Western Alliances by Wilton Barnhardt

Western Alliances by Wilton Barnhardt

Author:Wilton Barnhardt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group


Not far from Claudia’s hotel were the two Jesuit megachurches, with showstopper ceilings courtesy of Gaulli and Pozzo, respectively, masters of trompe l’oeil. His sister had ruled out including these overly-written-about masters, but Roberto saw no reason to resist another look. Scores of international tourists stood still, looking upward.

Where does the gilded, plaster ceiling start and the fresco leave off? After a while, the eye works it out—or thinks it does—and you see how the illusion of the multitudes falling out of heaven (while some seem to be going up) seem also to be falling out of the ceiling itself.

Having seen Andrea Pozzo’s trompe l’oeil masterpiece, he might as well walk a block away for his rival. These were the home churches of the Jesuit order, trompe l’oeil appreciators, if there ever were any, themselves impresarios of statecraft and intrigues, conspiracies and false flags and forged documents. Their perpetual meddling in affairs of state prompted one pope, Clement XIV, to be brave enough to disband them.

Il Gesù was Giovanni Battista Gaulli’s work, and here, Roberto remembered, one could see that bits of robe were sewn into the ceiling, draped over the outer edge of the fresco to suggest the subjects of the fresco were materially there. He had a clumsy photo from a former visit, but this time, he had his telephoto lens. He zoomed in beside the angelic figures above the altar, and there was the scrap of red cloth … waitaminute …

Roberto smiled, putting the camera down. He’d been taken in! The scrap of the red robe was also painted. It had the same shadow as the sculpture of the angel, from the window to the right … but it was opaque glass. The sun was not shining through it. It was all a fraud: the shadow of the marble angel statue was also painted, deceiving congregants for centuries and Roberto for a decade. This he would share with Rachel.

Roberto texted his sister, WHAT A MAGNIFICENT TRICK! THIS FOOLED ME FOR YEARS—I THOUGHT THAT RED CLOTH WAS REAL.



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