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During the construction of the church of Sant'Ignazio, there was a dispute with the Dominicans of Santa Maria sopra Minerva who objected the planned cupola because it would have stolen light from their library. It was recommended by the architect Mattia de'Rossi, that the cupola problem could be resolved by having one painted instead of actually built. The architecture painter and Jesuit lay brother Andrea Pozzo was selected for the commission, which was completed in 1685.
That one of the most venerable architectural features of Roman church architecture could be replaced by a painting was something as spectacular as it was symptomatic. By means of perspective, Pozzo had managed to triumph over architecture with the arsenal of painting. The simulated cupola, as an alternative to actual constructed architecture, was born of necessity, but it demonstrated both that painting could not only replace architecture in ephemeral festival settings and that permanent theatrical effects were permissible in a sacred space.
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