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

This last southern span also belongs to the extension of the original gallery loggia and is therefore entirely the result of the decorative phase of the late sixteenth - early seventeenth century. It repeats the scheme of the first three spans of the south wall, of which it imitates in detail the parts of Giulio Romano’s decoration. Also located here is a circular niche in golden stucco designed as a background for a bust (today it houses a recently placed plaster head). It is 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 youths who hold medallions with zodiac symbols: the first Aquarius, the second Pisces. The splay of the window has a fake marble decoration, varied by the insertion of four monochrome figurines on a dark background. This is the only case of inserting four rather than two monochromes in the splay. We recognise a chased female figure, a young man in arms with helmet and spear (?) and two seated female figures (probable personifications). In the external panels (of which the first has been lost) there appear, however, a putto sitting on a sphere with an object on his lap, and two tritons with whelks (a twisted shell used as an instrument for signals).