Assumption of the Virgin Attended by the Apostles

The iconographic and formal culmination of the Mary cycle in the Nunziatella is the grandiose Assumption on the ceiling of the nave. This subject had a special meaning for the Jesuits, who saw the Protestants’ refusal of Mary worship as a key issue in their propagation of the faith. De Mura depicted Mary being received in heaven by the Holy Trinity, and not simply her rising upward supported by angel, the image that had dominated ceiling painting since Correggio’s cupola in Parma.

The rapport between the framed and framing elements, altogether independent of the architectural situation, gives this ceiling a distinctly ornamental character. Along with the caps of the vault and the simulated oval openings, the framing of the side cartouches composed of C-shaped elements and the sculptural forms of the frames around the niches form a dynamic, airy system of positive and negative shapes radiating outward from the centre ceiling.