Grotesques with Imaginary Landscapes

1570 · Stanza del Lupo, Rocca dei Rossi, San Secondo

landscape

Some of the Roman paintings found in the Domus Aurea and elsewhere correspond quite precisely what Vasari and others determined to be the typical features of grotesques. These paintings inspired several ceiling designs 'all'antica' in the first part of the sixteenth century. The desire to revive not only the forms of ancient Roman architecture but also their decoration may help to explain the success of these paintings.

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About the Artist

Cesare Baglione

1545 – 1615

Italian painter of vault decorations, representing one of the best examples of Mannerist fantasy. He worked from 1565 to 1574 in Florence and later at the court of Duke Ottavio Farnese. The execution of grotesques, designed by Raphael and his workshop, was left to specialists in the sixteenth century. We know only a few of their names, including Cesare Baglione, Giovanni da Udine, and Giovanni Antonio Paganino; many others remain anonymous. Baglione's grotesques and images inspired by the bible decorate the Charterhouse of Paradigna, also known as Valserena, as well as the Marazzani Palace in Piacenza. From 1604 he worked at the ceiling decorations of the Ducal Palace in Parma, but the grotesque decorations in the Castle of Soragna and in the Castle of Torrechiara are his real masterpiece. Worth of notice are also his last works, the frescoes decorating the Church of San Sepolcro in Parma.

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