"The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa", (1647l-52) one of Gianlorenzo Bernini's most famous works, is considered to be one of the major sculptural masterpieces of the 17th c. Roman Baroque.
The work was commissioned by the Cornaro family for their chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
The masterpiece in marble, bronze, stucco and paint, was created by Bernini during the papacy of Innocent X Pamphili when Bernini,
the chief architect of St. Peters was temporarily out of favor with the Pope in the late 1640's.

The central figure of St. Teresa of Avila, sculpted in white marble, and lying back on a stucco cloud, is swooning "in heavenly rapture",
as she has a vision that she has been pierced in the heart by an angel. The sculpture group is illuminated by an unseen light source from outside the church.
Just out of the viewer's sight on the right and left of the central group shown here, are "theater boxes"
with members of the Cornaro family in particolored marbles, observing the miracle.
The theme of the sculptural work was taken from the writings of St. Teresa where she describes a heavenly encounter with an
angel who pierced her heart and left her "on fire with a great love of God".....

The sculpture group is lit from above by natural light which filters through a hidden window in the dome above the setting.
An image of this hidden light source so typical of Bernini, is shown from the outside of the church in the following image.