Ceiling Oculus

Opening up the room to the sky and painting the figures in extreme foreshortening, as seen from the viewer’s point of view immediately below, were sensational devices in Mantegna’s day. This was the first time a rigorous sotto in sù perspective, that is foreshortened from below, had been painted successfully. This provided a point of departure for the development of ceiling frescoes that was exploited to greatest effect during the Baroque.