Ceiling of the Room of Constantine, Triumph of Christian Religion.

This ceiling fresco features a dramatic central panel using extreme linear perspective to depict the interior of a temple where a Christian cross has replaced an ancient statue, which lies broken on the floor. Surrounding the central scene are elaborate architectural frames containing personifications of virtues, historical disciplines, and the various provinces of Italy. The vault is further decorated with the heraldic symbols of Pope Gregory XIII, including the Boncompagni dragon, amidst a complex program of Mannerist ornamentation.

Commissioned during the Counter-Reformation, this work represents the final ideological shift from the Renaissance attempt to synthesize pagan and Christian wisdom toward a more absolute assertion of Church triumph. It serves as a visual manifesto for the replacement of 'prisca theologia' or ancient mysteries with the singular authority of the Roman Catholic Church.