Diana Mantuana and Giulio Romano
The Feast of the Gods
1574
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Engraving on three joined sheets of paper, Sheet: 371 x 1112 mm. (14 5/8 x 43 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Garrett Collection
Object Number
1984.81.2632
Celebratory—and salacious—activities unfold during the wedding preparations and feast of Cupid and Psyche, a scene based on the mythological story written by the 2nd-century Roman poet Apuleius. Diana Mantuana’s print expertly replicates a section of a large-scale wall painting (fresco) by Giulio Romano in the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, Italy, during the late 1520s. Mantuana, who both made and sold her own engravings, was also the first Italian woman to sign her prints: above the doorway on the far left, a placard announces Diana F. (fecit, or made). A portion of Giulio Romano's mural at the Palazzo del Te, Mantua, Italy. The scene recreated by Mantuana appears in the lower left. Palazzo del Te, Mantua, Italy.
Grand Scale. Monumental Prints in the Age of Dürer and Titian
Jacobs Wing Rotations 2024
Jacobs Wing Rotations 2025
The Illustrated Bartsch. Ed. Walter L. Strauss. New York, 1978-present.
Inscribed: lower left in plate: "All' Hmo Sr Claudio Gonzagga / Diana Mantouana / E cosa conuenuese che questa mia fatica hauendo riceurto..."; lower left in plate: "Antonius Caeanzanus formis Romae 1613"; lower right in plate: "D. GREGORII PP XIII / PRIVILEGIO AD DECEM / ROMAE MDLXXV"
