Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective ''di sotto in sù'' and ''quadratura'', is the tradition in
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
,
Baroque and
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
art in which ''
trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
'',
perspective tools such as
foreshortening
Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, ...
, and other spatial effects are used to create the illusion of
three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
on an otherwise
two-dimensional
In mathematics, a plane is a Euclidean ( flat), two-dimensional surface that extends indefinitely. A plane is the two-dimensional analogue of a point (zero dimensions), a line (one dimension) and three-dimensional space. Planes can arise as ...
or mostly flat ceiling surface above the viewer. It is frequently used to create the
illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people.
Illusions may oc ...
of an open sky, such as with the
oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following
Architecture
* Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...
in
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in orde ...
's
Camera degli Sposi
The Camera degli Sposi ("bridal chamber"), sometimes known as the Camera picta ("painted chamber"), is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy.. During the fifteenth century when the Came ...
, or the illusion of an architectural space such as the
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
, one of
Andrea Pozzo's
frescoes in
Sant'Ignazio, Rome. Illusionistic ceiling painting belongs to the general class of
illusionism in
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, designed to create accurate representations of
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
.
Di sotto in sù
''Di sotto in sù'' (or ''sotto in su''), which means "seen from below" or "from below, upward" in Italian, developed in late
quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...
Italian Renaissance painting
Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...
, notably in Andrea Mantegna's
Camera degli Sposi
The Camera degli Sposi ("bridal chamber"), sometimes known as the Camera picta ("painted chamber"), is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy.. During the fifteenth century when the Came ...
in Mantua and in frescoes by
Melozzo da Forlì
Melozzo da Forlì (c. 1438 – 8 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter and architect. His fresco paintings are notable for the use of foreshortening. He was the most important member of the Forlì painting school.
Biography
...
. Italian terminology for this technique reflects the latter artist's influence and is called ''prospettiva melozziana'' ("Melozzo's perspective"). Another notable use is by
Antonio da Correggio in the
Parma Cathedral
Parma Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Parma; Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Parma, Emilia-Romagna (Italy), dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Parma. ...
, which foreshadows
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the early 17th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means t ...
grandeur.
The technique often uses foreshortened figures and an architectural
vanishing point
A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. When the set of parallel lines is perpendicul ...
to create the perception of true space on a painted, most often frescoed, ceiling above the viewer.
Quadratura
''Quadratura'', a term which was introduced in the seventeenth century and is also normally used in English, became popular with Baroque artists. Although it can also refer to the "opening up" of walls through architectural illusion, the term is most commonly associated with Italian ceiling painting. Unlike other ''
trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
'' techniques or precedent ''di sotto in sù'' ceiling decorations, which often rely on intuitive artistic approaches to deception, ''quadratura'' is directly tied to seventeenth-century theories of perspective and the representation of architectural space.
[Rudolf Wittkower, Joseph Connors, and ]Jennifer Montagu
Jennifer Iris Rachel Montagu (born 20 March 1931) is a British art historian with emphasis in the study of Italian Baroque sculpture.
Early life
Montagu is a daughter of Ewen Montagu, a British judge, writer and Naval intelligence officer. She ...
, ''Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750'', vol. 1, Pelican history of art, New Haven: Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
(1999): 35–36. Due to its reliance on perspective theory, it more fully unites architecture, painting and sculpture and gives a more overwhelming impression of illusionism than earlier examples.
The artist would paint a feigned architecture in perspective on a flat or
barrel-vaulted
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ceiling in such a way that it seems to continue the existing architecture. The perspective of this illusion is centered towards one focal point. The steep foreshortening of the figures, the painted walls and pillars, creates an illusion of deep recession, heavenly sphere or even an open sky. Paintings on ceilings could, for example, simulate statues in niches or openings revealing the sky.
''Quadratura'' may also employ other
illusionistic painting techniques, such as
anamorphosis
Anamorphosis is a distorted projection requiring the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point, use special devices, or both to view a recognizable image. It is used in painting, photography, sculpture and installation, toys, and film special e ...
.
Examples of illusionistic painting include:
*
Andrea Pozzo at
Sant'Ignazio, Rome and the
Jesuit Church, Vienna. He wrote the standard theoretical work of his artistic ideas in the two volumes of ''Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum Andreae Putei a societate Jesu'' (Rome, 1693–1700).
*
Holy Cross Church in the town of
Brzeg
Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
*
Pietro da Cortona at the
Palazzo Barberini
The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome.
History
...
,
*
Gianbattista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an impo ...
in the
Ca' Rezzonico
Ca' Rezzonico () is a palazzo and art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and disp ...
in Venice,
Villa Pisani at Stra
Villa Pisani at Stra refers to the monumental, late- Baroque rural palace located along the Brenta Canal (Riviera del Brenta) at Via Doge Pisani 7 near the town of Stra, on the mainland of the Veneto, northern Italy. This villa is one of the la ...
, and the throne room at the
Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies.
The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...
.
Other examples were by
Paolo Veronese at
Villa Rotonda
Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The villa's correct name is Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rot ...
in
Vicenza
Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan.
Vicenza is a thr ...
and
Baldassare Peruzzi in the
Villa Farnesina
The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy.
Description
The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. B ...
of Rome.
Development
Italian Renaissance artists applied their confidence in handling
perspective to projects for ceilings and overcame the problems of applying linear perspective to the concave surfaces of domes in order to dissolve the architecture and create illusions of limitless space.
Painted and patterned ceilings were a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
tradition in Italy as elsewhere, but the first ceiling painted to feign open space was created by
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in orde ...
, a master of perspective who went to Mantua as court painter to the
Gonzaga. His masterpiece was a series of
frescoes that culminated in 1474 in the
Camera degli Sposi
The Camera degli Sposi ("bridal chamber"), sometimes known as the Camera picta ("painted chamber"), is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy.. During the fifteenth century when the Came ...
of the
Ducal Palace. In these works, he carried the art of illusionistic perspective to new limits. He frescoed the walls with illusionistic scenes of
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
life, while the ceiling appeared as if it were an
oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following
Architecture
* Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...
open to the sky, with
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...
s, a
peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...
, and
putti
A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...
leaning over a
balustrade, seen in strongly foreshortened perspective from below;''di sotto in sù''. This was the prototype of illusionistic ceiling painting that was to become an important element of Italian
Baroque art
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
.
Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...
at
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
took the illusionistic ceiling a step farther in his frescoes of Christ and the Apostles for the cupola at the
San Giovanni Evangelista and in the ''Assumption of the Virgin'' in the dome of the
Parma Cathedral
Parma Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Parma; Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Parma, Emilia-Romagna (Italy), dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Parma. ...
, which is Correggio's most famous work (1520–24); in these frescos Correggio treats the entire surface as the vast and frameless vault of heaven in which the figures float. In a visual continuity between the architectural interior and its painted surfaces, Corregio's clouds and figures appear to inhabit the same architectural space in which the spectator stands.
![Sant'Andrea della Valle (Rome) - Dome](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Sant%27Andrea_della_Valle_%28Rome%29_-_Dome.jpg)
In Baroque
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, the long-standing tradition of frescoed ceilings received a push from the grand projects in
Palazzo Farnese
Palazzo Farnese () or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and currently serves as the French emb ...
under the guidance of
Annibale Carracci and his team, but the figural subjects were still enclosed within multiple framed compartments (''quadri riportati''), and the perspective of subjects seen from below was not consistently taken into consideration.
From 1625 to 1627
Giovanni Lanfranco, a native of Parma who knew Correggio's dome, painted the enormous dome of the church of
Sant'Andrea della Valle
Sant'Andrea della Valle is a minor basilica in the rione of Sant'Eustachio of the city of Rome, Italy. The basilica is the general seat for the religious order of the Theatines. It is located at Piazza Vidoni, at the intersection of Corso Vittor ...
with an ''Assumption of the Virgin'' that overwhelmed contemporary spectators with its exuberant illusionistic effects and became one of the first High Baroque masterpieces. Lanfranco's work in Rome (1613–1630) and in Naples (1634–1646) was fundamental to the development of illusionism in Italy.
Pietro Berrettini, called
Pietro da Cortona, developed the illusionistic ceiling fresco to an extraordinary degree in works such as the ceiling (1633–1639) of the ''gran salone'' of
Palazzo Barberini
The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome.
History
...
. From 1676 to 1679
Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (8 May 1639 – 2 April 1709), also known as Baciccio or Baciccia (Genoese nicknames for ''Giovanni Battista''), was an Italian artist working in the High Baroque and early Rococo periods. He is best known for his grand ...
, called Baciccio, painted an ''Adoration of the Name of Jesus'' on the ceiling of the
Church of the Gesù
, image = Church of the Gesù, Rome.jpg
, imagesize =
, caption = Giacomo della Porta's façade, precursor of Baroque
, mapframe = yes
, mapframe-caption = Click on the map for a full ...
, the
Jesuit headquarters in Rome. From 1691 to 1694
Andrea Pozzo painted the ''Entrance of Saint Ignatius into Paradise'' on the nave vault of
Sant'Ignazio la, Ecclesia Sancti Ignatii a Loyola in Campo Martio
, image = Sant'Ignazio Church, Rome.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, caption = Façade of Sant'Ignazio
, mapframe =yes
, mapframe-caption ...
, Rome, with theatricality and emotion.
See also
*
The Loves of the Gods (Carracci)
*
Johann Paul Schor
Johann Paul Schor (1615–1674), known in Rome as Giovanni Paolo Tedesco ( ''Tedesco'' literally means ''German'' in Italian), was an Austrian artist. He was the preeminent designer of decorative arts in Baroque Rome, providing drawings for state b ...
*
Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power (Cortona)
The ''Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power'' is a fresco by Italian painter Pietro da Cortona, filling the large ceiling of the grand salon of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, Italy. Begun in 1633, it was nearly finished in three years ...
*
Paul Troger
Paul Troger (30 October 1698 – 20 July 1762) was an Austrian painter, draughtsman, and printmaker of the late Baroque period. Troger's illusionistic ceiling paintings in fresco are notable for their dramatic vitality of movement and their pale ...
, leading Austrian exponent of the 18th century
References
Further reading
*I. Sjöström, ''Quadratura : studies in Italian ceiling painting'', Stockholm, 1978.
*''Quadratura : Geschichte, Theorie, Technik'', ed. Pascal Dubourg Glatigny and Matthias Bleyl, Berlin, 2011.
External links
Trevor Hunt, "From Mantegna to Michelangelo: illusionistic ceiling paintings of the Renaissance pave the way for Baroque excess"
{{authority control
Baroque architectural features
Baroque painting
Ceilings
Fresco painting
Architectural elements
Composition in visual art
Painting techniques
Baroque architecture in Italy
Italian Baroque painters
.
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