Home > Piazza Navona - act III

The Dome

The dome of St. Andrea della Valle was Domenichino fresco, who had painted the vault of the basin and the spandrels of the cupola and, in this last effort saw the fulfillment of his undertaking.

He did not.

We know that Domenichino, in his pathological shyness, greatly suffered.

Istead he was replaced by Giovanni Lanfranco. In reality, the painting of the domes is so to say  an impossible mission, the shape of the domes makes difficult the vision and then the composition, if you are not an art historian, is dared to say; what strikes the viewer is the effect.

Lanfranco creates a kind of circular flight to the sky, represented by the light of the lantern.

In conclusion, the contiguity of different Domenichino and Lanfranco could not be happier and it was and is today a source of interest and study for many visitors from 1700 onwards.