Description
The Church of the Gesù, dedicated to Saints Ambrose and Andrew, is the Baroque jewel box of Piazza Matteotti, a stone's throw from Piazza De Ferrari and opposite the Palazzo Ducale. Its lavish, many-coloured interior holds frescoes, marble and masterpieces by Rubens and Guido Reni.
Inside, your eyes go straight up to the frescoed vaults by the brothers Giovanni and Giovanni Battista Carlone, with stories of Christ and the Virgin, all the way to the dome with the Triumph of the Name of Christ, the typical subject of Jesuit churches.
On the high altar hangs Rubens's Circumcision, painted in 1608 during his first stay in Genoa. The second Rubens is in the third chapel on the left: the Miracles of Saint Ignatius, with the founder of the Jesuits freeing a possessed woman and bringing a child back to life.
That canvas was painted in Antwerp in 1620 and shipped to Genoa, as Nicolò Pallavicino had asked in his will. It was the Pallavicini who had paid for rebuilding the church, while the side chapels were sponsored by the city's wealthiest families.
In the third chapel on the right, the Durazzo chapel, is Guido Reni's Assumption of the Virgin, from 1616. Just before it, in the Raggio chapel, Simon Vouet's Crucifixion plays with Caravaggio-style light and shadow, and beneath the altar there is a nativity scene carved by Tommaso Orsolino.
With these works, which arrived in the early 17th century, the church became the cradle of the Genoese Baroque. The coats of arms of the Durazzo and the Raggio are still carved into the marble, a reminder of who paid for the masterpieces.
The story begins much earlier. In 569 Honoratus, bishop of Milan, fled to Genoa ahead of the Lombards and settled in the poulterers' quarter near the cathedral: a church dedicated to their saint, Ambrose, rose for the Milanese in exile.
The Jesuits, who arrived in Genoa in 1552, rebuilt it from scratch by 1589 to a design by the Jesuit Giuseppe Valeriano. The façade, on the other hand, is 19th-century: it was completed in 1894 following drawings by Rubens, after the arch that linked it directly to the doge's palace had been demolished.
Inside, your eyes go straight up to the frescoed vaults by the brothers Giovanni and Giovanni Battista Carlone, with stories of Christ and the Virgin, all the way to the dome with the Triumph of the Name of Christ, the typical subject of Jesuit churches.
On the high altar hangs Rubens's Circumcision, painted in 1608 during his first stay in Genoa. The second Rubens is in the third chapel on the left: the Miracles of Saint Ignatius, with the founder of the Jesuits freeing a possessed woman and bringing a child back to life.
That canvas was painted in Antwerp in 1620 and shipped to Genoa, as Nicolò Pallavicino had asked in his will. It was the Pallavicini who had paid for rebuilding the church, while the side chapels were sponsored by the city's wealthiest families.
In the third chapel on the right, the Durazzo chapel, is Guido Reni's Assumption of the Virgin, from 1616. Just before it, in the Raggio chapel, Simon Vouet's Crucifixion plays with Caravaggio-style light and shadow, and beneath the altar there is a nativity scene carved by Tommaso Orsolino.
With these works, which arrived in the early 17th century, the church became the cradle of the Genoese Baroque. The coats of arms of the Durazzo and the Raggio are still carved into the marble, a reminder of who paid for the masterpieces.
The story begins much earlier. In 569 Honoratus, bishop of Milan, fled to Genoa ahead of the Lombards and settled in the poulterers' quarter near the cathedral: a church dedicated to their saint, Ambrose, rose for the Milanese in exile.
The Jesuits, who arrived in Genoa in 1552, rebuilt it from scratch by 1589 to a design by the Jesuit Giuseppe Valeriano. The façade, on the other hand, is 19th-century: it was completed in 1894 following drawings by Rubens, after the arch that linked it directly to the doge's palace had been demolished.