Cappella Chigi (Santa Maria del Popolo) September 2015-1a

A view looking upward into a gilded, octagonal dome featuring intricate mosaic panels and gold coffering. At the center is God the Father in a gesture of creation, while eight surrounding panels depict personifications of the seven classical planets and the fixed stars, each guided by a winged celestial intelligence.

This iconographic program represents the Renaissance Neoplatonic synthesis of Christian theology and Hermetic cosmology, specifically the doctrine of the 'Music of the Spheres.' It visualizes the belief that planetary movements are governed by angelic intelligences under the divine order, a concept central to the works of Marsilio Ficino.