The Art of Anamorphosis

Map

Frescoes by Fra Andrea Pozzo

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For the last decade of his life St Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, lived in a house next to the Chiesa del Gesu. There he died on July 31st, 1554. 

Following a disastrous flood in 1598, the house had to be rebuilt, but the rooms in which Loyola had lived, worked and prayed were preserved for posterity. 

Almost a century later the short corridor leading to the rooms was painted by Fra Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709) with an extraordinary set of frescoes (1681-86). Pozzo uses a technique known as anamorphosis, where an image is distorted in such a way that it becomes recognisable only when seen from a specified viewing point. 

Pozzo's masterpiece is his fresco on the ceiling of the church of Sant' Ignazio, which lies only a short distance from the Chiesa del Gesu. 

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Anamorphic fresco by Andrea Pozzo

Anamorphic fresco by Andrea Pozzo

Frescoes by Andrea Pozzo

Frescoes by Andrea Pozzo

Entrance to Pozzo Corridor