Frescoes by Andrea Pozzo, Sant' Ignazio, Rome

One of the Most Jaw-Dropping Frescoes in Rome

3/6/2019

The Apotheosis of St Ignatius Loyola by Andrea Pozzo, Sant' Ignazio, Rome

The Glory of St Ignatius and the Missionary Work of the Jesuit Order (1688-94) by Andrea Pozzo

The Jesuit church of Sant’ Ignazio is home to one of the most jaw-dropping frescoes in Rome.

The fresco of the Glory of St Ignatius and the Missionary Work of the Jesuit Order (1688-94), which decorates the vault of the nave, is the work of Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709), a painter and mathematician, who was also a Jesuit lay brother. When viewed from the correct spot, which is marked by a small marble disc in the pavement, the perspective is absolutely compelling.

Pozzo's skills as a master of illusions also came in handy when he was asked to paint a fake dome. The church was designed to have a dome over the crossing, but the money ran out and so Pozzo came up with a trompe-l'œil painting, which suggests the existence of a dome!

The church of Sant' Ignazio, which is dedicated to Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the Spanish saint and founder of the Society of Jesus, was built between 1620 and 1656. The church was originally part of the Roman College, one of the Jesuits' earliest educational institutions, which was founded in 1551. By the early 17th century the College’s chapel had become too small for its 2,000 students and so Gregory XV (r. 1621-23), a college alumnus and the pope who had canonised Ignatius Loyola in 1622, persuaded his fabulously rich nephew, Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, to fund the building of a new church.

Both the pope and the cardinal are interred in Sant' Ignazio. The inscription on their extravagantly elaborate funerary monument reads (in translation): One raised St. Ignatius to the altar, while the other raised altars to St. Ignatius.