This, of course, is lifted right out of Bernice's sculpture The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. The ecstasy was religious, but the sculpture was depicting an ecstasy that was a tad sexual (enough that it caused a major scandal when it was unveiled)--an orgasmic saint being pierced by a gold tipped arrow held by a very androgynous adolescent angels--what was Bernini thinking? Ha, ha, and photographers today think they are so edgy. :-)
I think this one quotes any of a number of famous Renaissance Baroque versions of The Supper an Emmaus. That was when Christ appeared to his disciples after the resurrection and shared a meal with them. When he broke the bread (Eucharistic symbolism that painters of the Renaissance and Baroque painted like it was an actual mass) suddenly everyone knew who he was. So, doubly blasphemous here--a woman in the Eucharistic pose, and she is nakesd I guess, if you're a conservative Catholic, you would be offended. For the rest of us--if you don't get the symbolism, or if you're not offended...I'm not sure how it is supposed to move us.
I wonder why no Mary Magdalene? That was when the Baroque painters pulled out all the stops--typically she had long blonde hair, was shown naked by candle light and had a little whip for scourging herself. Titillation in the name of religion. You have to love the Baroque era, everything they did was over the top. No half measures for those folks.
Let's try this again--not at 6 a.m. This one quote Bernini's Ecstacy of St. Teresa. In fact, it looks more like a photograph of the sculpture that I've seen in an art book than the original sculpture. That makes this picture alll post modern and self referential and stuff.
