Aurora

Aurora at the Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi in Rome, painted in 1622, is Guercino's celebrated ceiling fresco depicting the goddess of dawn riding her chariot across the sky. This masterpiece of illusionistic ceiling painting established Guercino as a major decorative painter. Guercino's vivid early style, with its bold chiaroscuro and emotional immediacy, gave way after 1621 to a more classical manner influenced by the taste of Rome, creating two distinct bodies of work that represent the Baroque's competing impulses toward drama and order.

The dynamic aerial composition creates a convincing illusion of open sky seen from below. The dawn goddess and her horses sweep across the painted vault with powerful foreshortening and luminous color.