An emotional engagement with Bernini’s David does not allow the viewer to engage with effectively and fully understand this work of art

            It is a fact that the context of Bernini’s David is the biblical story and inspiration, which allowed the artist to come up with the beautiful artwork showing the Baroque art. The sculpture was made by Gain Lorenzo Bernini, who tried to depict an emotional and dramatic situation. It is important to know that rational logic was used in Italian Renaissance during the 17th century, and then the Baroque art style was introduced to break this Renaissance, and a new aesthetic was used in this style. The Baroque style was not based on ideal logic; instead, other motions were involved in this style such as exaggerated motions as well as dramatic tension along with the emotional appeal. The most important factor of the Baroque movement was its emotional appeal, with quite a strong effect. This style gave an entirely new look to art work in that era to depict changes and situations. The Italian artist Gain Lorenzo Bernini used this art style to define its goals as well as attitudes. His art works very much explained the essence of Baroque art. And one of such examples is Bernini's David (Glen 1996).

        It is a fact that Bernini's David is very different from other art works, who tried to portray David. It was the epic moment of this whole biblical story, where Bernini is focusing all the drama and energy. Bernini's David is very much connecting with the viewers through an emotional and dramatic connection, where they can feel the inner emotions of David, which are depicted on his face while throwing a stone at Goliath. It is the beauty of the Baroque art style that it allows the art work to connect with people so that they can relate with it emotionally. It gets into the viewer’s space to give them a feeling that it is made for them, and it is one of them. This art allows understanding the real emotions of David, as it is depicted by the Bernini's David (Harris and Zucker 2015)

        It is the beauty of art word if it can emotionally connect with the viewer when they feel the real essence of a character. When Bernini's David is analyzed carefully, it shows that it is creating a physical as well as the emotional relationship with viewers. The viewers already know the story of David through biblical context, and now it was vital for them to see a physical realization of that story as well as the real moment. The Bernini's David is showing an intense face with lots of concentration to reach for his real goal. The muscles of Bernini's David are stiff and tense, which indicates that David is putting all his energy to defeat Goliath. The body of David is twisted, and viewers can see this all and understand that what David would have felt it at that moment, which was to decide his fate that whether he will win or not (Baroque Art History Blog 2012). Such art work is always good to connect with viewers, but there is one problem with such emotional engagement that people look at one side of the picture. It is a fact that when the viewers already know information, and they have made a point of view regarding the sure thing, then they don’t critically analyze and flow away with the moment. In simple words, people create perception about the artwork when they have gathered information about it. Each persona its way of understanding. It means that some people focus on some aspects of the art work & other people focus on some other facts which they find interesting.

        It is essential for viewers to understand an art work with full understanding by looking at its all elements. The audience should realize every aspect of an Artwork if they want to have real knowledge of the character as well as the situation. But it is only possible when sympathy and emotional connection is kept away from viewers’ though process. They should not have any context with emotional engagement with the character; otherwise, they cannot critically look at different perspectives Art work should be seen with a view, which has no bias approach, liken emotional relationship. When the there is an emotional relationship with something, then viewers only feel for that character, and they don’t consider the other side of the story. They think that what else is in the story or art work, instead just appreciating theirfavoritecharacters. The emotional connection and engagement is essential in some situation but is not an important thing to have in every case.

        In Bernini's David, the viewers are affected by the Baroque art style, which is connecting them with emotions, dram, and energy. The viewers    only look at the beautification and glory of David, and they are not even considering seeing and understanding the feelings of Goliath. They must look at the factor how Goliath would have been feeling in the situation, where he was about to bring down by David. There is nothing wrong for viewers to stay on David’s side emotionally, but the issue is that they could have done it by understanding the art work with a critical view, and looking at another side of the story. They should have kept their emotional engagement said and should have looked at things with an unbiased approach to decide that who us real winner and loser of this situation. The viewers can get great idea about every art work, when they stay away from any emotional engagement and analyze things on their merits.

        If all the above discussion is summarized than it is evident that the audience should realize every aspect of an Artwork if they want to have real understanding of the character as well as situation. But it is only possible when sympathy and emotional connection is kept away from viewers’ though process. They should not have any context with emotional engagement with the character; otherwise, they cannot critically look at different perspectives. In Bernini's David, the viewers are affected by the Baroque art style, which is connecting them with emotions, dram, and energy. The viewers only look at the beautification and glory of David, and they are not even considering seeing and understanding the feelings of Goliath.

References of emotional engagement with Bernini’s David

Baroque Art History Blog. Bernini's David. 2012. http://kateitaly.blogspot.com/2012/11/berninis-david.html (accessed April 11, 2019).

Glen, Thomas L. "Rethinking Bernini's "David": Attitude, Moment and the Location of Goliath." RACAR: revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review 23, no. 1/2 (1996): 84-92.

Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. Bernini, David. 2015. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/baroque-italy/a/bernini-david (accessed April 11, 2019).