The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (also known as Saint Teresa in Ecstasy or the Transverberation of Saint Teresa; L’Estasi di Santa Teresa or Santa Teresa in estasi) is a sculptural group in white marble in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. This life-size sculpture of St Teresa and a Seraph by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was completed in 1647-52. It is in the Cornaro Chapel in the front of the church with further sculptures of the Cornaro family looking on as if in a theater.
Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is the main reason to visit the otherwise unassuming small Baroque church of Santa Maria della Vittoria near Rome’s Termini station. This marble sculpture is a masterpiece of the High Roman Baroque and one of the best works Bernini ever created. Although showing religious ecstasy, it is borderline erotic despite hardly showing any naked flesh.
