Be informed

This post belongs with others published earlier including Bernini and Borromini and Mussolini’s Rome architecture and district.

As part of the the Baroque tradition, ceilings became as much of a canvas as walls and chapels. They were a lot harder to do, for sure. Not only are they high and inaccessible, but for them to have an impact, they need to be more than just 2D. So in commissioning the art, the artist has got to deliver. There was, it seems, no better deliverer than Jesuit Monk, Andrea Pozzo. He was given a task in the Chiesa di Sant’Ignatzio di Loyola (c1650) to paint the illusion of a dome (because there was not enough money for a real one). This he did with aplomb – the ceiling then became his (he started the major work in 1685).

When one walks into the church one joins a queue – but it is not clear why. The end of the queue is a mirror and a money box. The box has to be fed with coins to illuminate the ceiling. Most people seem to take pictures from their mobiles. But really the best option is to piggyback on those willing souls who feed the box and look at the four continents and marvel. America (above left), Wait for the light and discreetly make oneself horizontal.