Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple

The new church type, developed in the Baroque period, offered large format vertical picture surfaces on the inner fa�ade and on the dividing wall between the nave and the choir, which were used both for oil paintings and for frescoes. It was not as easy to see the pictures on the inner fa�ade because of the light from the windows, yet it was costumary to incorporate these surfaces into the iconographic program. The most magnificent solutions for this space were found in Naples.

The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple on the entrance wall of the Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is perhaps the most spectacular of Solimena’s wall paintings. It was routinely copied by northern artists visiting Naples in the eighteenth century, and was widely known from engraved reproductions. The scene can be understood as a reminder to viewers, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, that respectful behaviour was expected in sacred spaces, which explains why such scenes are so common on entrance walls in the Baroque period.