Workshop of Giulio Romano, 'The Infancy of Jupiter', mid 1530s

In Greek and Roman mythology, the god Saturn was warned that one of his offspring would overthrow him. In order to avert this prophecy he ate his children at birth. To protect their son, his wife Ops took the infant Jupiter to the island of Crete to be raised by the Corybantes, a group of dancers who worshipped the goddess Cybele. They used the rhythm of their dancing and the clashing of their cymbals to disguise the baby’s cries so he would not be discovered by Saturn.

The infant Jupiter sleeps in a basket cradle on a small verdant island while the nine Corybantes in the background make music. This panel was created by Giulio Romano and his workshop as part of a comprehensive redecoration of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua in the 1530s. It was made for the Sala di Giove (Room of Jupiter) as one of a series of 12 mythological panels depicting the rule of Jupiter, with allusions to Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, who was Giulio’s patron. The focus on youthful scenes from the life of the god was probably intended to refer to Federigo’s son and heir, Francesco, who was five years old at the time. Elaborate stucco decoration on the same theme still survives in the room. This panel once belonged to King Charles I, and four of the paintings in the series are in the Royal Collection, London.

Giulio Romano had been one of the most important assistants in Raphael’s studio and decorated the Vatican Stanze (rooms) with him. After Raphael’s death in 1520, Giulio’s importance grew to such an extent that Federigo Gonzaga brought him to his court in Mantua, where he remained until his death in 1546. The most important work Giulio carried out in the city was the Palazzo del Te, built between 1525 and 1536. Giulio was responsible for the design and construction of the building and grounds and also for the decoration. For this he would have had large teams of artists and workers.

In the same way, the painting of the large-scale decorative scheme for the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua would probably have been carried out by studio assistants working from Giulio’s designs. Giulio’s highly finished drawing for the composition of the Birth of Jupiter is now in the Devonshire Collection in Chatsworth House. Giulio’s drawings were particularly noted during his lifetime for being inspired by his knowledge of Roman sculpture. In the Birth of Jupiter he quotes from Michelangelo’s now lost sculpture of Sleeping Cupid in the Gonzaga collection, which was itself based on an antique sculpture. The drawing was made into a larger cartoon, which was then transferred to the panel to be painted.

The group of Corybantes on the right had to be reduced in scale as they looked too large in the final painting once the distances had been created using aerial perspective. Giulio Romano may have retouched the finished painting himself, as he did the frescoes for the Palazzo del Te.