Sistine Chapel ceiling Church as the agent of God. To be outside the Church was to be beyond "Salvation". In the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo presented both Catholic and Humanist elements in a way that does not appear visually conflicting. The inclusion of "non-biblical" figures such as the Sibyls or "Ignudi" is consistent with the rationalising of Humanist and Christian thought of the Renaissance. This rationalisation was to become a target of the Counter Reformation. The iconography of the ceiling has had various interpretations in the past, some elements of which have been contradicted by modern scholarship. Others, such as the
Illusionistic ceiling painting From 1691 to 1694 Andrea Pozzo painted the "Entrance of Saint Ignatius into Paradise" on the nave vault of Sant'Ignazio, Rome, with theatricality and emotion. Illusionistic ceiling painting Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective di sotto in sù and quadratura, is the tradition in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo art in which trompe l'oeil, perspective tools such as foreshortening, and other spatial effects are used to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on an otherwise two-dimensional or mostly flat ceiling surface above the viewer. It is frequently used to create the illusion an open sky, such as with