Reconstructing Filippo Juvarra’s Lost Church of Sant’Andrea in Chieri: A Hypothetical 3D Model Based on Iconographic Sources

The Church of Sant’Andrea in Chierihas long been regarded as Filippo Juvarra’s lost masterpiece, marking a watershed between his early and late styles. In the former, shaped by his Roman education, he treated the wall as a solid mass, whereas in the latter the defining elements were isolated supports and connective masonry. The church was destroyed in 1811 during Napoleon’s occupation of Piedmont. This paper details the process of its 3D reconstruction and the challenges it entailed. Since the church was completely razed to the ground, the only way to infer data was through the analysis of centuries-old iconographic evidence left by the architect and his assistants, together with a single painting depicting the church’s demolition. This study therefore presents a hypothetical reconstruction based on the geometric analysis of the drawings and their interpolation, combined with established knowledge of Juvarra’s body of work. The reconstruction process has brought to light several elements that call into question conventional interpretations ofthe church, particularly with regard to the vault.