole -  a symbol of the Holy Trinity and painted images of the saints. The figures of Teresa resting on a cloud and the angel were sculpted out of one piece of Carrara marble in such a way, that the polished, shining surface of the figures is placed against the unprocessed, raw surface of the cloud. The whole is illuminated by a light from above, of which tangibly golden rays descend onto the main scene, in this way providing a sensation of divine emanation.

It is a veritable theatrum sacrum, at the same time being a Baroque bel composto - a complete work, combining three genres of art – architecture, sculpture and painting. But there is also room for light and sound, since the open mouth of the saint looks like it is emitting a barely audible moan, which is accompanied by the whispers of the men from the Cornaro family.

The chapel was consecrated in 1651, a year before the cardinal’s death, so he was able to admire the work created for him, before he was buried there. It is still admired today with equal interest.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, 1647–1651, Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria