Jesuit artist Andrea Pozzo was born on 30 November 1642 in Trent. Pozzo is known for his abilities with quadratura— an illusionistic technique that simulates architecture in ceiling paintings, as seen in his tour de force ceiling fresco at the church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome. He also created the altar for the tomb of Saint Ignatius in his order’s mother church, the Gesù, one of the most sumptuous of the late Baroque period. In 1703, Pozzo was invited to Vienna where he worked on the local Jesuit church and other secular projects, including the stupendous ceiling frescoes in the Marmorsaal of the Liechtenstein garden palace showing the Labors of Hercules. He would die in Vienna in 1709.
Reference: Richard Bösel. “Pozzo, Andrea.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Further reading: Perspective in Architecture and Painting: An Unabridged Reprint of the English-and-Latin Edition of the 1693 “Perspectiva Pictorum Et Architectorum”
Allegory of the Jesuits’ Missionary Work, 1691-94, Fresco, Sant’Ignazio, Rome, full view and detail
Deeds of Hercules and his Apotheosis, 1704-08, Fresco, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
Omphale Punishing Hercules (detail), 1704-08, Fresco, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
Altar of St Ignatius Loyola, 1695-99, Marble, bronze, Il Gesù, Rome
Self-portrait, 1690s, oil on canvas, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence