Why is Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa considered a major Baroque sculpture?

Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s The Ecstasy of St. Teresa (1645–52) is considered a masterpiece of Baroque sculpture because it exemplifies the movement's goal of creating an overwhelming sensory experience that bypasses intellectual resistance.1

The work is a defining example of the Baroque style for several reasons:

• Theatrical Integration: Bernini abolished the traditional boundaries between architecture, painting, and sculpture. The Cornaro Chapel is designed like a theater, with the sculpture placed in a niche framed like a proscenium arch, while marble figures of the Cornaro family are positioned in "opera boxes" to observe the scene.12
• Dynamic Illusionism: Bernini used painterly devices—such as varied textures, hidden light sources, and colored materials—to make stone appear as soft flesh and flowing fabric. This "emancipation from stoniness" creates a vivid, lifelike quality.12
• Emotional Intensity: The sculpture captures a transitory, mystical state of mind with profound passion. By depicting the saint in a moment of ecstatic union, Bernini utilizes movement and emotion to stimulate piety and devotion, aligning with the Counter-Reformation's program to engage the senses of the faithful.13