The Jesuit Church’s Illusionistic Ceiling
During the Baroque period, many new artistic ideas and practices were being developed. These new ideas were drastically different from those of the previous Renaissance and I am even more astounded at the beautiful works that came from this era.
One of my favorite forms of art that developed during the Baroque period was that of the illusionistic ceilings. These pieces of work stood out because they caught my attention as they reminded of optical illusions and architecture, something of which I was very fond of when I was younger.
I was amazed at how any artist could have the patience to paint a ceiling for days on end, piece by piece to make such a large masterpiece; and be able to do all of this while paying such great attention to the detail in these works. For example, if you look at this website: http://www.haltadefinizione.com/magnifier.jsp?idopera=3 you can see how magnificent the detail of the illusionistic ceilings really are.
The piece of work I would like to discuss is the Jesuit Church’s Illusionistic Ceiling by Andrea Pozzo in Vienna, Austria. I took a great amount of time to explore this work, and stared at many pictures of it, when eventually I realized what these ceiling were all about. It took me awhile to figure out that the ceiling is actually flat, and the dome is a result of how the artist painted depth perception into his work. I can only imagine how many times he had to walk up and down his scaffolding to make sure every brush stroke was perfect and every detail in place. My favorite part of this work is not only the false domes, but also how the line of the walls continue on into the ceiling. For instance the artist, Andrea Pozzo, took great amounts of time in making the molding of the wall flow into the ceiling, as well as the colors and lines.
There are many historical connections associated with this ceiling and the church in which it is painted. To begin with, upon completion of this masterpiece, the church itself was dedicated to the Saints Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, both were very important figures of the time. In addition to this, The Council of Trent had taken place about a century prior to the completion of this ceiling and had a profound effect upon why the church incorporated the arts so greatly within their teachings. It was thought that by including more visual arts into the church, it would help to spread the word and keep people within the church during times of The Protestant Reformation. Finally, the expansion of scientific knowledge also plays into this ceiling. Artists had understood perspective and distance thanks to the recent developments in science at this time.
Ultimately, this ceiling is a mix of influences from the times in which it was painted. Although I visited Austria many times when I lived in Europe, the Jesuit Church’s Illusionistic Ceiling was something I never got the chance to see, as I probably would not have been interested in it then. However, in retrospect, this ceiling is one piece of work I really wish I could have gazed upon with my own eyes. I am still astounded this work of art: every time I pull up the picture I just cannot believe how incredibly detailed and wonderful this ceiling really is. Imagine walking into this church and standing in awe of what lies in front of you; I can only ponder its beauty.
Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_60839_1%26url%3d
