Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2021 Love, sex and death: The constant companions of art A tale of tormented Love: Cupid and Psyche in the Palazzo del Te Lorraine Kypiotis 24/25 February 2021 Lecture summary: In 1521 Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, decided he needed a country retreat: a place where he could meet with his mistress beyond the prying eyes of the court. He chose as his architect Giulio Romano who conceived the Palazzo del Te as a pleasure palace: a “small residence to which the Duke could retire sometimes to feast, or dine for pleasure”. The Sala di Amore e Psiche (The room of Cupid and Psyche) was dedicated to the explicit and erotic scenes from the stories of tormented love in mythology including Jupiter’s famous seductions. It reaches its climax in the fresco of the sumptuous wedding banquet of Cupid and Psyche. Slide list All works by Giulio Romano unless stated otherwise 1. Giulio Romano, Palazzo del Te, Mantua (1525-35) 2. Mantegna, Camera degli Sposi, Castello di San Giorgio, Mantua (1474) 3. Titian, Portrait of Giulio Romano (1536) 4. Raphael, Wedding banquet of Cupid and Psyche, Villa Farnesina, Rome (1517-18) 5. Titian, Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga, 1529 (Prado) 6. Giulio Romano, Portrait of Margherita Paleologa,1531 (Royal Collection) 7. Giulio Romano, Salamander impresa of Federigo Gonzaga, La Camera delle Imprese, Palazzo del Te (1526) 8. Giulio Romano, Mount Olympus Impresa, La Camera delle Imprese, Palazzo del Te (1526) 9. Stanza del Sole (Room of the Chariots of the Sun and Moon), Palazzo del Te 10. Sala dei Cavalli, (Room of the Horses), Palazzo del Te 11. Sala di Psiche (Room of Cupid and Psyche), Palazzo del Te 12. Details: Ceiling Proudly sponsored by: 13. Details: Octagons 14. Details: Lunettes 15. Details: Inscription 16. Detail: Ceiling central panel - The marriage of Cupid and Psyche 17. The South wall: The feast of the gods 18. The Western wall: the rustic feast 19. The North wall: Mars and Venus bathing / Bacchus and Ariadne / Adonis is chased by Mars from the chamber of Venus 20. Bacchus and Ariadne 21. Jupiter and Olympias 22. Polyphemus, Galatea and Acis 23. Pasiphae, Daedalus and the cow 24. Sala di Psiche (Room of Cupid and Psyche) 25. Palazzo del Te References: Bazzotti, Ugo Palazzo Te: Giulio Romano's Masterwork in Mantua (2013) Cole, Alison Art of the Renaissance Courts: Virtue and Magnificence (1995) Hartt, Frederick “Gonzaga Symbols in the Palazzo del Te” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. Vol. 13, No. 3/4 (1950), pp. 151-188 For access to all past lecture notes visit: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/events/love-sex-and-death-2021/ .