Matriz do Espírito Santo esboço do tecto da Capella Mor (Zimborio)

Oreste Sercelli's sketch for the ceiling of the chapel of the Matriz do Espírito Santo in Brazil documents the planning stage of a major religious decorative commission. Sercelli was an Italian-born painter who worked extensively in Brazil, bringing European academic training to the decoration of Brazilian religious buildings. Ceiling sketches for church commissions occupied a significant place in the practice of decorative painters — each composition needed to account for the viewer's perspective looking upward, the architectural context of the dome or vault, and the theological programme required by the patron.

The ceiling sketch demonstrates the spatial problem peculiar to vault painting: the composition must read convincingly from below, with figures in foreshortened attitudes appropriate to overhead perspective. Sercelli's handling is economical in this preparatory work, establishing the overall scheme before full elaboration.