painted ceiling

The tradition & historical record

A painted ceiling is a ceiling covered with an artistic mural or painting. They are usually decorated with frescos or sometimes oil paintings. While hard to execute (at least in situ) a decorated ceiling has the advantage that it is largely protected from damage by fingers and dust. In the past, however, this was more than compensated for by the damage from smoke from candles or a fireplace. Many historic buildings have celebrated ceilings. Perhaps the most famous in the world is the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo. ¹

An illusionistic ceiling painting is an ambitious work which attempts to give the illusion that there is an opening to the sky, in a single large picture space. These are typical of Baroque architecture, in churches and palaces, but the Villa Farnesina in Rome, built by 1510 for the Pope's banker, pioneered this style in the Sale delle Colonne ("Room of the Columns"), as well as having a round painted vault ceiling by Raphael in another room. Earlier examples include a small round section of a ceiling by Andrea Mantegna in the Camera degli Sposi of the Ducal Palace, Mantua, from 1474. The dome of Parma Cathedral by Correggio (1526-30) depicted an Assumption of the Virgin Mary, with many figures very foreshortened, introducing the apotheosis type of composition, showing the main figure moving up into the heavens. These became widely used, for Assumptions and Ascensions, but also for a number of saints, and later secular figures. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Painted ceiling”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

painted ceiling is ceiling covered with an artistic mural or painting, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²