Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola 

I had no idea what I was getting into with Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola (1650). In fact I walked past it half a dozen times without being at all interested to peak inside, always chasing something else. The outside (last picture) gives no indication of what awaits. ⁣

This is the best example of 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱 𝘭-œ𝘪𝘭 I know of, “To deceive the eye” I never really understood quite what that meant. When you look up at the ceiling it’s sort of a reverse-vertigo — you feel like you are 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱! But harmlessly weightlessly falling/floating. The ceiling looks like it goes up up up forever — but it doesn’t. In reality it’s just the slightest curve. Same with that dark dome with the beam of “light”. It not really a dome at all, just forced perspective, I can’t tell if it’s flat or slightly curved. ⁣

This is all the genius of Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709) the church had an unfinished plain ceiling for 40 years until Pozzo came to the rescue. The ceiling was finished in 1694. ⁣

The powder blues, cotton-candy pinks, moss and clover greens couldn’t be more of a contrast to the outside drabness.