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BRUSASORCI, Domenico (b. 1516, Verona, d. 1567, Verona) |
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View of the vault in the Hall of the Firmament1558Fresco Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza | |
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The Hall of the Firmament is a rectangular space distinguished by a soaring, barrel-vaulted ceiling, where a unified composition unfolds to spectacular effect. The sky is divided into stucco boxes by Bartolomeo Ridolfi (d. before 1572), a sculptor and stuccoist from Verona. Inscribed within some of the compartments are signs of the zodiac, other, smaller compartments contain monochrome allegories, based on antique cameos and Roman coins. Some seventy-seven different representations are contained within the firmament, which represent all the constellations of the northern and southern hemispheres known at that time. The constellations are organized into three bands: the first and third are composed of half-octagons; the second of octagons. In the long rectangle at the centre, the chariots of Apollo and Diana (the Sun and Moon) are depicted. In this fresco Brusasorci is clearly indebted, both in style and composition, to Giulio Romano, who illustrated the same subject in the Camera del Sole in the Palazzo del Tè, Mantua. | |
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