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Brother Andrea Pozzo, SJ
(1641-1709)
Painter and Architect

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Brother Andrea Pozzo, SJ on Order of Malta stamp 
SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA, 2009, the third centenary of Pozzo's death
featuring a self-portrait from the Jesuit Church of the Gesù in Rome
with its FDI cancel

Pozzo entered the Society of Jesus as a brother on December 23, 1665. He continued his artistic studies in Genoa and Rome, and worked principally in Genoa, Turin, Rome and Vienna. He was a skillful artist in decorative perspective, famous for the ceiling in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome, for the trompe l'oeil cupolas in Arezzo, Montepulciano, Modena, Turin and Vienna. He left plans for the cathedral in Ljubljana (see below) and the Jesuit churches in Trent and Bamberg. His masterpiece however is the interior renovation of the University Church in Vienna (1703) and the Hercules Hall of the Prince of Liechtenstein's Garden Palace in Vienna. Pozzo designed the altar of St. Ignatius in the Church of the Gesù and that of St. Aloysius in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. His two-volume work Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum appeared in Latin and German at Augsburg in 1707, and has been translated into French, English, Dutch, and by Br. Giuseppe Castiglione, SJ into Chinese.

Brother Andrea Pozzo, SJ architecture on Yugoslavia Scott 700 Brother Andrea Pozzo, SJ architecture on Vatican Scott 1058f Brother Andrea Pozzo, SJ architecture on Poland Scott 3876
YUGOSLAVIA, 1963, Yugoslav tourist attractions: a cityscape of Ljubljana (now the capital of Slovenia)
with the St. Nicholas Cathedral built according to the plans of Br. Andrea Pozzo, SJ in 1701-1706, Scott 700
It replaced the previous cathedral of the same name pulled down in 1701, Scott 700.
VATICAN CITY, 1997, St. Nicholas Cathedral in Ljubljana is seen in this stamp from a series on the 1996 travels of Pope John Paul II, Scott 1058f
POLAND, 2007, Capitals of Europe, the cathedral is to the left of the bridge, Scott 3876

Brother Andrea Pozzo, SJ architecture on Slovenia Scott 727
SLOVENIA,
2007, tercentenary of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Ljubljana, Scott 727
This stamp shows one of the Cathedral's many frescoes by the Lombardy painter Giulio Quaglio

A photograph of the University Church of Vienna remodeled by Br. Pozzo, SJ
A photograph of the University Church of Vienna remodeled by Br. Pozzo, SJ

The University Church of Vienna on Austria Scott 950 The University Church of Vienna on Austria Scott B308 The University Church of Vienna on Austrian stamp
AUSTRIA, 1973, the centenary of a worldwide meteorological association, Scott 950
to the right is the Jesuit University Church the interior renovation of which was one of Pozzo's masterpieces.
AUSTRIA, 1964, the Vienna International Philatelic Exhibition (WIPA 1965) issue showed views of Vienna including one to the east
showing the towers of the University Church between the dome of St. Peter and the church and spire of St. Stephen, Scott B308
AUSTRIA, 2010, a similar view as the 1964 stamp and honoring the Vienna city center as a UNESCO World Heritage site; the two towers of the church are seen more clearly on the card below immediately under the FDI cancel.

The University Church of Vienna on Austrian cover


The Garden Palace of the Prince of Liechtenstein on Austrian stamp The Liechtenstein Museum on Austrian personalized stamp
AUSTRIA
, 2008, a personalized stamp showing the Garden Palace of the Prince of Liechtenstein
where Pozzo painted the Hercules Hall
AUSTRIA, 2011, the Liechtenstein Museum has issued a set of 8 personalized stamps in a special folder which reads in part:
"the Hercules Hall with its monumental fresco by Andrea Pozzo. The largest Baroque hall in Vienna, it hosts concerts of classical music on Sundays."

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