Bernini's dazzling chapel even brighter after restoration

A chapel in a Rome church that is home to a Baroque sculptural masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini has been made even more dazzling after restoration

ROME -- A chapel in a Rome church that is home to a Baroque sculptural masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini has been made even more dazzling after restoration.

Art and restoration specialists presented the result in the Cornaro Chapel in St. Mary of the Victory Church on Thursday. The chapel’s centerpiece is one of Bernini’s most celebrated sculptures, depicting the mystical experience of St. Theresa of Avila.

Known as the “Ecstasy of St. Theresa,” the marble statue is a theatrical centerpiece illuminated by rays of sunlight streaming through an opening. During the restoration of the 17th-century work, specialists removed incrustations on the glass that filters the light, rendering the scene even more dramatic.

Afternoon shafts of sun that pierce a small dome in the chapel accentuate the effect of Bernini's sculptured golden rays. The saint is depicted wrapped in sculpted, wrinkled robes and radiates such fervor in her encounter with her God in Paradise that her enthusiasm is often taken for eroticism.