Chamber of Love and Psyche
This is the most sumptuous room in the palace and was used only for the most important banquets and dinners.The room takes its name from the story of Amor and Psyche painted on the vault and in the lunettes.The twenty-two episodes illustrated by Giulio Romano at Palazzo Te come from The Golden Ass by Latin writer Apuleius (II century AD), in which the tale of Amor and Psyche represents a long digression.The central theme of the whole decoration is Amor: a “monstruous” deity, and the most powerful among all the gods, feared even by Jupiter himself and from whom no one could escape.Other mythological tales about thwarted, secret, tragic or unrequited love are painted on the walls, including the story of Psyche. There are frequent examples of love between gods and men (Venus and Adonis, Bacchus and Ariadne, Jupiter and Olympia), but also between the gods (Mars and Venus, Acis and Galatea) and men and animals (Pasiphae and the bull).The south and west walls involve the visitor in the preparations for a sumptuous banquet for the gods. Protagonists of the event are Amor and Psyche, who are reclining on the klìne with their daughter, Voluptas, between them. This is the banquet held on the island of Venus as described in the romance Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, and ideally compared to the island of the Te.Although there is no direct connection between all the episodes, a parallel can probably be drawn between the painted cycle and the patron’s own personal life: the love of Amor for Psyche, opposed by the mother of the god, and Federico’s passion for Isabella Boschetti, contested by his mother, Isabella D’Este. The same can be said for Jupiter’s love for Olympia who, like Isabella Boschetti, was married.The sumptuousness of the decor is to be found not only in the variety of topics but in the technique as well. The walls, painted using fresco, have finishing touches in tempera and moulded stucco frames; the wooden vault is covered with a thin layer of plaster decorated using brightly coloured oil paints. Gilt stucco work is also used on the vault to frame the various scenes.