View of the ballroom

The ballroom on the second floor of the Villa Marcello in Levada di Piombino Dese (Padua) was frescoed by Giovanni Battista Crosato. The decoration extends over the ceiling and along the two long walls of the ballroom, within stucco frames beneath the balcony. The ceiling opens upon a luminous sky, where the gods of the Olympus are arranged on clouds, in a complex and expansive composition.

The subject matter of the four wall scenes, which focus on events in the life of Alexander the Great, is taken from Plutarch. Two of four scenes flanking the entrance door to the ballroom are Alexander before the Corpse of Darius, and the Marriage of Alexander and Roxane. The other two scenes on the opposite wall are the Family of Darius before Alexander and Apelles Making a Portrait of the Courtesan Campaspe.

The present picture shows the wall opposite to the entrance.