Wednesday Search Challenge (1/15/14): What's up with her fingers?

A continuation of our Art History theme from last week... 

There are just some people that make you feel like you haven't really accomplished much of anything.  

One such person is Gian Lorenzo Bernini (also spelled Gianlorenzo or Giovanni Lorenzo).  Born in Naples (1598), died in Rome (1680) at age 81, he was truly a Renaissance man.  

Bernini was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, playwright, stage set designer, and city planner. He was the leading sculptor of his age, working for a succession of popes, and is credited with more-or-less singlehandedly creating the Baroque style of sculpture. 

I learned all this while wandering through Rome late last year.  But it was in the Villa Borghese that I had my art history shock.  This is a museum (formerly a residence of the Borghese family) in a large park--think Central Park in New York, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, or Bois de Boulogne in Paris... that kind of park.  It has a great art collection (all collected by the Borghese family), and a truly remarkable collection of statuary.  

Truthfully, I've never been much of a sculpture fan.  They're nice, but they never quite impressed me in the way that painting or even drawing did.  I realize that stone is a difficult medium to work in, but the statues always seemed sort of static, just sort of there, part of the landscape. 

Then I walked into the Villa Borghese and saw the work of Bernini up close.  

I was astonished.  

Here's what I mean... this is a master sculptor.  He cuts rock as though it were infinitely malleable.  His details are astoundingly lifelike.  

Here's his statue of "Apollo and Daphne"which captures the moment that Daphne is being transformed by the gods into a laurel tree to escape Apollo's clutches.  

Notice the remarkable details and the fluidity with which the transforming fingers and hair are being changed into tree limbs and leaves. 

This is a sculptor of immense skill and a deep understanding of his material.  He knows how to hew the living marble.  Here's one more example that just floored me.  Notice how his fingers slightly dig into her flesh and make a slight, lifelike ripple in the skin.  It's hard to believe this is solid rock. 

So it was a huge shock for me when just a bit later in the museum I ran across another famous Bernini sculpture that seemed completely at odds with what the master sculptor could do. 

Look at her left hand.  After seeing "Apollo and Daphne," I couldn't believe that there was some stuff in-between her fingers.  (Look carefully between her index finger and 3rd finger on the left hand.)  It wasn't added later (I looked VERY carefully), it's original stone that was left there by the sculptor.  Here's another, slightly different angle on the same hand.  

For a sculptor of Bernini's talent and power, why do this?  

It took me a while to figure out the answer to this, but perhaps you'll have better luck than I did. 

1.  Why is there webbing left between the fingers of the left hand of this Bernini sculpture? What's going on there?  

That's it, just one question, but a real question that came up as I was looking at this wonderful piece in the Villa Borghese.  I spent some time in the museum book shop trying to find the answer, but ultimately found it online after I returned home.  

For this one, let us know HOW you figured this one out!  What search terms did you try, and what was the insight or observation that let you solve the challenge.  

As I mentioned last week, I'll post the answer on Friday. But will ALSO post something on Thursday.  Stay tuned... and... 

Search on!