Stufetta lower dado fresco   

Dado frescoes (1516)

by:   da Udine      patron:   Cardinal Bibbiena      category: Fresco    location: Papal Palace
related artifacts: Bibbiena Sfondo Panel study | Lante Sfondo Nero 1

note:  This fresco was part of the larger decorative program for Cardinal Bibbiena's stufetta. The room, which measured a mere 2.5 m square (totaling a footprint of roughly 6.25 square meters), was positioned near the decorated loggie within the Vatican. Pietro Bembo noted in a 1516 letter to Bibbiena the need for him to “send more stories to paint in your stufetta” (Golzio 1936, 44), however, most scholars accept that the designs only were the work of Raphael. Much of the execution was owed to the workshop (for more, see: Late Raphael 2013: 31). As Nicole Dacos (2008) has summarized: “The vault is covered in little scenes ordered in a geometric composition, once again inspired by the Volta Dorata; the lunettes are covered in grotesques taken from other rooms of Nero’s palace” (p. 32). The lower socle of Bibbiena's stufetta consists of rectangular fondo nero frescoes of small putti being ferried by various creatures. These central zones are framed with a deep burgundy border punctuated various aquatic creatures, such as fish, turtles, lizards, and frogs. These fondo nero panels and their subjects are nearly identical to those that appear as accents within the Grande Salone frescoes at Turini's villa (Villa Lante al Gianicolo).