Trascrizione
The four paintings exhibited here are among the last works of Andrea Pozzo, a painter and architect of Trentine origin affiliated with the Jesuits, the religious order that contributed most to the promotion of the Counter-Reformation. Created in 1708 for the church of San Francesco Saverio in Trento, these exquisite paintings represent the culmination of Pozzo's career. Trained in Milan, the artist gained renown for his extraordinary perspective skills, already visible in the small youthful canvas exhibited here, a model for a larger painting preserved in Milan itself, in the church of San Francesco di Paola.
His fame led him to Rome, where he created his most famous work, the frescoes on the ceiling and the fake dome of the church of Sant'Ignazio. The painter then moved to Vienna, where he concluded his career in the service of Emperor Leopold I.
More than the sacred stories they depict, the main protagonists of these images are the monumental buildings. The Presentation at the Temple is set in an interior that corresponds to that of the church of San Francesco Saverio in Trento, designed by Pozzo himself. Meanwhile, The Last Supper shows the artist's mastery in creating the so-called “sacred theatres”, scenic representations of the Passion of Christ that were installed in churches during Holy Week, to convey religious teachings in a vivid and engaging manner. The Christ in Bethany and the Martyrdom of a Saint stand out as true "caprices," immense imaginary scenes of classical ruins into which the main stories are inserted. Harking back to the moment when Christianity triumphed over the vestiges of the Roman Empire, the paintings echoed the Jesuits' struggle against Protestant heresy.