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What appears in the painted oculus of Andrea Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi?
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Andrea Mantegna
Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, fresco by Andrea Mantegna, completed 1474; in the Camera degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy.
In the Camera degli Sposi, located in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, the painted oculus features putti (nude, chubby child figures) and women positioned around a balustrade.1
These figures are depicted in a dramatically foreshortened perspective, creating an illusion of a circular opening to the sky directly above the center of the room. This technique, known as di sotto in su, was highly influential for later Renaissance and Baroque ceiling decorations.1