St. Bibiana, 1624-26, Rome

• Description


  The sculpture of Saint Bibiana is the central altarpiece of St. Bibiana, the church devoted to her. This ancient basilica was rebuilt by High Baroque artist and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Baroque style of the 17thc. Bernini depicted the saint in the transient acceptance of her martyrdom holding the palm leaf of martyrs, and standing next to the column to which she was beaten to death and martyred.
• Iconography


  St. Bibiana is a standing female figure draped in a robe along with her attributes of the column and palm branches. St. Bibiana’s physical gesturing and expression are of primary importance. Her opened mouth and heaven-bound gaze evokes piety. While one hand is holding the martyrs’ palm branch , the other hand lies on the fateful column. Christianity has used symbolism from its beginnings because symbols (attributes) help to tell the stories of the saints’ lives and identify them. This was particularly important in times when the laity were illiterate.
• Composition and light


  The large statue is placed in a columned niche at the altar, and so provides the focal point at the end of the church as you enter the building. Her slightly bent head and her raised right hand denote her union with God. The creation of a new window above the altar brings the glow of natural light upon the work and supports the mystical feeling of the whole scene. Theatricality and play with light is also created by small windows in the vault that illuminates the statue.
• Style

  High Baroque Bernini’s St. Bibiana epitomises the Baroque style with a characteristically hyperbolic sense of drama. Bernini has created a bel composto, a beautiful whole comprising component parts: painting, sculpture and architecture.5 Bernini excelled at providing sensory delights for Catholic propaganda. Classicism gained the upper hand over Baroque illusionism with the demise of Urban VIII however.
• Colour


  white Carrara marble to signify the saint’s purity and innocence.
• St. Bibiana is a mixed media work because the saint’s palm is made of bronze. This bronze attribute is made using the additive process in a soft material before it is cast. Bronze is a high tensile medium and so able to sustain the thin tendrils of the martyr’s palm.
• Bernini used the reductive method (taking stone away) in the direct carving process. Bernini was famed for exploiting marble’s low-tensile properties and pushing the material to its limit.
• St. Bibiana’s raised hand with splayed fingers demonstrate Bernini’s technical ability. The highly polished stone renders the saint’s flesh believable and provides a contrast with the equally alive fabric of her robe. Indeed, her mantle is animated, and the folds above her left hand defy gravity.
• Bernini's sculpting techniques


  • Folds are deeply carved (undercut) and lend dynamism to the vision
  • Mouth is slightly ajar and hollowed using a hand-drill
  • Basic tools were the mallet (a hammer with a broad, barrel-shaped head) and chisel (a pointed metal tool with a sharp end)
  • Claw chisels (with teeth) were used to take away small amounts of material
  • Flat chisels used to smooth out
  • Rasps or files would render chisel marks virtually invisible
  • Wet or dry 'sandpaper' was used to polish in varying degrees
• Tool marks visible


  • Only on the rough-hewn rock the virgin martyr stands upon
• The essence of the work is based on gestures and expressions of St. Bibiana. Her opened mouth and view heading to the skies, evokes emotional conflict of the face. While one hand is holding the palm branch in calm, the other hand lying on the column with forearm gently in front of evoking resistance to story.
• Statue does not shows the ceratian point of the Saint's life, but only abstract story characterized figure. The more is possible to see emotions of Saint Bibiana and her illusive devotion.
• The statue is placed in a niche of the altar, which is located at the end of the church. Creating of new unusual window above of the altar brings bright glow of light and supports that mystical feeling of the whole scene. 
• Theatricality and play with light is also created by small windows in vault of the church that illuminates statue of Saint Bibiana itself.
• The sculpture was shown as part of the large Bernini retrospective at the Galleria Borghese in Rome (2017-18)