CONTRIBUTI / 3 / Thomas Santa Maria /
This paper examines paintings of «saints in ecstasy» which were commissioned, executed, and displayed in Rome between ca. 1590 and 1620. I read these paintings against treatises on sacred art as well as sermons on Christian devotion and the role of the senses in spiritual life. The juxtaposition of these sources indicates just how problematic images of the saints in ecstasy could be. The topos in and of itself was already theologically problematic as there was a top-down attempt to mediate the visionary or mystical experiences of holy people, and especially of women, on behalf of the Church hierarchy. The portrayal of these ecstatic saints, which frequently employ formal elements that underscore sexuality, further troubled an already difficult subject from a moral perspective as well. This paper draws appropriate attention to the army of preachers and art theorists who condemned lascivious images in absolute terms. Their cries were too many and too consistent to ignore.
