Built for Federico II Gonzaga Duke of Mantua between 1525 and 1536, Palazzo Te is the masterpiece of Renaissance artist, designer and architect Giulio Romano, the most accomplished and favoured of all Raphael's pupils. Ugo Bazzotti, former director of the Palazzo Te, takes the reader via superb photography through the atriums, halls, courtyards and gardens that constitute this elaborate masterpiece of Mannerist decoration, explaining its history and the inventiveness and versatility of its creator, Giulio Romano. From the erotic scenes of the Sala di Psiche to the famous Sala di Giganti, based on the mythological defeat of the Titans by the gods of Olympus, the High Renaissance ideal of classical harmony and balance is overtaken by breathtaking illusionist techniques, with images of giants, falling masonry and the gods' thunderbolts filling the visitor's imagination.

A sumptuous yet scholarly guide to this lavish Renaissance pleasure palace, which boasts spectacular frescoes of themes from ancient myth painted by Giulio Romano

About the Author
Ugo Bazzotti teaches at the Graduate School of the Catholic University of Milan, where he specializes in medieval art. He was director of Palazzo Te from 1995 to 2007.


Book Information
ISBN 9780500517109
Author Ugo Bazzotti
Format Hardback
Page Count 276
Imprint Thames & Hudson Ltd
Publisher Thames & Hudson Ltd
Weight(grams) 2450g