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

The fourth southern span (starting from the east) belongs to the extension of the original loggia in the gallery and is therefore the result of the decorative phase of the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century.It repeats the scheme of the three previous spans and, of the latter, imitates in detail the parts of Giulio Romano’s decoration. As in the lunettes above the doors on the opposite wall, here there is a circular niche in golden stucco designed as a background for a bust (today it houses a recently placed plaster head) and flanked by two painted Victories, with attributes. On the outside, the segments between the arch and the pilasters house two stucco high reliefs depicting winged young men who hold medallions with zodiac symbols: the first Libra, the second Scorpio. The splay of the window has a fake marble decoration, varied at the two lower ends by the insertion of two monochrome figurines on a dark background. In the splay two Virtues can be recognised (one is Fortress;) in the four external panels we can see two seated cherubs with attributes, Europa on the bull and a female figure on the back of a centaur (perhaps Deianira and Nessus).