New light for the ceiling of the Room of Cupid and Psyche of Palazzo Te between discoveries and new perspectives – Mantua – Arte.it

Mantua – The ceiling of the Room of Cupid and Psyche of Palazzo Te shines with a new light and restores to the public the splendor of the decorations that tell the love story written by Apuleius, as imagined by the creative genius of Giulio Romano.
The conservative restoration intervention promoted by the Palazzo Te Foundation and supported by the Giulio and Giovanna Sacchetti Onlus Foundation, active in projects in favor of the historical, cultural and artistic heritage, has been completed.
The work on the ceiling, painted between 1526 and 1528 by Giulio Romano and his studio, included several decorative surfaces: the oil paintings with reproduced scenes from the story of Cupid and Psyche, the coffered structure decorated with vegetal elements, the stucco models crossed by salamanders and female figures and the frescoed murals of the lunettes on the perimeter walls.
Pearl of Italian Mannerism, the Room of Cupid and Psyche, with its refined decorations, is the most luxurious room of Palazzo Te. It takes its name from the fairy tale of the same name The metamorphoses by Apuleius, told on the vault and in the lunettes and which reaches its apotheosis in the box in the center of the ceiling, where Jupiter unites Psyche and Cupid in marriage.

In addition to restoring the splendor to one of Giulio Romano’s most important works, the protection intervention has allowed us to deepen our knowledge of Renaissance painting techniques and develop new methods for the preservation of cultural heritage.

Palazzo Te, Chamber of Love Psyche, vault

“The conservation intervention on the ceiling of the Room of Cupid and Psyche is an important step in the program of the centenary of Palazzo Te – explains director Stefano Baia Curioni -, a project that combines the important planned conservation plan launched by the Palazzo Te Foundation and the expansion of the partnership system that the centenary allows us to pursue. This private intervention in support of the common good is a fundamental element of the ways in which the culture of our country can be regenerated”.

The multispectral research campaign revealed previous interventions, such as the layering of the restoration materials. The study highlighted the interaction between original materials and subsequent restorations, directing maintenance strategies towards targeted and sustainable conservation.
“Following the conservative restoration of the Chamber of Cupid and Psyche and seeing its conclusion today was a very satisfying experience for me – explains Giovanna Zanuso, President of the Giulio and Giovanna Sacchetti Foundation -. It is a restoration that I strongly desired with my Foundation and I hope that it is a door to the future and opens up new perspectives for research”.

Palazzo Te, Lunetta Cerere, detail

The restoration carried out by Marica Negri and Isotta Lorenzini allowed us to observe up close the details of an essential painting, revealing passages by different artists and corrections made during the work. The intervention focused mainly on the preservation of the structures, paintings and plasterwork that make up the ceiling and on the thorough cleaning of the surfaces that allowed the vault to restore its original luminosity.