Les plat-fonds, ou les tableaux des galeries de l'église des R.P.P.P. Jésuites d'Anvers 1751

This print by Jan Punt depicts the ceilings of the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, as painted by Rubens. The church itself, dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, features a complex iconographic program intended to inspire religious fervor. The ceilings, now lost, were themselves powerful symbols of faith and Jesuit power. Consider, for example, the 'trompe-l'oeil' effects often used to create the illusion of open heavens, populated by saints and angels. This motif, which extends back to antiquity, aims to elicit an emotional and psychological response, a sense of awe and spiritual connection. The Jesuits were particularly adept at harnessing such visual rhetoric. Think of the way the baroque style itself is a cultural phenomenon, born from the Counter-Reformation—using drama, color, and grandeur to reassert the Catholic Church's influence. The story of these ceilings does not end with their destruction; it continues through prints like this one, documenting their existence, and the endurance of the symbols they contained.