Alcove with Antechamber

32 Alcova con anticamera (1)

 

After the “Hall of Portraits”, there is a small and precious antechamber that leads to the alcove, the master bedroom of the lord of the villa with its rich painted decorations. The quadrangular antechamber contains paintings with faux framing perspective that seem to double the room’s volume and width. The ceiling of the first room is painted with false architectural features based on a entablature with support brackets that hold up a wrought iron balcony, enlivened by projections and recesses that lead the eye directly to a big oval oculus painted with a light blue sky.

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Unfortunately, today the colour of the sky is markedly reduced and the paint shows obvious signs of detachment from the painting itself.
The alcove, an intimate space with ceiling decorations is separated from the antechamber by two purple velvet curtains. Recalling the decorations of the previous rooms, even this one has a denticular frames painted right in the base of the ceiling to support the extraordinary perspective invention. Cherubs sitting on a small shelf look down and seem to be playing with different floral essences painted in monochrome. Decoration in faux stucco with plant and floral designs enhance this intimate space and is inserted into plaques, which in turn define the niches and protrusions of the architectural illusion. These elements support a large square room with an apsidal opening, which reveal a starry sky painted in a deep blue tint, from which a male figure clothed in triumphant drapes emerges. The young man who seems to fall downwards while clutching a cornucopia and a small rod still baffle critics today, even if all agree that the presence of the cornucopia constitute the sublime symbol of fertility, purposely positioned above the marriage bed.