Apotheosis of St Ignatius, Andrea Pozzo: Analysis

<html> <head> <title>Apotheosis of St Ignatius, Andrea Pozzo: Analysis</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="description" content="Apotheosis of St Ignatius by Andrea Pozzo (1688-94): Analysis of Quadratura Fresco: Sant'Ignazio, Rome"> <meta name="keywords" content="Apotheosis of St Ignatius, Andrea Pozzo, Analysis of Quadratura Fresco, Church of Sant'Ignazio Rome, Padre Pozzo, St Francis Xavier, St Francesco Borgia, St. Aloyzius Gonzaga in Glory"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td> <p><font face="Verdana" size="4"><b>Apotheosis of St Ignatius by Andrea Pozzo</b><br> </font><font face="Verdana" size="2"><i>Explanation of High Baroque Quadratura Painting</i><br> <font face="Verdana" size="4"><b><a href="../site/search.htm">MAIN A-Z INDEX</a></b></font></font></p> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/apotheosis-of-st-ignatius.htm" data-width="450" data-show-faces="true" data-send="true"></div> <p><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="none"><img src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" alt="Pin it" / ></a> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js"></script></p> </td> </tr> </table> <hr width="750" size="1"> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td width="200" valign="top"> <p><font face="Arial" size="1"><b><img src="../images-paintings/pozzo-saint-ignatius.jpg" width="200" height="201"></b></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><br> Apotheosis of St Ignatius<br> By Andrea Pozzo.<br> Considered to be one of the<br> <a href="../greatest-paintings-ever.htm">Greatest Paintings Ever</a>.</font></p> </td> <td width="524" valign="top"> <h1><font face="Verdana" size="4">Apotheosis of St Ignatius (1688-94)<font size="2"><br> Trompe l'oeil frescoes in Sant'Ignazio, Rome</font></font></h1> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><b>Contents</b></font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> <a href="#description">Description</a><br>  <a href="#background">Background</a><br>  <a href="#analysis">Analysis of The Apotheosis of St Ignatius</a><br>  <a href="#frescopaintings">Explanation of Other Famous Frescoes</a></font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><b><a name="description"></a>Description</b></font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Name: The Apotheosis of St Ignatius (1688-94)<br> Artist: <a href="../old-masters/andrea-pozzo.htm">Andrea Pozzo</a> (1642-1709)<br> Medium: <a href="../painting/fresco.htm">Fresco painting</a><br> Genre: Religious <a href="../genres/history-painting.htm">history painting</a><br> Movement: <a href="../history-of-art/baroque.htm">Baroque art</a><br> Location: Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Campus Martius, Rome</font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2">For an explanation of other celebrated oils and frescoes,<br> please see: <a href="index.htm"><b>Famous Paintings Analyzed</b></a> (1250-1800).</font></p> </blockquote> </td> </tr> </table> <hr width="750" size="1"> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td width="200" valign="top"> <p><font face="Arial" size="2"><b><font color="#FF0000"> UNDERSTANDING ART</font></b><br> For help in appreciating<br> <a href="../religious-paintings.htm">religious paintings</a> by<br> artists like Andrea Pozzo,<br> please see: <a href="../art-evaluation.htm">Art Evaluation</a>.</font></p> <p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ArtEncyclopedia" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="../images/facebookimage.jpg" width="80" height="80" border="0"></a></p> </td> <td width="524" valign="top"> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><b><a name="background"></a>Background</b></font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Arguably the greatest example of <a href="../painting/quadratura.htm">quadratura painting</a> ever seen, <i>The Apotheosis of St Ignatius</i> was created by the Jesuit lay brother Andrea Pozzo (sometimes called Padre Pozzo) to decorate the dome, the apse and the ceiling in the huge Jesuit church of Sant' Ignazio (St. Ignatius of Loyola), in Rome. An absolute masterpiece of <a href="../history-of-art/baroque-painting.htm">Baroque painting</a>, it marks the apogee of <a href="../painting/trompe-loeil.htm">trompe l'oeil art</a>, a discipline in which architectural and painting unite to create illusions of space and perspective. Other important <a href="../history-of-art/italian-baroque-artists.htm">Italian Baroque artists</a> who specialized in quadratura in Rome, were <a href="../old-masters/pietro-da-cortona.htm">Pietro da Cortona</a> (1596-1669), famous for his <i><a href="allegory-divine-providence.htm">Allegory of Divine Providence</a></i> (1633-39) in the Palazzo Barberini; and Giovanni Battista Gaulli (1639-1709), noted for his ceiling fresco <i>Triumph of the Name of Jesus</i> (1674) in the Church of the Gesu in Rome. Baroque <a href="../definitions/aesthetics.htm">aesthetics</a> were particularly receptive to this sort of awe-inspiring <a href="../christian-art.htm">Christian art</a> but Pozzo and his contemporaries also benefited from the traditions established by Renaissance <i>quadraturisti</i> such as: <a href="../old-masters/melozzo-da-forli.htm">Melozzo da Forli</a> (1438-94), and <a href="../old-masters/correggio.htm">Correggio</a> (1489-1534), famous for his <i><a href="assumption-correggio.htm">Assumption of the Virgin (Parma Cathedral)</a></i> (1526-30).</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td width="200" valign="top"> <p> </p> </td> <td width="524" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td width="200" valign="top"> <p> </p> </td> <td width="524" valign="top"> <h1><font face="Verdana" size="2"><a name="analysis"></a>Analysis of The Apotheosis of St Ignatius by Andrea Pozzo</font></h1> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Although Pozzo had undertaken numerous commissions to decorate Jesuit churches with <a href="../biblical-art.htm">Biblical art</a> - using <a href="../painting/murals.htm">mural paintings</a> marked by <a href="../painting/foreshortening.htm">foreshortening</a> as well as various illusionistic devices, such as fake ceilings, gilding, balustrades and other trompe l'oeil architectural motifs - the decoration of the Church of Sant' Ignazio was his first major fresco series. The church's decorative theme was the "Life and Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius Loyola" (1491-1556), founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and a key supporter of the more doctrinal <a href="../history-of-art/catholic.htm">Catholic Counter-Reformation Art</a>, launched by the Council of Trent. The main theme - an allegory of the Apotheosis of St Ignatius - was painted on the ceiling of the nave, which looks like a lofty vaulted roof embellished by statues, even though the ceiling is actually completely flat. Pozzo opened up the nave ceiling further by painting an illusionistic cupola, open to the sky, and populated with upward floating figures. The ceiling fresco depicts the work of Saint Ignatius and the Society of Jesus; shows Saint Ignatius entering Paradise, being welcomed by Christ and the Virgin Mary; and also celebrates the work of Jesuit missionaries on four continents. In addition to the nave ceiling fresco, Pozzo completed three fresco paintings in the apse that surround the high altar - Saint Ignatius Loyola experiencing his vision at La Storta; sending St Francis Xavier to the Indies; and greeting St Francesco Borgia. Lastly, Pozzo was also responsible for the <i>Assumption of the Virgin</i> fresco on the ceiling of the chapel in the left transept, and for the <i>St. Aloyzius Gonzaga in Glory</i> fresco on the ceiling of the chapel in the right transept.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2">Pozzo's decorations set the standard for ceiling frescos throughout Catholic Europe, and were widely imitated in churches of the Jesuit order in Italy, Austria, Germany and Central Europe.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><b><a name="frescopaintings"></a>Explanation of Other Famous Fresco Paintings</b></font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> <a href="scrovegni-chapel-frescoes.htm">Arena/Scrovegni Chapel Frescoes</a> (1303-10) in Padua.<br> By Giotto.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> <a href="brancacci-chapel-frescoes-masaccio.htm">Brancacci Chapel Frescoes</a> (1424-8) in Florence.<br> By Masaccio and Masolino.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> <a href="camera-degli-sposi-frescoes.htm">Camera Degli Sposi Frescoes</a> (1465-74) Mantua.<br> By Andrea Mantegna.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> <a href="genesis-fresco-michelangelo.htm"> Genesis Fresco</a> (1511) Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican.<br> By Michelangelo.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> <a href="last-judgment-fresco.htm">Last Judgment Fresco</a> (1536-41) Altar Wall, Sistine Chapel, Vatican.<br> By Michelangelo.</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td width="200" valign="top"> <p> </p> </td> <td width="524" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="750" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td> <p><font face="Verdana" size="2"> For more outstanding church murals from the High Baroque, see: <a href="../index.htm">Homepage</a>.</font></p> <hr size="1"> <p align="center"><a rel="author" href="https://profiles.google.com/115076279462378566554#115076279462378566554"> <img src="http://www.google.com/images/icons/ui/gprofile_button-16.png" width="16" height="16"></a></p> <p align="center"><font face="Arial" size="1"><b>ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ART EDUCATION<br> © visual-arts-cork.com. 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Apotheosis of St Ignatius, Andrea Pozzo: Analysis