Italy (Siena)

Vaulted Ceiling of the Piccolomini Library (Siena Cathedral)

2391

Executed between 1502 and 1503 (completed around 1508 for the surrounding room details), during the High Renaissance period.

This fragment depicts a section of the richly decorated, vaulted ceiling of the Piccolomini Library. The technique employed is true fresco (buon fresco) combined with intricate gold-leaf gilding and molded stucco elements. The ceiling features a complex grid of rectangular, square, and triangular compartments filled with mythological scenes, allegorical figures, heraldic emblems, and dense, multi-layered ornamental borders.