This is the magnificent dome of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, frescoed by Lanfranco with the so-called Glory of Paradise. This fresco is one of the best painted wonders of Rome, something that was able to underline how the art was going to change. 

The site construction of the basilica was inaugurated in 1591 extending over the years. Only in 1620, in fact, the project passed to Carlo Maderno (the one who completed the facade of the Basilica of St. Peter, for example), which primarily focused on the dome, making it one of the highest of all Rome! The church itself contains all the trappings, especially in the decorative apparatus, and in the plant (single nave flanked by chapels) of the Counter-reformation of the late XVI century. And it is precisely here that may be compared to two of the major characters of the art of the first half of the XVII century: Domenichino and Lanfranco. Both came from Annibale Carracci's studio. He was an artist who knew how to move in the art world of that time, establishing the right relationships with the right people, interpreting his painting, following all the canons, and the tastes, that endeared popes, cardinals or noblemen. A man who, in addition, opened a studio among the best in the whole of the Italian peninsula. And from his study developed and matured masters Domenichino and Lanfranco.

If the first one, however, remained on a scheme which is very classic, the Lanfranco chose a route that will be later explored by all the great masters of the Baroque. We can visually notice this difference right here, inside the Basilica of Sant'andrea della Valle: to Domenichino was commissioned the decoration of the sails of the dome, while Lanfranc was, given the work and commitment to the highest at the top of the actual dome! The two artists, as I wrote before, came from the same studio, but as it could happen they chose a different way to do art. Domenichino was more classicist than the second, and his perspective could be seen better looking at the four evanglists painted by him. It seems that they are inside a canvas, made with light painted architectonical elements.

But now try to see the characteristic architectural element painted by Lanfranco realized between 1625 and 1627, where we see how the inner part is completely covered with frescoes: the sky, the clouds and figures are moving together, into a whirling motion that has its end in Christ who is right in the middle. The main subject should be the Assumption of Marie, who was painted with her common colors (blue and red). Colors and shapes are very dynamic, moving in a space not enclosed by any type of artificial architecture (as did Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel), but completely opened. They seem almost to fly inside the dome! Items that will be an integral part of the baroque culture, so much that thanks to this domes other basilicas of the same age were decorated in the same way (try to see that one of the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone clicking here). Two artists who worked close to each other, arguing sometimes but leaving two examples of how art could be made in a different way...