Mantua, Ducal Palace, Gallery of the Months:
the Vault, Central Sector

The central sector constitutes the connection between the two halves of the vault and its width corresponds to that of the underlying space between pilasters. The decoration recalls the design of the frames and the vegetal spiral filling motifs of the other partitions, but is distinguished by the presence of seven rectangular spaces hosting frescoes with deities and two single stucco figures. The first two panels towards the north are too compromised to allow a reading of the subjects, although in the lower one one can imagine a female figure, almost certainly a goddess, seated; then  the figure of a soldier in white stucco on a dark background follows. In the central area, Venus with Cupid, Apollo on the chariot and Mars are painted in three distinct panels. They are followed by a second stucco depicting a standing soldier; of the last two panels, only one is preserved and shows Jupiter with the thunderbolt, astride a large eagle.