169:. His words are written on a ribbon, just outside the architectural frame. These words set the scene for Gaulli's fresco and focus on the spreading of faith. The Jesuits wanted to enhance the religious experience, with an almost meditative, emotional peace. The high vaulted ceiling was not constructed merely for its grand and impressive appearance, but to enhance the experience during mass. The Jesuits relied heavily on the acoustics of the church; they wanted their faithful to clearly hear the words of the sermon. This is why the church was constructed with a single nave, and a dome at the nave, transept intersection. One of Gaulli's best innovations is the dramatic breaking of the three-dimensional frame. This gives the impression that the heavenly figures above have a true presence in the church, as if they are floating directly over the viewers' heads. The depth achieved in the fresco extends past the physical ceiling, drawing the blessed upward into the infinite sky. Gaulli adds a pronounced, stucco, frame around his fresco; emphasizing the illusionistic division of the vault's interior and exterior space. When the viewer gazes upon the fresco it is almost impossible to differentiate between fresco and stucco molding. This adds to the illusion of the scene, making it more believable that there are souls ascending and descending in front of the viewer.
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are} destined for eternal damnation.” There is an evident difference between the depicted angels and the damned. Gaulli's angels are flawless creatures; each kissed by the golden light of heaven. The pigment in their clothes, would resonate with the earthly clothes of the viewers. Their faces adoringly look upward towards the light of heaven. Meanwhile, the damned fall from heaven, faces pained, screaming, some too ashamed they look away. Their bodies cast under a dark shadow, while their bodies slowly morph. Some age drastically, while other are transformed into monsters. The damned, outside of the frame, are presented nude, representing the idea that nudity is to be considered shameful.
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giving the illusion that have not yet ascended outside the church into the heavens above. They all still resemble the human form; these qualities give hope to the viewers that salvation is not impossible. The damned greatly contrast that with their corrupted human form. Some of the damned are depicted with wings, claws, and horns. Others are in the process of transforming into hound-like creatures. They have tormented faces, some shielding their faces from the harsh heavenly light. Gaulli has adapted the
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151:, Gaulli's ceiling fresco may have turned out quite differently. The illusionistic heavens upon the ceiling of the Gesu emphasizes how the church is seen as an intermediary between the mortal world and eternal salvation. Gaulli also enacts a certain level of theatrics to the scene, yet again, similar to that found in the Cornaro Chapel.
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to extend both downward to the viewers and upward into the illusionistic heavens, relying on his friend
Bernini to influence and inspire one of his greatest works. Illusionistic ceiling paintings began to move in new directions after the completion of this piece. Gaulli's fresco has a complexity to
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Another detail within the fresco is Gaulli's attention to shadowing. The damned fall out of the frame, with the illusion that they are falling into the church. While the heavenly golden light falls upon the saved, “the illusionistic clouds” block this light from the damned; “indicat that the {damned
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There are minute details within the fresco. Gaulli took into consideration the perspective viewers would have, looking up at the ceiling, and painted the saved in an extremely foreshortened fashion to give the false illusion that they were truly floating above the viewers. This draws the viewer in,
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Gaulli's fresco can be broken up into three different parts. There is the heavenly light and Christ's initials at the center, the arc of clouds the separate the saved from the damned, and the damned figures falling out of the scene. The blessed that rest upon the clouds hang just elbow the frame,
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relied on
Bernini's opinion when selecting the artist for the ceiling. Bernini is responsible for not only obtaining the commission for Gaulli, but also for inspiring some of the designs. If not for Bernini's illusionistic merging of architecture and sculpture, in the
188:, the first three letters of Jesus's name in Greek. This is the only representation of Christ in the ceiling painting. Christ is considered the light of the world; Gaulli took this literally when choosing to depict Christ by his initials and the heavenly light.
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allowing the viewer's eyes to move upward through the ascending angels. It also tricks the viewer into thinking the fresco has some dimension to it; evoking a sense of spiritual nature. At the apex of the heavenly light there is an almost hidden inscription of
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136:. Several other artists were considered for the job of painting the ceiling.
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17th and 18th
Century Art: Baroque Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
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17th and 18th
Century Art: Baroque Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
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Reichold, Graf, and Wynne, Buildings that
Changed the World, 102.
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Reichold, Graf, and Wynne, Buildings that
Changed the World, 102.
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The
Baroque Painters of Italy: An Introductory Historical Survey
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The
Baroque Painters of Italy: An Introductory Historical Survey
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Between
Renaissance and Baroque: Jesuit Art in Rome, 1565-1610
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The Jesuit Order, or
Society of Jesus, was formed in 1540, by
447:. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1964.
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Harris, Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture, 132-133.
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owes a great deal of his success on the ceiling fresco to
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Reichold, Klaus, Bernhard Graf, and Christopher Wynne.
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in Rome, with both fresco painting and stucco molding.
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it, making it a work worthy of a High Baroque status.
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Between Renaissance and Baroque: Jesuit Art in Rome
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301:Schneider-Adams, Key Monuments of the Baroque, 51.
121:was the Father general of the Society of Jesus.
475:. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,1934.
161:The subject of Gaulli's ceiling fresco is the
440:. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
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16:Fresco painting by Giovanni Battista Gaulli
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452:Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture
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272:Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture
457:Held, Julius Samuel and Donald Posner.
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89:is a 17th-century fresco painting by
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489:. Colorado: Westview Press, 2000.
468:. New York: Harper and Row, 1977.
177:Worship of the Holy Name of Jesus
496:. 2nd ed. London: Phaidon, 1969.
480:Buildings that Changed the World
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461:. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1971.
454:. London: Laurence King, 2004.
199:Nave of the Church of the Gesù
163:Adoration of the Name of Jesus
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487:Key Monuments of the Baroque
206:Triumph of the Name of Jesus
156:Triumph of the Name of Jesus
86:Triumph of the Name of Jesus
22:Triumph of the Name of Jesus
492:Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham.
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117:, built in the late 1600s.
93:. The fresco occupies the
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482:. New York: Prestel, 1999.
436:Bailey, Gauvin Alexander.
167:Epistle to the Philippians
149:Santa Maria della Vittoria
485:Schneider-Adams, Laurie.
147:at the Cornaro Chapel in
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494:Italian Baroque Painting
450:Harris, Ann Sutherland.
445:The Painting of Baciccio
407:The Painting of Baciccio
382:The Painting of Baciccio
353:Italian Baroque Painting
340:The Painting of Baciccio
259:The Painting of Baciccio
130:Giovanni Battista Gaulli
91:Giovanni Battista Gaulli
40:Giovanni Battista Gaulli
144:Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
516:Trompe-l'œil paintings
511:Church frescos in Rome
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464:Martin, John Rupert.
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125:Bernini's involvement
134:Gian Lorenzo Bernini
536:17th-century works
471:McComb, Arthur K.
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179:Church of the Gesù
111:Ignatius of Loyola
99:Church of the Gesù
443:Enggass, Robert.
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380:Enggass,
338:Enggass,
257:Enggass,
218:Citations
53:1661–1679
49:1661–1679
418:McComb,
364:Martin,
322:Bailey,
270:Harris,
69:Location
466:Baroque
366:Baroque
115:Il Gesu
97:of the
73:Il Gesù
51: (
287:, 121.
274:, 132.
36:Artist
422:, 69.
409:, 45.
384:, 50.
368:, 174
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95:nave
77:Rome
61:Type
46:Year
186:IHS
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