Battle of the Trojan War, oil on canvas, 65 x 191 cm, framed

We are grateful to Professor Filippo Todini for suggesting the attribution for the present painting.

Apparently previously unpublished, this work demonstrates the typical mature style of Giulio Romano, according to Todini, and should be considered as a historical record of his work at the Court of Gonzaga in Mantua.

The subject illustrates, two events from the Trojan War according to Book V of Homer’s Iliad: the battle between Diomedes and the brothers Ideus and Phlegeus and the clash between Diomedes and Pandarus.

As its unusual size suggests, this is, according to Todini, the original, to-scale canvas “model” for the great fresco in the vault of the Sala di Troia, or Trojan Room, of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (see fig. 1). It is highly accurate in terms of the rendering of details and is identical in composition. The fresco, considered to be from Giulio Romano’s prime, was painted by him in 1538/39, with contributions from the studio, including Fermo Ghisoni da Caravaggio, Rinaldo Mantovano, and Luca da Faenza, known as Figurino (see F. Hartt, Giulio Romano, New Haven 1958, vol. I, pp. 179ff., vol. II, figs. 389, 391; B. Talvacchia, Giulio Romano’s Sala di Troia, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor 1981; K. Oberhuber, in Giulio Romano, exhibition catalogue, Milan 1989, pp. 148, 168).

The novelty of the invention, in which the concept of continuous narrative,inspired by the antique-style carved friezes, assumes a breadth of forms and a sense of scale in the definition of the space that seem to anticipate the Baroque. The present work is enhanced by the chiaroscuro contrasts and deep tones of colour, with a result similar to the upper sections of the Mantuan fresco.

The quality of execution appears to be particularly high in the left half of the canvas, painted with great pictorial fluidity and freedom, and it would appear plausible to acknowledge the direct intervention of the master himself and for which there exists a preparatory drawing (40.6 x 65.7 cm; Paris, Louvre, Cabinet of Drawings, Inv. 3529; Hartt 1958, vol. I, pp. 185, 301, no. 234) that shows an earlier design stage of the complex composition (see fig.2).

The present composition can be compared to Giulio Romano’s signed works datable to around 1540, such as the fresco with the Crucifixion in the Chapel of Isabella Boschetti or Chapel of St. Longinus in the Sant’Andrea Basilica in Mantua (Oberhuber 1989, p. 140), which shows similarity in terms of style and typology; or the canvas with the so-called Allegory of Immortality, now in the Duke of Northumberland’s collection in Alnwick Castle and currently at the Detroit Institute of Art (no. 66.41), probably commissioned by Cardinal Ercole, brother of Duke Federico Gonzaga (Hartt 1958, vol. I, pp. 219–22).

It should be noted that this compostion can be compared to a second “model” for the Trojan Room which is in an unpublished private collection (on canvas, shorter length 65 x 110 cm) and relates with the fresco on one of the short sides of the vault, depicting the episode of Aeneas saved by Venus. An old inscription and number remain on the back of the original canvas of the Aeneas composition: “N.4”, which indicates the existence of an entire series of models, and the note that the picture should be kept for the Cardinal possibly in handwriting of Giulio Romano himself.