Design for Part of a Church Ceiling with a Dome 1735 - 1817

Faustino Trebbi’s drawing captures a section of a church ceiling with a dome, rendered in pen and brown ink with washes of grey and blue. The composition is dominated by the swirling, baroque ornamentation, a hallmark of the period. Notice how the architectural elements, such as the ribs of the dome and the ornate moldings, converge. This directs our gaze upwards, creating a sense of boundless space. The use of light and shadow, particularly in the rendering of the dome's coffers and the angelic figures, enhances this illusion of depth and three-dimensionality. The drawing also plays with the semiotics of religious architecture, where the dome symbolizes the heavens and the light emanating from above signifies divine presence. Trebbi challenges fixed notions of space, engaging with new ways of perceiving architectural form. Ultimately, the dynamic interplay between line, shadow, and form, functions not only aesthetically but also as part of a larger cultural and philosophical discourse on divinity.