Design for a frieze with a putto and acanthus leaves

A typical example of Giulio’s inventive decorative vocabulary, this design and a second one in Budapest (fig.) were likely made for a frieze or compartment to be executed in fresco or stucco at Palazzo Te, Mantua (1526-1536). As recently shown by L’Occaso (see Literature), the motif was precisely followed later by Bernardino Gatti, il Sojaro, for the background of his Saint Thomas, frescoed on the drum of the dome of S. Maria di Campagna, Piacenza, ca. 1542.

Fig. Giulio Romano, Design for a frieze with a putto and acanthus leaves, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest.