DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42129#0079
PALAZZO F ARNESIN A.
27
did it with great skill and care, yet the harmony of the work was
destroyed by it ; still more so, as he failed in the tone of the background,
the garish blue of which only rendered the red tints of Giulio Romano
more conspicuous.
The somewhat insipid decorations of the walls, with their niches and
pedestals in painted marbles, belong to the times of the Farnesi. Why
these pedestals remained without either busts or figures is not easy to
conceive, for the room was considered as finished.
The earliest description of these paintings is given by Gallus Egidius,
in 1511. The most detailed work on them is by Bellori. As regards
prints, the set by N. Dorigny, Avho also engraved the Galatea, is the
best1.
PLATE 18.
PAINTINGS ON THE ARCHED CEILING OF THE SALA DI GALATEA.
The plan of this rich ceiling was designed by the architect of the
palace, Balthazar Peruzzi, who also painted the larger part of its frescoes.
The two principal paintings in the centre, representing the Fate of Medusa,
and Diana drawn on her car, are surrounded by a number of mythological
compositions filling the spandrils, lunettes, and soffits of the ceiling ; these
show the learning of Peruzzi, and the influence of the revived classic taste
of that period. Below each of the hexagonal compartments stands a
Cupid, painted in chiaro-scuro, and holding a tablet, formerly, perhaps, with
an allusion to the representation above it. The upper corners of the
spandrils, likewise in chiaro-scuro upon a deep blue ground, are even now
such powerful imitations of relievo, that we may well believe Vasari, who
tells us that Titian was deceived by them as well as by the painted
architectural details of the roof. The supposed frieze with masks, palm-
1 Psycheset Amoris nuptiæ ac fabulæ Romæ in Farnesianis historiis express®, a. Nie Ric. Dorigny
del et inc et aS°. Petro Bellorisnotis illustrât®, &c. &c. Romæ, 1693.
E 2
27
did it with great skill and care, yet the harmony of the work was
destroyed by it ; still more so, as he failed in the tone of the background,
the garish blue of which only rendered the red tints of Giulio Romano
more conspicuous.
The somewhat insipid decorations of the walls, with their niches and
pedestals in painted marbles, belong to the times of the Farnesi. Why
these pedestals remained without either busts or figures is not easy to
conceive, for the room was considered as finished.
The earliest description of these paintings is given by Gallus Egidius,
in 1511. The most detailed work on them is by Bellori. As regards
prints, the set by N. Dorigny, Avho also engraved the Galatea, is the
best1.
PLATE 18.
PAINTINGS ON THE ARCHED CEILING OF THE SALA DI GALATEA.
The plan of this rich ceiling was designed by the architect of the
palace, Balthazar Peruzzi, who also painted the larger part of its frescoes.
The two principal paintings in the centre, representing the Fate of Medusa,
and Diana drawn on her car, are surrounded by a number of mythological
compositions filling the spandrils, lunettes, and soffits of the ceiling ; these
show the learning of Peruzzi, and the influence of the revived classic taste
of that period. Below each of the hexagonal compartments stands a
Cupid, painted in chiaro-scuro, and holding a tablet, formerly, perhaps, with
an allusion to the representation above it. The upper corners of the
spandrils, likewise in chiaro-scuro upon a deep blue ground, are even now
such powerful imitations of relievo, that we may well believe Vasari, who
tells us that Titian was deceived by them as well as by the painted
architectural details of the roof. The supposed frieze with masks, palm-
1 Psycheset Amoris nuptiæ ac fabulæ Romæ in Farnesianis historiis express®, a. Nie Ric. Dorigny
del et inc et aS°. Petro Bellorisnotis illustrât®, &c. &c. Romæ, 1693.
E 2