When in Rome, look up to the heavens in the nave of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola and you’ll be in for a sweet surprise, as the lofty heights of heaven appear as real as you and I.
Yet builders didn’t construct the nave’s dome and vaulted ceiling; lay Jesuit brother Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709) created it entirely with paint and mathematical perspective. Pozzo’s painted ceiling is the best example of “quadratura,” an illusionistic and realistic rendering of architecture and sculpture on walls or ceilings.
On the ceiling, Pozzo depicted Christ and the Virgin Mary welcoming St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (known as the Jesuits), to paradise. God sends light to Christ his son, who emanates rays of light throughout the painting. One ray shines straight to St. Ignatius’s heart. Christ radiates more rays of light to allegories of four continents—Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas—celebrating the Jesuit missionaries’ work there….