GUALTIERO PADOVANO
(b. ca. 1510, Padova, d. 1552, Padova)

View of the Hall of the Triumphs

1550-52
Fresco
Villa Godi Malinverni, Lonedo di Lugo Vicentino

Girolamo Godi, organizer of a Vicenzan literary salon and friend of Pietro Bembo and Alvise Cornaro, engaged Gualtiero around 1550 to decorate the villa. In addition to the loggia, the decoration of four rooms in the right wing of the villa can be ascribed to Gualtiero: the Hall of the Gods or the Putto, the Hall of the Triumphs, the Hall of the Caesars, and the Hall of the Sacrifices. Gualtiero's sudden death in 1552 prevented him from completing the work which was taken over by Battista Zelotti and Battista del Moro, who created the frescoes in the other rooms.

Along the vertical surfaces of the Hall of the Triumphs, Gualtiero distributed imposing Telamon figures, connected by faux festoons of greenery and fruit. The figures illusionistically support a monochrome frieze embellished with scenes of ancient triumphs. The classical figure of Securitas on the fireplace hood seems to be traced from an ancient Roman coin.




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