Mantua, Ducal Palace, Gallery of the Months:
the First Vault

This sector of the vault is the first (starting from the east) of the original vault of the Giuliesca loggia. In the central round four foreshortened putti dance holding hands, with their backs to the observer; the lunette towards the north shows a cupid about to wake up his playmate, to scare him with the large mask he is wearing; in the opposite lunette, largely lost, only part of a cupid can be seen, fighting with a companion. The stucco relief towards the north represents a group of soldiers in the presence of a seated general or emperor, while the relief towards the south is dedicated to soldiers with banners in the act of leading a pair of horses. The iconographic choice based on dancing and musical cherubs in the circles of the Giulio Romano’s vault refers to the precedent of the sails of Psyche's room in Palazzo Te.