Triumph of the Name of Jesus (1661–1679, Church of the Gesù) by Giovanni Battista Gaulli - Catholic Stock Photo

Giovanni Battista Gaulli owes a great deal of his success on the ceiling fresco to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Several other artists were considered for the job of painting the ceiling. Gian Paolo Oliva relied on Bernini's opinion when selecting the artist for the ceiling. Bernini is responsible for not only obtaining the commission for Gaulli, but also for inspiring some of the designs. If not for Bernini's illusionistic merging of architecture and sculpture, in the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa at the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria Della Vittoria, Gaulli's ceiling fresco may have turned out quite differently. The illusionistic heavens upon the ceiling of the Gesu emphasizes how the church is seen as an intermediary between the mortal world and eternal salvation. Gaulli also enacts a certain level of theatrics to the scene, yet again, similar to that found in the Cornaro Chapel.