Mantua, Ducal Palace, Gallery of the Months:
the Fourth Northern Span

The span follows the architectural and decorative model designed by Giulio Romano in the original part of the gallery (eastern half). The pair of pilasters delimits the space within which a double arch develops. In the centre of the span there is a niche with a background painted with fake marble and a shell-shaped basin, containing an ancient sculpture recently placed here. The statue of Venus, missing its right arm and foot, rests on a high pedestal. The stucco cornice is made up of classic mouldings of various types and divides the field into two sectors. In the upper part there is the arch framing the basin of the niche, flanked by two winged stucco figures in high relief, similar to two genies, holding medallions with the zodiac symbols of Leo (left) and Virgo (right). The top of the arch is decorated with a stucco relief roundel depicting Peace, while the two small lunettes at the ends host marine subjects: on the left a figure, perhaps male, on the back of a dolphin; on the right a putto with a trident, also riding a dolphin. The interior of the arch is decorated with grotesques on a white background. In the lower part of the span, the two lateral ones, decorated with vegetal spirals on a white background, have lost the stucco reliefs placed to ornament the upper lunettes, while in the lower two the images of two putti on sea horses are preserved. At the base of the niche there are three panels with gilded stucco frames bordered by small festoons and vegetal spirals. The two lateral ones host images of two birds, the central one a pair of rabbits.