Camera degli Sposi

On the north wall over the fireplace, the "Court Scene" shows a family portrait of the Gonzaga. Ludovico Gonzaga is seated, discussing a document with his secretary Marsilio Andreasi. Ludovico often would sit in front of his portrait in the “Court Scene” when he had distinguished visitors, reportedly so that they would take the portrait's non-idealized likeness to Ludovico as a sign that he was trustworthy and that all the other flattering elements of the Camera degli Sposi were true, such as its aim to connect the glory of ancient Rome with Mantua under the Gonzaga. In the right third of fresco, courtiers wait on the steps for their turn to get an audience with Ludovico. The fictive curtain suggests the brevity of the viewer's own audience with Ludovico by “uncovering” the scene as it is blown in the wind. == West wall ==

On the west wall is the "Meeting scene". This fresco shows Ludovico speaking with his second son Francesco Gonzaga, who ten days prior had become a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church and who is holding the hand of his younger brother Lodovico, pronotary of the Catholic Church. They are accompanied by Federico I Gonzaga's children, Francesco and Sigismondo. Among those surrounding them are the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, and Christian I, king of Denmark. ==Ceiling==

From the fictive columns that separate the different scenes on the walls (capped with real stone corbels), rise illusionistic ribs embossed with scroll work that divides the ceiling into sections. In the corbeled sections between the vaults are illusionistic relief carvings from the lives of Arion, Orpheus, and Hercules set in painted gold mosaic that harken back to antiquity. Above them are the first eight Roman emperors in medallions held aloft by putti, all depicted in grisaille on gold lit from below in order to achieve the effect of real stucco reliefs. The implied connection between the glory of Italy's Roman past and the Gonzaga's Mantua through the classical references of the ceiling, ennobles the Gonzaga as both a military and learned might that is comparable to the Roman Empire. Mantegna's playful ceiling presents an oculus that fictively opens into a blue sky, with foreshortened putti playfully frolicking around a balustrade painted in di sotto in sù to seem as if they occupy real space on the roof above. Breaking with the figures from the scenes below, the courtiers who look down from over the balustrade seem directly aware of the viewer's presence. The precarious position of the planter above, as it rests uneasily on a stray beam, suggests that looking up at the figures could leave the viewer humiliated at the expense of the courtiers’ enjoyment. Mantegna's exploration of how paintings or decorations could respond to the presence of the viewer was a new idea in Renaissance Italy that would be explored by other artists. The Camera degli Sposi's illusionistic ceiling also set a new standard for di sotto in sù ceiling paintings that would go on to inspire the ceiling paintings of Correggio and other Baroque painters. ==References==