Castello del Buonconsiglio monumenti e collezioni provinciali

Male Nudes

The eight male nudes painted in the pendants of the vault, portrayed with remarkable illusionistic results and in bold and dramatic poses with their hair seemingly ruffled by the wind, express their anxiety for what is happening on the upper walls of the vault, where Phaeton has now lost control of the Sun chariot and risks falling to earth.

On the western part, above the staircase that leads to the upper floor, the Loggia’s vault portrays the myth of Ganymede: the handsome boy kidnapped by Jupiter’s eagle, who wants him as cupbearer for the gods of Olympus. This mythological event was interpreted in a Neo-platonic and Christian setting as the soul’s elevation to God.

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