St. Agnes is Received into Heaven
after 1689
Imagine looking straight up into a swirling vortex of clouds and angels—that's the dizzying effect Gaulli, nicknamed Baciccio, was planning here. This circular sketch bursts with Baroque energy, serving as a preparatory study for a grand church ceiling, likely for Rome's Sant'Agnese in Agone. At the bottom, divine figures welcome St. Agnes into heaven, while the rest of the composition spirals upward toward a golden central oculus, mimicking an opening to the sky. The loose, frantic brushstrokes reveal the artist's mind at work, mapping out the illusionistic perspective that would eventually make worshippers feel like the church roof had vanished.
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