Artibus et Historiae no. 17 (IX)
1988, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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MARCIN FABIAŃSKI - The Cremonese Ceiling Examined in Its Original Studiolo Setting
The paper discusses the problem of the original shape and meaning of the vault fresco painted for a prior's house in Cremona, probably by Alessandro Pampurino ca. 1500, but now kept in London. The design of this umbrella dome seems to have been modified in view of the prospective decoration: smaller lunettes do justice to profiles of Caesars and the smooth apex enhances pictorial illusionism of the oculus. Both modifications suggest that the enterprise was directed by one person. The chamber of the vault belonged to was relatively secluded. The images of Caesars (some could be identified), the Muses and grotesquerie may well have been connected with its function as a place of solitary studies and literary activities (studiolo-musaeum), whereas the meaning of the painted oculus remains obscure.
