St. Helena and the Emperor Constantine Presented to the Holy Trinity by the Virgin Mary

This sketch for a church ceiling is organized into three main groups of figures to make it comprehensible to viewers standing on the floor below. At the top, Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christianity, holds a flag and kneels in front of a cross, symbol of his death. In the middle section, Christ’s mother the Virgin Mary, garbed in bright blue, looks up at Jesus as she beckons to St. Helena, kneeling at the left. The saint presents her own son, the emperor Constantine. In the lowest grouping, St. Michael the archangel vanquishes a group of heretics and topples Lucifer from his throne.

The artist presented this very finished sketch to Pope Benedict XIV (1675–1758) for approval before painting the ceiling of the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, where his work can still be seen today. The painting and a newly-designed façade were part of the pope’s effort to refurbish the Roman basilica he served before ascending to the papacy.