Paintings in Sant'Ignazio, Rome (1685-97)

During the construction of the church of Sant'Ignazio, there was a dispute with the Dominicans of Santa Maria sopra Minerva who objected the planned cupola because it would have stolen light from their library. It was recommended by the architect Mattia de'Rossi, that the cupola problem could be resolved by having one painted instead of actually built. The architecture painter and Jesuit lay brother Andrea Pozzo was selected for the commission, which was completed in 1685.

The effect of the simulated cupola rests largely on the figural groupings on the pendentives, which were executed immediately after the canvas with the painted cupola was put in place. Painted on actual concave pendentives, they make the sham cupola more believable, especially when viewed from the entrance. The monumental figures (Judith, David, Samson, Jael) have an imposing physicality, emphasized by their bright colours and strong contrasts.

The fresco in the apse calotte was executed in 1687-88. It shows St Ignatius floating downward on a cloud as a helper of Rome's sick and poor. Here the painter produced a seemingly two-dimensional image on a concave surface. The antechoir vault fresco, painted at the same time, depicts the Vision of St Ignatius at the Battle of Pamplona.

Pozzo secured the commission for painting of centre aisle in 1688. He worked on St Ignatius in Glory, The Four Corners of the World, and the Mission of the Jesuit Order for five years until the unveiling in July, 1694.

The painted program in the church was completed in 1697-98 by frescoes on the right transept vault (Vision of St Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi) and on the tribune wall (three scenes from the lives of Jesuit saints). The left transept was frescoed only in 1720 with the Assumption of the Virgin by Ludovico Mazzanti.

In the artistic skill and trompe-l'oeil technique the decoration of Sant'Ignazio could not be surpassed. For Rome such virtuosity in perspective was both a climax and a conclusion.