Phenomenon of augmented space – physical and virtual space analysis of wall paintings: st. Francis Xavier jesuit church in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland

Baroque quadrature paintings by Jesuit artists (Andrea Pozzo’s followers) are well represented in architecture of Polish churches of late XVII and XVIII centuries. We can find excellent examples of wall and ceiling paintings that include the pictorial genre of trompe-l’oeil and quadrature to make an illusion of three-dimensional space above the main nave (“open sky” effect) and illusion of depth behind the main altar in the presbytery. (Kraków, Brzeg, Krzeszow, etc.). In this paper we present more unique illusionistic perspective painting by Jesuit painter A. Ahorn in late baroque and rococo (dated 1737-1741), in the St. Francis Xavier Jesuit Church in Piotrków Trybunalski in Poland. The pictorial genre of quadrature was used to create an illusion of expanding space around the main altar in side directions. The painting presents the sequences of columns, arcades and emporas (made on vertical curved wall). The paper is an attempt to explain the phenomenon of the perspective created in this painting using a geometrical analysis.