Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title:
Palazzo del Te; Chamber of Ovid or Metamorphosis
Alternate Title:
Palazzo Te; Camera di Ovidio o delle Metamorfosi
Image View:
Fireplace, frieze and coffered ceiling near entrance
Creator:
Agostino da Mozzanica (Italian painter, active 1520s); Anselmo Guazzi (Italian painter, active 1527-1549); Giulio Romano (Italian designer, 1499-1546)
Location:
site: Palazzo del Te (Mantua, Lombardy, Italy)
Location Note:
Viale Te, 13
GPS:
45.14737 10.78728
Date:
1502-1527 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Italian
Style Period:
Mannerist (Renaissance-Baroque style); Sixteenth century
Work Type 1:
fresco (painting)
Classification:
Decorative Arts, Utilitarian Objects and Interior Design
Material:
pigment on plaster (fresco)
Technique:
fresco painting (technique)
Subjects:
decorative arts; literary or legendary; mythology (Classical); Gonzaga family; Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D.
Description:
The room, called "camarino" in the sources for its modest dimensions, is named for the subjects in the friezes, inspired by Ovid's "Metamorphoses". Starting from the entrance wall, proceeding to the right, the subjects are: Orpheus in the Underworld; Torment of Marsyas (South wall); Judgment of Paris; Bacchus and Ariadne; Dance of Satyrs and Maenads (West wall); Contest between Apollo and Pan; Bacchus drunk; Maenads tormenting a Satyr (East wall). The mythological themes are alternated with fantasy landscapes, except the landscape on the north wall, to the right of the window, which shows a royal view of Palazzo Te as it was supposed to appear from the walls of Mantua in 1527. Fireplace in red Verona marble is surmounted by the Mount Olympus and bears the dedicatory inscription: "F[edericus] G[onzaga] II M[archio] M[antue] V "], (Federico Gonzaga II, 5th Marquis of Mantua). There are some remnants of fresco dating back to 1502 belonging to Francesco II Gonzaga's former stables. (Source: Palazzo Te [website]; http://www.palazzote .it)
Collection:
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier:
1A1-RG-PT-I-CO-A02
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Palazzo del Te; Chamber of Ovid or Metamorphosis