View of the Sala dello Zodiaco

interior

According to Vasari, Falconetto produced a number of works for Ludovico Gonzaga, a member of a collateral branch of the ruling Gonzaga family in Mantua. These works include the fresco decoration in the Sala dello Zodiaco (Hall of the Zodiac) in what is now part of the Palazzo d'Arco. Here the artist, who was expert in all things ancient, painted a large cosmological decoration based on the Cycle of Months that Pinturicchio painted in the Roman palace of Cardinal Domenico della Rovere in about 1490, which is today almost totally lost.

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About the Artist

Giovanni Maria Falconetto

1468 – 1535

Italian painter and architect. He was one of the foremost painters working in the Renaissance style in Verona in the early 16th century and is notable for his employment of antique themes. His later architectural works are an important feature of the city of Padua. His work prepared the architectural climate for the large-scale shift of interest to antiquity, which reached a climax in the next generation of architects in northern Italy, especially in the work of Andrea Palladio.

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