(b. 1528, Verona, d. 1588, Venezia)

View from the Sala dell'Olimpo, facing south 1560-61 Fresco Villa Barbaro, Maser

Around 1560-61, Veronese was commissioned by Daniele Barbaro to provide the interior frescoes for Barbaro's Palladian villa in Maser. The construction of the villa to a design by Andrea Palladio was completed around 1558. The decoration reflects the taste of Daniele Barbaro, a cultured humanist, and his brother Marcantonio.

Veronese decorated six rooms in the 'piano nobile' (the main floor) of the villa, as well as one wall of the last room of the eastern suite of rooms. The piano nobile is laid out in the shape of a double "T", the decorated rooms are: the Sala dell'Olimpo, the Sala a Crociera, the Stanza dell'Amore Coniugale, the Stanza di Bacco, the Stanza del Cane, the Stanza della Lucerna. The spacious Sala a Crociera (Cross-Shaped Room) connects the front and the two rooms to the south (the Stanza dell'Amore Coniugale and the Stanza di Bacco) with the large square room (the Sala dell'Olimpo) that opens onto the internal garden to the north. At the sides of the Sala dell'Olimpo are located the rooms facing onto the courtyard (the Stanza del Cane and the Stanza della Lucerna).

The frescoed scenes in the six rooms are supported and framed respectively by a system of decoration that, along with the white stuccoed molding of the door frames and fireplace, is not insignificant in determining the overall impression of the space. Floor to ceiling marble columns or pilasters subdivide the walls in all the rooms. In between, beyond low parapets, one catches sight of far-off landscapes seen from high vantage points that compete with the views from the villa's windows.

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Author: VERONESE, Paolo Title: View from the Sala dell'Olimpo, facing south Time-line: 1551-1600 School: Italian Form: painting