"Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius"

Pozzo, a brother in the Jesuit order, said his intent was to visually embody Christ's statement, "I am come to send fire on the earth," and St. Ignatius's directive to his order, "Go and set everything aflame." The work is an innovative masterpiece of quadratura, as the viewer in the nave looking up would see a lofty dome, when in actuality the church's ceiling was flat. To achieve this effect, the artist employed extreme foreshortening, painted architectural motifs, and strict perspective, while emphasizing a dramatic swirling movement. A metal disk was placed in the floor of the nave, marking the spot where the viewer should stand to see the work with full effect, as the artist said, "To deceive the eyes, a certain fixed point" is needed.

The rich colors, swirling draperies, and excited gestures convey a feeling of a greatly impassioned crowd within a vast space. The work became a standard for ceiling paintings in Jesuit churches throughout Europe, as art historian Filippo Camerota wrote, his "perspective inventions represent the art of quadrature on its highest level. The illusory power of his fictive architecture was so strong that it forcefully conditioned the perception of space."