Schilderingen in de Sala dei Giganti

About this artwork

Prent uit een reeks van negen prenten naar de wand- en plafondschilderingen ontworpen door Giulio Romano voor de Sala dei Giganti in Palazzo del Te in Mantua (1523-1535).

Art Historical Context

This etching by Pietro Sante Bartoli captures the dramatic wall and ceiling frescoes of the Sala dei Giganti in Mantua’s Palazzo del Te. Created around 1693–1700, it belongs to a series of nine prints that faithfully reproduce Giulio Romano’s celebrated Mannerist cycle, originally painted between 1523 and 1535. The depicts the mythological fall of the giants, with colossal figures tumbling amid collapsing architecture in a whirlwind of movement and illusionistic perspective. Giulio Romano, once Raphael’s chief assistant, transformed the room into an immersive spectacle where painted architect...

About the Artist

Pietro Sante Bartoli · 1615–1700

Pietro Santi Bartoli, born in Perugia in 1635, emerged as a pivotal figure in the Roman antiquarian revival of the late seventeenth century. Relocating to Rome as a youth, he initially pursued painting, studying under the French artist Jean Lemaire—known as "Le Petit Lemaire"—and later under the esteemed Nicolas Poussin, whose classical rigor profoundly shaped his early approach. Though traces of ...