Sant’Andrea al Quirinale
Bernini called this small Jesuit church the only work with which he was completely satisfied. It is oval and wide rather than deep, so that the visitor immediately faces the altar. The room is a theatre in which the apostle Andrew rises towards heaven in the dome.
The church was commissioned by Cardinal Camillo Pamphili for the Jesuit novitiate, where young men were trained as Jesuits. The site was small and lay opposite the papal palace on the Quirinal. Bernini received the commission in 1658 and the church was consecrated in 1670, although the decoration continued for a few more years. He devoted great care to it. His son later recounted that Bernini used to sit in the church and look at it, and that he said this was the only work of his that he did not regret anything about.
The plan is an oval whose long axis runs crosswise. On entering, you therefore stand close to the altar, which lies opposite the entrance. Chapels surround the oval, and the walls are clad in pink and grey marble. Above the altar Andrew’s martyrdom is shown in a painting framed by gilded rays, and above it a sculpture of the saint floats up through an opening towards the dome. The dome is white and gold, with coffers and angels. Light falls in from hidden windows, so that the room grows brighter towards the top.
Outside, the church meets the street with convex steps and a porch framed by two pilasters and a pediment, while two low walls curve out and embrace the space in front. The church is regarded as one of the most perfect rooms of the Baroque and has been studied by architects from Fischer von Erlach to 20th-century modernists. It shows how Bernini, who was sculptor, architect and stage designer, could unite all the arts in a single room.