Mantua, Ducal Palace, Gallery of the Months:
the Fifth Vault from the East

The fifth sector of the vault (starting from the eastern head) houses a central roundel with the image of four foreshortened cherubs. Each holds a short sword and a small shield, objects that touch each other to form a circle of figures. In the north lunette there are frescoes of two cherubs playing the game of morra. The southern lunette, in a mediocre state of conservation, shows three putti, of which the central one is perhaps playing a small flute or making noises with his hands over his mouth, and the two companions in an attitude of surprise. The two largest stucco reliefs, also in a precarious state of conservation, are based on an almost identical design and show men, certainly including some soldiers, in the act of leading a horse to the centre of the scene. They distinguish themselves  from the Giulio Romano’s reliefs by particularly slender and elongated figures.