The surname of this Jesuit monk is inseparably connected with the illusionist decoration of the ceiling of the Church of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola. Its significance cannot be overvalued – as it became an example for a whole slew of Baroque artists working on the decoration of Jesuit buildings spread throughout the world and that is not all. Pozzo was a creator of total art, an author of a vision, which in the eye of the viewer came together into one almost organic whole, architecture, sculpture and painting, but also the world of nature. And if we think that 3D technology is something new, we should enter this Roman church and see and experience, that our ancestors were familiar with it and used it a long time ago.

As a twenty-three year old youth, Andrea began his novitiate with the Jesuits in Milan. Besides a calling he was driven by the will to paint and design, which could be expressed under the patronage of the Society of Jesus which was open to science and art. He was a universal talent – painter architect, and a designer of the so-called small architecture (altars, occasional decorations), as well as a theoretician of art. In 1681, when he became known in Italian cities as an outstanding decorator, he was called by the Superior General of the Order to Rome. He was engaged in the works on the Church of Sant’Ignazio where he presented a novel solutions to the decorations of the part under the dome. The dome itself, due to financial reasons could not be built. Pozzo simply replaced it with canvas on which he painted apparent architecture in such a way that it provides an imitation of the real one. The effect he achieved was surprising indeed – it pleased not only the clients, but appealed to numerous viewers as well. The next confirmation of his talent was an imposing painting of the vault of this church, after which the anonymous monk became the number one artist in Rome.

After completing a few more works in the Eternal City, in 1702 he left Italy and went to Austria, where he worked mainly several clients mainly for Emperor Leopold I. He died in Vienna and was buried in the Jesuit church there.

Prior to leaving Rome, in 1693 he shared his knowledge of designing altars, tabernacles and other small objects in the work Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum, which was well-received in numerous countries, including China.

The most important works of Andrea Pozzo in Rome:

•     Monastery at the Church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale

  Series of watercolors dedicated to the life of St. Stanislaus Kostka (attributed to the artist)

  Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary

•     Monastery at the Church of Santissima Trinità dei Monti

  Frescoes in monastery rooms (refractory, Sala della Gloria), 1694

•     Church of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola

  Ceiling frescoes and the top of the apse, “apparent” dome, 1694

  Design of the altar in the Chapel of St. Aloysius, 1695

  Design of the altar and tombstone of St. John Berchmans, 1691

•     Church of Il Gesù

  Design of the Altar of St.  Ignatius of Loyola (1700)

  Chapel of Madonna della Strada – dome decorations