What's Up? The Jesuits and Ceiling Painting in Early Modern Rome- Teresa Berner

In the High Renaissance and Baroque Italy, decoration was everything. Most of the decorations were frescos or mosaics. The most important frescos and mosaics were commissioned by Catholic churches. During the High Renaissance, the decoration was about evoking classical antiquity, balance, and harmony. The Baroque period was more about the grandiose and dramatic. The aspects of both of these time periods can be found in churches all across Rome. The most impressive decorations are found on the ceilings of the churches. One of the most famous High Renaissance ceiling painting is in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. An example of Baroque ceiling painting is in the church of St. Ignatius by Andrea Pozzo, SJ. Both of these ceiling paintings show the Catholic church’s appreciation of art in the High Renaissance and Baroque periods. 

Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel is one of the best examples of High Renaissance painting. The ceiling is made up of all different scenes that do not share the same narratives, but interact with each other in a harmonious fashion. 

Creation of Adam

The main panels of scenes that run down the middle of the ceiling depict narratives from the book of Genesis. The most famous of these panels is the Creation of Adam. This scene portrays God in the heavens and Adam on earth reaching towards each other. 

Libyan Sibyl

Going out from the middle ceiling panels, there are large figures of prophets and ancient sibyls. The Libyan Sibyl is my personal favorite. Her story goes that she was half mortal, half divine who was an oracle of Zeus. She foretold of a day where all that is hidden shall be revealed. The use of the sibyls in a High Renaissance and Catholic context makes sense because they are from classical antiquity and they are said by Catholics to be foretelling the coming of Christ. 

Ignudi

Michelangelo also incorporated twenty male nudes who sit among the architectural elements of the painted ceiling which he called “The Ignudi.” These figures went on to inspire other male figures like the ignudi found in Annibale Caracci’s The Love of the Gods which can be found in the Palazzo Farnese.

All of these figures and the ones not mentioned were thought out and designed before painted onto the ceiling. Michelangelo’s background in sculpting comes out in all of the figures as well. They look like statues that have a marble-like density yet are ideal and elegant. Michelangelo studied living male figures as models for all of the figures on the ceiling including the female figures. His use of line and drawing carved out the figures from the two dimensional surface in which they came. 

Surprisingly, there are no depictions of Christ on the ceiling. As it turns out, the figures and narratives on the ceiling are predicting and making way for the coming of Christ. This is fitting because the College of Cardinals elects the next Pope in the Sistine Chapel. While the cardinals are picking the person who will represent Christ, they are looking at a ceiling painting that foretells the coming of Christ. The Sistine Chapel ceiling is the embodiment of intellectual artwork that characterizes the High Renaissance. 

The Church of St. Ignatius ceiling

The Jesuit church of St. Ignatius has another example of ceiling painting but from the Baroque period. Advances in perspective and illusionistic painting were made during this period and this particular ceiling painting is one of the best examples of it. The artist, Andrea Pozzo, used a technique called quadratura to make the ceiling look like it disappears to reveal the sky and heaven. At the center of this ceiling fresco is St. Ignatius ascending into heaven. Ignatius is surrounded by several other angelic and saintly figures who also inhabit this heavenly landscape of clouds and supernatural light. 

As the ceiling hits the walls, the heavenly realm is left and the material world becomes apparent through the architectural elements that appear. The material world is represented by architectural elements which parallel architectural elements of the church and allegorical figures of the continents. The ceiling seamlessly transitions into the walls which eventually reach the ground where the viewer is standing. 

The viewer feels as if she is in close proximity to the divine. Everything has movement and nothing is static. The line between painting and reality is blurred with the use of perspective and foreshortening. This painting was done at the time of Catholic Reformation therefore it had a purpose to reaffirm the faith of believers while also attracting those who went against the church. The dramatic, theatrical ceiling painting breaks down barriers between the material and divine. When the viewer looks at the figures ascending to heaven, she feels like she can also ascend into heaven. It reminds people of the belief in the miraculous and the power of the Catholic Church. 

Andrea Pozzo's dome painiting in the Church of St. Ignatius

The dome in the church of St. Ignatius is also an illusionistic painting which shows the power of perspective. The Jesuits did not have enough money to build a dome so Andrea Pozzo painted one on. He used illusionistic perspective to create a seemingly three dimensional dome. At a certain spot, the dome looks like it is actually there. This was one of Pozzo’s greatest artistic accomplishments concerning illusionistic perspective. 

Both ceilings are both the textbook examples of ceiling painting during their time period. Although one is High Renaissance and the other is Baroque, they still provoke elements of classical antiquity. This is seen in the architectural elements and the idealized figure found in both paintings. They differ because Michelangelo’s feels more distant and in the past. The viewers are looking at a scene, but they are not apart of it. Andrea Pozzo makes the viewers feel as if they too can rise up to heaven to be with St. Ignatius. Both were commissioned by and for the church to express the power and importance of Catholicism. The two ceiling paintings also show off the artistic abilities of the two artists as well as their intellect. The Sistine Chapel ceiling shows the balance and harmony of the High Renaissance while the St. Ignatius ceiling shows the theatricality and dynamism of the Baroque.