The chapel was commissioned by the prelate and cardinal, patriarch of Venice, Federico Cornaro, descendant of a powerful family. His commission came to Bernini at a time when the sculptor and architect was under fire in Rome for the unsuccessful towers he designed for St. Peter's, which had to be demolished because of the risk of collapse. Thus, Bernini had the opportunity to prove his skills by creating an outstanding work of art.
Bernini was able to embody the mystical vision of St. Teresa in marble. The sculptures, made of white Carrara marble, are located in the altar niche among the columns of colored marble, against the background of gilded bronze rays, which symbolize the divine light. Saint Teresa is immersed in a state of spiritual illumination, throwing her head back, the saint, seized with languor, lies on the clouds; an angel shoots a golden arrow at her heart. Bernini did everything to make the mystical vision of St. Teresa felt by the viewer not only as reliable, but also as momentarily happening. This is one of the main ideas of the religious art of the Counter-Reformation: a miracle, as it were, is happening before the eyes of the viewer - here and now. The heavy marble of the figures, pierced by streams of light pouring from above, depicted as rays of gilded bronze, seems to be floating, weightless. The sculptural group turns into a mystical vision.
It is with this work that the famous statement of Bernini about his own creative method is connected: “This is the highest achievement of my cutter, with which I defeated marble and made it flexible like wax. By this I was able to combine sculpture with painting to a certain extent.
The whole composition really reflects the complete unity and mutual transformation of architecture, sculpture, color and light in the space of the temple - the apogee of the ideology and aesthetics of Roman Catholic Baroque art.