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

The second sector of the vault is the central one of the original vault of the loggia designed by Giulio Romano. In the central roundel four foreshortened putti play musical instruments: a drum, a cornet, a circle with rattles and a viola; the lunette towards the north shows a cupid in the act of scaring his companion, on the ground, with a lizard (perhaps a reference to the personal feat of Federico II Gonzaga). The opposite lunette depicts two cupids in the act of kissing, prepared according to the model by Giulio Romano preserved in Vienna (Albertina, inv. 333). The stucco relief facing north is taken from Roman history and depicts Muzio Scevola in the camp of King Porsenna, while the relief facing south is dedicated to the scene of the sacrifice of a bull. The iconographic choice based on dancing and musical cherubs in the circles of the Giulio vault refers to the precedent of the rib vaults of Psyche's room in Palazzo Te.