Who painted the ceiling fresco of the Church of the Gesù in Rome?

Giovanni Battista Gaulli painted the ceiling fresco of Rome’s Church of the Gesù.

Gaulli, also known as Baciccio or Il Baciccio, created the dramatic fresco titled The Triumph of the Name of Jesus between 1678 and 1679. It occupies the nave vault of the Jesuit mother church and is one of the defining masterpieces of Roman Baroque art.

The composition uses foreshortening, painted architecture, and sharply theatrical light to make the ceiling appear to dissolve into heaven. Christ’s monogram, IHS, shines at the center, while angels and saints surround it. Figures of the damned seem to tumble beyond the painted frame, an effect designed to make the viewer feel part of the vision rather than merely observe it.

The main confusion is with Andrea Pozzo, another Jesuit-associated artist who produced a celebrated illusionistic ceiling at nearby Sant'Ignazio. Gaulli’s masterpiece is in Il Gesù; Pozzo’s best-known Roman ceiling is in Sant'Ignazio. Gaulli also decorated the church’s dome, pendentives, and other major surfaces.