#6 Heaven and Hell in the Western World
Heaven and hell do not have a prominent place in society today. But in the past heaven and hell were central to the lives of most of the western world. With the idea of purgatory people prayed incessantly all their lives in order to shorten their pain and the pain of their families. Then the reformation offered people hope. In the 1700s in America on through the early 1900s in America heaven and hell became more central to people’s lives as hellfire sermons became the norm. But in the 1900s hellfire sermons went out of style as the world fell into the world wars which took much of the hope that people had for this life and the next. Nowadays less people believe in hell than those who believe in heaven even among Christians. Furthermore, emotion has become more central to faith and identity in America and throughout the world. The Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul offer now and in the past emotional countenance for our understanding of heaven and hell. In this paper you will read about Bernini, the Damned Soul, and the Blessed Soul. How these sculptures work together, the display of the sculptures, and the sculptures in art school. As well as how Bernini understood these sculptures, the genre of the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul. Then the religious function of the sculptures, redemption in the sculptures, and how priests understood the sculptures will be explored. Finally, the subculture of heaven and hell, my understanding of these sculptures, and a conclusion.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Bernini) was born December 7, 1598, in Naples, Italy. Bernini died: November 28, 1680, in Rome, Italy. The art of Bernini was mainly Christian or Greek. Bernini worked with both marble and brush. He created paintings and drawings, as well as sculptures and buildings. Bernini is remembered for his original use of muscles and tension in art to show emotion in his subjects. Arguably Bernini’s most notable work is The Rape of Proserpina which displays a Greek god Pluto who steals Proserpina for a wife; as Pluto was the only god to not receive a wife. One of Bernini’s most notable Christian works is that of The damned soul. This sculpture along with his The blessed soul is a great example of Christian symbolism.
The Damned soul by Bernini was designed to accompany The Blessed Soul also by Bernini. Bernini may have received inspiration for this work from some people have suggested that Bernini received inspiration from prints by Karel van Mallery. Bernini may have also received inspiration from Michelangelo Buonarroti who made a sketch called the damned soul which has many similarities to Bernini’s Damned soul such as the twisted face, harsh eyes, and open mouth. Later Massimiliano Soldani Benzi imitated Bernini by creating a bronze version of the Damned Soul.
The Blessed Soul by comparison to the Damned Soul is peaceful. The Damned Soul displays a man yelling to his left whereas the Blessed Soul displays a serene woman looking up in awe. The Blessed soul looks to the right while the Damned Soul looks to the left. The Blessed soul’s skin is wrinkle free whereas the Damned Soul’s skin is twisted in discomfort. The Blessed soul is relaxed and in awe. The Damned Soul is angry and tense. These works of art together create a lot of tension between good and evil. There has been speculation that these works were meant to symbolize a satyr and a nymph rather than a soul in heaven and another in hell.
These sculptures together have defined how many people understood what heaven and hell looks like. At the time these sculptures were made the pope Paul V was in Rome and knew of and even commissioned many of Bernini’s work. We can speculate that these sculptures influenced how the pope saw heaven and hell in his mind. This in turn would have had an effect on how many other popes and priests have understood heaven and hell. Since the reformation of the Church with Luther had already happened by the time these sculptures were created they likely did not affect the protestant understanding of heaven and hell till until recently causing an even greater divergence of Catholic and Protestant views of heaven and hell.
When the Blessed Soul and the Damned soul were created they were put on display at the “sacristy of the church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli, Rome.” But the busts were later moved to “the Spanish embassy to the Holy See on the Piazza di Spagna.” Both sculptures are still located in the Piazza di Spagna. The sculptures were originally kept in a sacristy where a priest prepares to deliver their sermon. These sculptures served as reminders for the priest of their duty to teach of heaven and hell. They likely served as inspiration for many sermons. After this when the busts were moved to the Piazza di Spagna they have become even less significant as the Piazza di Spagna is filled and surrounded by many other famous sculptures and works of art. If you were to go visit them today there are many things to distract from them. But if you are luckily you will be struck by the contrast that these sculptures create. Thus, reminding you of your mortality and of heaven and hell. Perhaps even leading you closer to God. The Blessed Soul and the Damned soul were commissioned by Cardinal Pedro Foix de Montoya.
Globally the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul are considered examples of Baroque art. Although these sculptures are not as well known as other works of Bernini or Caravaggio. Such that only the most astute art professors cover these sculptures. Such that when consulting art students who do sculping, they had not heard of these sculptures which is peculiar. This sort of experience is likely normal such that the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul have very little effect on most people today.
For Bernini these sculptures seem significant. You can see the face of Bernini in his self portrait called, Self-portrait as a Young Man, c. 1623. When looking at this picture you see a troubled man with very serious eyes. This self portrait seems restrained. It is perhaps significant that Bernini’s sculpture of the Damned Soul looks like himself. Bernini’s self portrait also has its head slightly twisted to the left like his Damned Soul which was created a few years earlier. There are many questions here that we will never know. As a very religious Catholic did Bernini worry about the state of his soul? Perhaps this influenced his work such that he sought heaven by works rather than by faith as Martin Luther had before him. Bernini also created a Self Portrait as a Mature Man where he still resembles his younger self and the Damned Soul. But now appears more Jaded.
These sculptures break from their genre. At the time when they were made it was in style to create sculptures in the Mannerist style and to imitate classical Greek statues in style and form. Bernini in turn focuses on realism attempting to capture emotion and motion in the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul. These works broke from the Renaissance style that was fading at the time instead enveloping styles that are now called Baroque. In this way these pieces break with the style of the past and become ordinary examples of Baroque art.
These Sculptures by showing heaven and hell are explicitly religious. They function to remind us of the inevitable. They function like memori morti’s reminding us not of death or of judgement but rather of the glories of heaven and the anguish of hell. Whether or not these sculptures display beauty or lack of beauty is subjective. I think that they display a great deal of beauty. The Blessed Soul reminds us of the beauty that we expect in heaven. If you empty your mind and look at the Blessed Soul and imagine what that sculpture is seeing tears may come to your eyes for you see the glory of God. Conversely when you look across at the Damned Soul in the same way your soul cries no at the senselessness of a place without beauty where your thoughts are twisted, and all loses its meaning.
The Damned Soul and the Blessed soul call us to God to ask for redemption. In the Damned Soul we see ourselves and all of our mistakes from God’s point of view. This leads us to ask God for redemption. The sculptures seem to show that the first step is to stop and then to look up. When we find ourselves in awe and in fear of what we see. As the Bible says “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
When the Damned Soul and the Blessed soul were originally in the sacristy of a church in Monserrato degli Spagnoli, Rome. They were possibly placed between a doorway where the priest would walk through. For the priest could turn one way to the pulpit and to see a crucifix which the Blessed Soul saw or he could turn away from the crucifix when he went through the door towards the place that the Damned Soul already inhabited. But the sculptures may have also have been placed between a bench where the priest would find himself in prayer or going over his sermon notes. In this case the priest would see himself between heaven and hell. As his role was to turn people to heaven towards the place the Blessed Soul inhabited instead of remaining in that in-between place. Now when we see these sculptures we must reflect on where we find ourselves which leads us to action where do either do not acknowledge what we see or we reflect and change accordingly. Out of the sacristy the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul lose their place in community. Although Pastors, theologians, alike can bring these ideas to their communities.
The Damned Soul and the Blessed soul have a vary particular sub culture. First they are firmly placed in Christianity and then they are confined to the realm of art pertaining to heaven and hell. Heaven and hell is not a popular subject nowadays within Christianity. As such art that shows heaven and hell has also become less popular. The Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul have the potential to have a large evangelical value. If a pastor today were to attempt to preach on heaven and hell then they could use the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul to communicate the emotional aspect of why heaven and hell matter. Today since we are living in a postmodern society in America that values emotion these sculptures could be useful.
To me these sculptures symbolize my internal struggle for purpose. There is the fear that everything I believe and do is a waste of time and a spinning of wheels leading to hell as displayed by the Damned Soul. Whereas the Blessed Soul shows the hope that I have that I will see heaven one day.
In conclusion, the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul offer now and in the past emotional countenance for our understanding of heaven and hell. In this paper you read about Bernini, the Damned Soul, and the Blessed Soul. As well as how these sculptures work together, the display of the sculptures, and the sculptures in art school. As well as how Bernini understood these sculptures, the genre of the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul. Then the religious function of the sculptures, redemption in the sculptures, and how priests understood the sculptures was explored. Finally, the subculture of heaven and hell, and my understanding of these sculptures.
