Triumph of the Name of Jesus

Giovanni Battista Gaulli's Triumph of the Name of Jesus from 1679, in the Church of the Gesù in Rome, is one of the most spectacular ceiling paintings in Baroque art. The fresco creates the illusion of the church vault opening to reveal the heavenly realm, with figures and light spilling beyond the architectural frame into the nave. Gaulli, known as Baciccio, worked under the guidance of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and this ceiling represents the synthesis of painting, sculpture, and architecture that defined the Roman High Baroque.

The illusionistic composition shatters the boundary between real and painted architecture, with stucco figures by Antonio Raggi bridging the transition. Gaulli's technique creates a vortex of light centered on the monogram of Christ, with damned souls tumbling downward in dramatic foreshortening.