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."

This fresco depicts the triumph of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, shown left of center in his grey cassock extending toward Christ, who holds a cross in the middle. All the light in the fresco comes from Christ, emphasized both by the golden swirling center and the gradually darkening color palette in the figures at a greater distance. The ray then breaks into four diagonal rays, representing the light of Christianity reaching the four continents of the world, and symbolizes the missionary work of the Jesuits. Also depicted are many Biblical warriors with their foes including David and Goliath, Jael and Sisera, Samson and the Philistines, and Judith and Holofernes. This innovative choice of subject matter reflected the militant Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation and the apostolic zeal of the Jesuits, seeing themselves as "warriors" for the faith.

This Fresco is in the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius, Rome, Italy