1626/50 Orazio Grassi (1583/1654)
He was a
Jesuit Father, an expert architect and mathematician, known for his controversy
with Galileo Galilei about the nature of comets
For the
design and the building of this church he consulted with Carlo Maderno (1556/1629), Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641) and Francesco
Borromini (1599/1667)
1650/85
another Jesuit Father Antonio Sasso continued
the work advised by Orazio Torriani (about
1601/about 1657), G.B. Soria (1581/1651) and Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649) by the will of Cardinal
Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew and vice chancellor of Gregory XV Ludovisi (1621/23)
Cardinal
Ludovico Ludovisi was very active in the process of canonization of St.
Ignatius (1491/1556), the founder of the Jesuit Order, completed in 1622
The church
replaced the original Chiesa dell'Annunziata (Church of the
Annunciation), completed in 1567 and part of the complex of the adjacent Collegio Romano, built starting
in 1583
In 1685,
only the dome was missing, but it was never built due to lack of funds. The
construction of the church lasted therefore 60 years
COUNTER
FAÇADE
“Inscription”
in honor of Ludovico Ludovisi who celebrated the Jubilee of the year 1650 in
the unfinished church, supported by figures in stucco “Religion” on the left
and “Magnificence” on the right by Alessandro Algardi
(1598/1654), who also designed the “Frieze with putti, garlands and coats of
arms Ludovisi” on the counter façade and the “Friezes”
on the arches of the side chapels
The
sculptures were probably executed by Ercole Antonio
Raggi (1624/86) and Giovanni Morelli
Vault, Dome and Presbytery
VAULT
Spectacular
“Glory
of St. Ignatius” 1691/94 masterpiece by Andrea Pozzo (1642/1709)
The painted
surface is 750 m² (8,073 square feet) slightly smaller than the area painted by
Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, which is about 800 m² (8,600 square feet)
“The
greatest of all painters specialized in architectonical perspective, Andrea
Pozzo, also was inspired by the Bolognese masters. Unlike the decorative
profusion of the drawings by Haffner, the perspective design of Pozzo was
always strictly architectural and old-fashioned in this sense. Only the
virtuosity and the hypertrophic size of his schemes, typical signs of his last
period, gave him his special stature. Inside the architectonical perspective of
St. Ignatius, as elsewhere, he fixed his figures in areas of light and darkness
not rigidly connected, showing that he too had learned the lesson from Gaulli”
(Rudolf Wittkower)
Andrea
Pozzo painted also the
following decorations in the presbytery:
VAULT OF
THE PRESBYTERY
“St.
Ignatius heals the lepers” 1685/88
MAIN ALTAR
Above the
altar oval with inscription in latin Ego
vobis Romae propitius ero, which means I'll forgive
you in Rome
In the
center “Vision
of St. Ignatius at La Storta” 1685/88
On the
right “St.
Ignatius sends St. Francis Xavier to the Indies” 1698/1701
On the left
“St.
Ignatius welcomes St. Francis Borgia in the Society of Jesus”
1698/1701
PENDENTIVES
“Judith
and Holofernes”, “David
and Goliath”, “Jael
and Sisera” and “Samson and the Philistines” 1685. These
scenes were widely criticized at the time they were painted
Also
painted by Andrea Pozzo in 1685, before painting
anything else
Diameter 17
m (56 feet)
It was
destroyed by fire and was rebuilt in 1823 by Francesco
Manno (1752/1831) who followed the instructions left by the Pozzo
himself who had predicted the destruction
“In many
works, from about 1640 onwards, it is implied a double vision, since the method
of representation shows how the whole image of a saint and of his vision is the
supernatural experience of the viewer. St. Therese by Bernini, represented in
ecstasy, seems to be suspended in mid-air, and this may actually appear only
under the visionary condition in the mind of the observer. On the ceiling of
St. Ignatius light is shown to the saint in ecstasy, but to see the heavens
opened with the saint, it is due to the revelation allowed to the viewer.
Almost unknown to the early Baroque period, the double vision was often pushed
to the limit with all the resources of illusionism during the High Baroque
period and supported by drama, by light, by expressions and by gestures.
Nothing was left unattempted in order to draw the viewer into the orbit of the
artwork. Miracles, wonderful events, supernatural phenomena are given an air of
verisimilitude, the improbable and the unbelievable are rendered in a
plausible, even convincing way” (Rudolf Wittkower)
Right End Side of the Church
Above the
altar “Madonna
and Child with Sts. Stanislaus Kostka, and Francesco Regis”
by an anonymous artist of the Roman school of the
beginning of 1700s
“Wooden
model of fantastic temple representing the ecumenical Church of Christ” 2005 by the Neapolitan Vincenzo Pandolfi (1905/2005). He started this work at
78 years of age and completed it when he was 98
1709/12 Nicola Michetti (about 1675/1758) pupil of Carlo
Fontana, for Cardinal Giuseppe Sacripanti who wanted to dedicate the chapel to
the saint whose name he bore
The Chapel
was formerly dedicated to St. Aloysius Gonzaga, represented by Trevisani in the
lunette on the right
Above the
altar “Virgin
Mary and St. Joseph's death” and right lunette “Last
Communion of St. Aloysius Gonzaga” about 1713 by the
excellent Istrian painter Francesco Trevisani
(1656/1746)
“He became
famous as the first firm believer of a new formal taste and interpretation,
commonly referred to as 'rococo' by modern critics. (...) The
seventeenth-century drama is nobly restrained and transposed into a more human
dimension, where the divine becomes earthly and where pain is no longer seen as
a struggle to rise to the supernatural level, but as a sweet abandon in the
acceptance of martyrdom” (Giancarlo Sestieri)
Left
lunette “Stigmata
of the Blessed Lucia of Narni” about 1713 by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727)
The Blessed
Lucia of Narni (1476/1544) was compatriot of Cardinal Sacripanti
Dome “Glory
of St. Joseph” and pendentives “Marriage
of the Virgin Mary”, “Christ
among the Doctors”, “Adoration of the Shepherds” and “Dream
of St. Joseph” about 1713 by Luigi Garzi
(1638/1721)
On the
pediment of the altar “Statues of Angels” to the right by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736) and to the left by Vincenzo Felice (about 1657/1715)
Outside the
chapel “Wooden
model of the dome that was never built” 1921 by Armando Brasini (1879/1965)
3rd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOACHIM
Above the
altar “Virgin
Mary presented to God the Father by Joachim” by the Roman Stefano Pozzi (1699/1768) and “Portrait of St. Robert
Bellarmine” by an unknown Roman artist of the
seventeenth-century
Lunettes on
the sides “Offer to the Temple and appearance of the angel” first half of the
eighteenth century by a pupil of Stefano Pozzi
Pendentives
“Three theological virtues and Religion” maybe by Stefano
Pozzi
1697/99 Andrea Pozzo (1642/1709)
Relief on
the altar “Glory
of St. Aloysius Gonzaga” 1698
Statues on
the pediment “Penance”
on the left and “Purity” on the right
On the
sides of the urn “Angels”, all works by Pierre Legros
(1666/1719)
Under the
table “Urn
made of lapis lazuli” with the relics of
St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the patron saint of teachers and
students
St.
Aloysius Gonzaga (1568/91) was the eldest son of a marquis and therefore heir
to the title. At the age of seven he began to feel a religious vocation and
entered the Jesuit Order at seventeen
He died at
only twenty-three of plague contracted for wanting to help sufferers of the
disease which was afflicting Rome in the years 1590/91
“Angels
in marble”
on the balustrade by Bernardino Ludovisi (about
1713/49)
Two “Bronze
Angels” at the ends of the balustrade maybe by Angelo De Rossi (1671/1715). The two “Bronze
Angels” at the center were made in a later period
In the
vault fresco “Vision
of St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi with ascent to heaven of St. Aloysius Gonzaga”
and “Angel Musicians” over the side choruses by Andrea
Pozzo, his last paintings in chronological order in the church
“Sophisticated
glitz and great technical ability of the bevy of artists and artisans - at the
same time also engaged in the altar of St. Ignatius in the Gesù Church -
coordinated, in the crowded working site, by Brother Pozzo and Carlo Bonacina,
the chief administrative officer of the company, also himself a member of the
Society of Jesus” (Stefano Petrocchi)
PASSAGE FOR
THE LUDOVISI CHAPEL
Fragment
of a fresco transferred to canvas with “Virgin of the Annunciation” from the old church that was
destroyed, probably the only fragment of the sixteenth century decoration of
the church done in the style of the Zuccari brothers
TO THE
RIGHT OF THE APSE – LUDOVISI CHAPEL
Spectacular
“Monument
of Pope Gregory XV” Ludovisi (1621/23):
Right in
the center there is the pope
sitting down and in the lower part the relief with the
portrait of his
nephew Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, the promoter of the
construction of the church
On the left
“Religion”
and on the right “Munificence”,
all works carried out in the years 1709/17 by Pierre
Legros (1666/1719)
Gregory XV
was the pope who canonized St. Ignatius
At the
corners statues “Cardinal Virtues: Temperance,
Prudence,
Justice
and Fortitude“
1685/86 one of the first Roman works of Camillo Rusconi
(1658/1728), possibly designed by Ercole Antonio
Raggi (1624/86)
Statues at
the sides of the popes representing “Fame” 1709/17 by Pierre-Étienne
Monnot (1657/1733)
CHAPEL TO
THE LEFT OF THE APSE
Plaster
model of the statue of “St.
Ignatius” for the Basilica of St. Peter by Camillo
Rusconi completed in 1728 by the pupil Giuseppe
Rusconi (1688/1758) after the death of his master. Despite having the
same last name, they were not relatives
In the
niches “Theological virtues and religion” designed by Ercole
Antonio Raggi (1624/86):
“Hope” by Jacopo Lavaggi (active in Rome second half XVIII
century)
“Faith” by Simone Giorgini (active in Rome 1677/1712)
“Charity”
by Francesco Nuvolone (second half of the
seventeenth century)
“Religion”
by Francesco Rainaldi
Left End Side of the Church
1749
mirroring the right transept and executed by the stonemason Francesco Cerroti after the rejection of the project
by Luigi Vanvitelli who wanted to design it differently
Marble altarpiece “Annunciation”
1750 by Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768)
Two “Angels”
on the balustrade: the left
one rejects the devil and the right
one holds the Crown of Thorns of Christ. Allegorical figures
on the pediment “Charity”
and “Humility” 1749 all works by Pietro
Bracci (1700/73)
“Filippo
Della Valle, despite all his fine qualities and technical skills, was a
follower: this relief, which contains a late version of the style to be found
in the pictorial reliefs by Alessandro Algardi, shows an accumulation of
subordinated details not unlike the style introduced by Domenico Guidi in the
first phase of the late Baroque period” (Rudolf Wittkower)
Under the
altar “Urn
of lapis lazuli” with the relics of St.
John Berchmans“ 1873 by Virginio
Vespignani (1808/82) who copied the work of the right transept
In the
vault of the transept beautiful fresco with at
the center “Assumption”, on the left “Nativity”, on the right “Presentation of
the Virgin Mary in the Temple” and lunettes “David” and “Jeremiah”
mid 1700s by Ludovico Mazzanti (1686/1775)
Late
eighteenth century altar with crucifix
and urns with relics
Vault “Angels
with Instruments of the Passion of Christ”, lunettes “Visions
of the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque and Nicolò Celestino” and pendentives “Evangelists”
1893 by Giovanni Capranesi (1852/1921) and Domenico De Angelis (1735/1804)
Above the
altar “Sts.
Francis Xavier and Francis Borgia” maybe by the Jesuit Pierre De Lattre (active in Rome mid-seventeenth
century) buried in the church in 1683
1st
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. GREGORY
Above the
altar “St.
Gregory the Great and St. Gregory Thaumaturgus” maybe by Pierre De Lattre
SACRISTY
Built in
the years 1654/61
Vault “Mass
of St. Ignatius” and other paintings about 1660 maybe by Pierre De Lattre
Sketches
for the decoration of the church and “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” by Andrea Pozzo
PHARMACY
Vault “Madonna
and Child with Sts. Ignatius, Francis Xavier, Cosmas and Damian” 1629 by Andrea Sacchi (1599/1661)
In the
lunettes “Founders of Medicine” including Aesculapius, Hippocrates, Avicenna
and Galen by Andrea Sacchi and Emilio Savonanzi (1580/1660)
CHAPEL OF
THE FIRST PRIMARY CONGREGATION
Frescoes on
the walls “Battles of the victorious Christianity through the intercession of
the Virgin Mary” and lunettes “Heroines of the Old Testament” by Jacques Courtois aka Borgognone (1628/79) and his
brother Guillaume Courtois aka Borgognone
(1628/79)
Frescoes in
the vault “Christ in Glory with Sts. Louis and Francis Xavier” by G.B. Laurenzi
CHAPEL OF
THE CONGREGATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY OF THE LADDER
All
paintings and frescoes depict the Virgin Mary and were painted by Pietro Gagliardi (1809/90)
