What Kind of Ecstacy?

Rome's church of San Francesco a Ripa contains one of the raciest religious sculptures in the world, Bernini's Beata Ludovica in Ecstasy

Bernini really had a thing for women in quite visceral states of religious ecstasy (see Santa Maria in Vittoria). The baroque master carved such a scene for this Trastevere church where St. Francis himself once stayed as a guest.

This time it's

Bernini's Beata Ludovica in Ecstasy,

whose reclining on a couch and looking like the brand of ecstasy is a very earthy one indeed. (Hey, I'm not trying to be blasphemous here; it really does look that way.) Try to visit when it's sunny and the natural light pouring in from a half-hidden window helps make the scene really come alive.

Via S. Francesco a Ripa

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