Art in Anguish

Left, Bernini's Anima Dannata

Right, Permoser's Bust of Marsyas

Italian baroque sculpture is characterized by a “stress upon actions and expressions… deriv[ing] its vitality from a direct transcription of physical and emotional states” (Boucher, 6). In short, it generally featured dramatic emotions and captured dynamic motion. Balthasar Permoser, like many in the era, was inspired by the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a premier voice in the art of sculpture throughout his life.

Bernini’s Anima Dannata (Damned Soul, pictured left) features a contorted face of a man on his way to Hell. The Anima Dannata is looking down, presumably at his fate below him, his curling flame-like hair frames a face contorted in anguish. His mouth is agape and his eyes are surrounded by tightly bound muscles.

It’s easy to see how Permoser was inspired by Bernini in the creation of the Bust of Marsyas, his sculpture draws on Bernini’s style by including deep grooves in the contorted face and using dramatic eyes to exaggerate the torturous conditions of the subject. Both pieces also include the flame-like hair in curled tufts with grooves to add definition and realism. Drawing on Bernini helps us to ground Permoser’s work more deeply in the Italian Baroque and it helps us to understand the work more.

Every aspect of the bust is centered around the picture of anguish on the face of Marsyas but the details beyond the face also illuminate Balthasar Permoser’s attempt to take on the challenge of Bernini-like sculpture. The neck is turned to the side exposing bulging and strained muscles with the characteristic dynamism of the time, as though the neck was turned in the instant before the bust was made.

An animal skin is draped around his neck, cleverly alluding to the character's fate and adding another aspect demanding detail. Permoser put the head of the animal on Marsyas’s shoulder with a gnarled expression rich in curves and contours. Permoser’s work, The Bust of Marsyas, when understood through the lens of his influence, displays incredible attention to detail as a challenge in mastering the craft and as a contemporary of Bernini. The image annotations below may be used to further explore the piece and it's depiction of anguish