Ricerc@Sapienza

Among the valuable drawings by Andrea Pozzo that testify to his high artistic gift are those that describe the project of the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury at the Venerable English College of Rome. The project, probably drafted between 1681 and 1701, was not, however, carried out due to the lack of funds. If on the one hand we must regret for not being able to renovate a further Roman Jesuit church on the other, the Trentino artist’s drawings allow us to appreciate the high representative quality of these graphics, published only in 1972 by Bernard Kerber. These documents also have a great value in the panorama of international cultural heritage since, together with those that describe the projects for the churches of St. Ignatius in Dubrovnik and Sant’Apollinare in Rome, they are the only autographs of the brother Jesuit. The drawings represent in plan, elevation and section the architectural organism designed by Pozzo and, through their careful analysis, have allowed the realization of three-dimensional models that have proved to be fundamental tools for understanding and describing both the geometrical composition of the implant and the original spatiality designed by its Author.