Bernini, Borromini, and Caravaggio

The Saint Cecilia paper has been turned in, and we've been busy going to a variety of churches, focusing on Bernini on Wednesday and Carvaggio on Thursday.

On Wednesday we went to Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa".

Shown in 'Angels and Demons' as the second to last church, it looks slightly fudged in the movie to make the action work (the arrow actually points North if you look at a map, not West as the movie says). Talk about disappointing!

We then went down the road to San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane designed by Borromini.

At the time, Borromini was criticized for using geometry rather than sticking with tradition- notice that the interior is an oval shape, and the exterior shot is an octagon? However, a few years later, none other than Bernini designed a church (Sant'Andrea al Quirinale) that looks surprisingly similar.

The next day, we met at Santa Maria del Popolo to look at a few Caravaggio paintings, but there are signs posted requesting that you don't take photos. So instead, here's one from the piazza:

We walked over to San Agostino to see 'Madonna of the Pilgrims'.

We had a few minutes to look around the church, which is when I saw an altar for the Madonna, who people will pray to specifically about childbirth. I was amazed at the amount of 'It's a Boy!/Girl!' balloons or such that was left, causing me to take this photo:

We then went over to San Luigi dei Francesi to see some more Caravaggio paintings, these following Saint Matthew's story.

When Jesus first came to him:

Writing the Gospel:

Martyrdom:

Afterwards we got gelato before going back to studio for Mixed Media.