ANGELI, Giuseppe
(b. 1712, Venezia, d. 1798, Venezia)

View of the ballroom

1760
Fresco
Villa Widmann, Mira

The villa of the Widmann family stands along the banks of the Brenta River near Mira. The existing structure is the result of a reconstruction carried out in 1719. In the 1750s, the interior of the villa was modified by creating a central hall, a ballroom, the height of the two preexisting floors and providing it with a balcony that circles the entire perimeter. The pictorial decoration of this room is the work of Giuseppe Angeli.

The decoration of the ballroom cover the entire wall surface, the intricate trompe-l'oeil architecture, attributed to Francesco Zanchi (active 1734-1772), is especially significant, in some areas even tends to reduce the space reserved for the figure painter. The overall effect is grandiose and highly refined.

The two large scenes that extend between the doors on the walls are taken from Greek mythology and depict The Sacrifice of Iphigenia and The Abduction of Helen.