Our Lady 1758

Johann Georg Pinzel rendered this sculpture of Our Lady in wood, sometime in the mid-18th century. She is covered in gold leaf, an artistic tradition that goes back millennia to Byzantium. The gold symbolizes divine light, evoking an ethereal, otherworldly presence. Consider how Our Lady’s pose echoes the ancient Greek motif of the ‘Ecstasy of the Maenads’. The Maenads were female followers of Dionysus, known for their ecstatic dances. Here, she is cloaked in elaborate drapery, a common artistic device used since antiquity to display the figure’s dynamic movement. In the ancient world, dancers express themselves through the swirling of their robes, a convention that echoes the sacred rituals of the Maenads. We see this motif resurface in Bernini's ‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,’ where billowing drapery conveys divine rapture. This connection illustrates how gestures of ecstasy transcend time, engaging viewers on a deep, subconscious level and demonstrating the non-linear, cyclical progression of symbols. They resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings in different historical contexts.