Created in the mid-1600s, it is one of the masterpieces Bernini loved more, a “total show” in which painting, sculpture, architecture, scenic representation and artistic lighting come together in a harmonious whole: the Cornaro Chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, also very celebrated by contemporaries for the unparalleled charm of the marble statue of Saint Teresa of Avila, rediscovers its original suggestions thanks to the complete restoration carried out by the Special Superintendence of Rome.
Preceded by a long phase of studies, the cleaning and consolidation works of the chapel have revealed some of the measures adopted by the genius of Baroque illusionism, bringing to light hidden details, for example in the four gilded stucco panels that tell the main moments in the life of the saint, or in the fresco with the depiction of the Empyrean, cleaned of the layer of lampblack that obscured it since 1833, when a fire almost destroyed the church. The restorers’ work also involved the sculptural group of the Saint and the angel, the side bas-reliefs and the stained glass window that floods the statues with light and life. The yellow shielding glass was found to be from the twentieth century but in all probability it is a faithful reproduction of the original by Bernini, as it is suggested by the tiny and precious glass fragments that have been found in the last months.
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