- Camera picta
The Camera picta ("painted chamber"), also popularly known as the Camera degli Sposi, or "bridal chamber"—is a room frescoed with
illusionistic painting s byAndrea Mantegna in theDucal Palace, Mantua ,Italy cite book|first=John T.|last=Paoletti|coauthors=Gary M. Radke|title=Art, Power, and Patronage in Renaissance Italy|location=Upper Saddle River |publisher=Pearson/Prentice Hall |year=2005|pages=pp. 356–359.] cite book|first= Laurie |last=Schneider Adams|title=Italian Renaissance Art|location=Boulder |publisheR=Westview Press |year=2001|pages=pp. 262–267.] . It was painted between1465 and1474 and commissioned by Ludovico Gonzaga, and is notable for the use of "trompe l'oeil " details and its "di sotto in sù " ceiling.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 ofcourtier s 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 andChristian I of Denmark .The ceiling
Mantegna's playful ceiling presents an
oculus that illusionistically opens into a blue sky, with foreshortenedputti playfully frolicking around a ballustrade. This was one of the earliestdi sotto in sù ceiling paintings.References
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