Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria

This church is one of those little packages with a big prize inside. Located on the Quirinal Hill, this church is less famous for its structure as it is famous for one of its altars in the left transept of the church. Below is one example of the beautiful paintings in the church that is often ignored.But the real surprise is the altar dedicated to St. Theresa of Avila, designed by the great Gianlorenzo Bernini.The Ecstasy of St. Theresa is famous the world round in art history, but it is remarkably small for such a famous work of art.Note the attention to detail, and how the white marble almost seems to come alive, in what we call in art history vive carne.At this point in Bernini's career, he would have probably just created a scale model that his assistants would then have translated into the full size sculpture.Bernini was a master of the manipulation of light; note the window hidden up above the sculpture group; outside on the street we can see Bernini built a small addition to hold his window. I can only imagine what Bernini would have done if he access to computer animation.But let's not forget the other works of art in the church; below is a skeleton rising up in multicolored marble glory; he is reminding the faithful that death awaits everyone, one day.The Holy Spirit bursts through the vault of the church, in this tour de force of illusionistic ceiling painting.
The members of the Cornaro family, some already deceased, look on from their box seats, discussing the miraculous vision in front of them on the marble and gold stage.Here is the high altar, almost forgotten by the Cornaro Chapel.St. Andrew, if I remember correctly, appears opposite of the Cornaro Chapel; it's a great sculpture group, and is worth looking at if you're in the church.Here's a closeup of the sculpture.There are some very competent ceiling paintings in the church as well, as these two examples attest.Art of the 17th Century wanted to impress you, and blow you away. I think it is often successful on both counts.

Sant' Ivo alla Sapienza

This wonderful church by Francesco Borromini anchors the famed university of "La Sapienzia" or the "Wisdom." Reacting to Gianlorenzo Bernini's architecture, Borromini's radical design seeks to create an aesthetic wholly void of classicism.The tall turret, variously described as a Tower of Babel, illustrates Borromini's unique approach to architecture.The hours in my guidebook were wrong, so I didn't get inside this beauty.

Sant Andrea al Quirinale

Sant Andrea al Quirinale is located high on the Quirinal Hill, on the Via del Quirinale, on a rectangular site with its long side facing the major avenue. Now major avenue in Rome means two lanes and sidewalks, mind you. It is the masterpiece of church design of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who attended the church, claiming it was his only perfect work. The genius of his design is his creation of an optical illusion of a normally proportioned church sitting in what is in reality an awkward location.The interior is stunning, and greeting the visitor straight ahead is a miraculous vision of the apostle Andrew being borne into Heaven in a blaze of stuccoed glory.Above, you can see his martyrdom in paint, where the apostle continued to preach on an X-shaped cross even after being pardoned by the Roman governor. Below is a close-up of the stuccoed figure of St. Andrew.Below is the hidden window that Bernini used to light the altar; he always hid his light source to give the impression that Heavenly rays were falling on the miraculous vision.I don't like the advertisements, but this website has great drawings of the interior, which is difficult to capture on a camera.