Castello del Buonconsiglio monumenti e collezioni provinciali

Sala delle Udienze

This is the room where Bernardo Cles received his guests. It was frescoed in 1531 by a painter from Brescia, Girolamo Romanino (ca. 1485 - 1560), with portraits of Roman emperors, sovereigns of the time, and of the Prince-Bishop himself.

On the western wall, Charles V is pictured conversing with his brother Ferdinand I of Hapsburg, flanked by the respective Imperial and royal House of Austria coats of arms. On the opposite wall and above the entrance to the courtyard, is the majestic figure of Bernardo Cles pictured with his secretary and flanked by the coats of arms of the principality and of the Cles family.

Three Roman emperors are pictured on the left wall facing three modern sovereigns on the opposite wall: Maximilian I of Hapsburg, Philip the Fair – father of Emperor Charles V and King Ferdinand I of Hapsburg – and Charles the Bold, underlining the idealistic continuity between the Roman Empire and that of the House of Austria.

The vault is decorated with stucco and the allegorical figures of Prudence and Justice on either side of the central oval depicting Fortune.

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