Camera degli Sposi
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The di sotto in sù ceiling panel of the Camera picta.

The "Court Scene".

The Camera picta ("painted chamber"), also popularly known as the Camera degli Sposi, or "bridal chamber"—is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy¹². It was painted between 1465 and 1474 and commissioned by Ludovico Gonzaga, and is notable for the use of trompe l'oeil details and its di sotto in sù ceiling.

The "Meeting Scene".

The walls

The "Court Scene" on the north wall shows Ludovico Gonzaga, dressed informally, with his wife Barbara of Brandenburg. They are seated with their relatives, while a group of courtiers fill the rest of the wall. The figures interact with an illusionistically expanded space is depicted.

On the west wall is the "Meeting scene". This fresco shows Ludovico in official robes in an ideal meeting with his son cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and Christian I of Denmark.

The ceiling

Mantegna's playful ceiling presents an oculus that illusionistically opens into a blue sky, with foreshortened putti playfully frolicking around a ballustrade. This was one of the earliest di sotto in sù ceiling paintings.

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