Things Always Come in Three: Non-Invasive Investigations of Alexander and Roxane’s Wedding Room in Villa Farnesina

Manuela Vagnini,Michela Azzarelli,Chiara Anselmi,Antonio Sgamellotti

doi:10.3390/heritage4040157

Abstract

Non-invasive optical spectroscopical analyses were conducted on the three main walls of Alexander and Roxane’s Wedding Room in Villa Farnesina, Rome. The north and the east walls were frescoed by Sodoma in 1519. The decoration of the third wall was subsequent and neither the author nor the period is known. The north and east walls underwent various restorations, some even very invasive. For these reasons, the supposed remaining original parts of the two walls by Sodoma were studied and compared with the third one, aiming to obtain more information about its author and epoch. The results show the use of the same pigments for the three walls. In particular, the same yellow pigments including lead antimonate, the use of enamel blue with Bi impurities whose use is time-limited, and the use of a certain kind of purple hematite. The commonality in the pictorial technique also emerged, especially in the yellow parts, painted in the same way on each wall. This information, and documentary sources, reinforce the hypothesis that the third wall was decorated shortly after the death of Agostino Chigi by someone who was well-acquainted with the materials and techniques used by Sodoma for the other two walls.

Highlights

Non-invasive analyses were carried out on the supposed unrestored parts of the north and east walls of Alexander and Roxane’s wedding room in Villa Farnesina, both attributed to the painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, called Sodoma, and his workshop
The results obtained show a substantial uniformity in the typology of the pigments used on the east, north, and west walls of Alexander and Roxane’s Wedding Room in
The execution technique relative to the mixtures of pigments used was found to be the same, in the rendering of yellows and their different shades from colder tones to golden ones, and in the blue hues on a white background. It is not known how much time passed between the execution of the two frescoes, it should be noted that the palette of the east and north walls is the same as the third wall, the west one

Summary

Introduction

Agostino Chigi, patron and close friend of Raphael, is currently the headquarters of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, which is devoted to promoting and protecting its huge artistic heritage consisting in some of the most famous artworks of the Italian Renaissance. Among the artists who left their sempiternal mark inside the residence was Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, better known as Sodoma (1477–1549), who frescoed the bridal suite of Agostino Chigi and his beloved Francesca Ordeaschi. The suite was decorated with scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, including his marriage with Roxane, in explicit reference to that of Chigi. Before the new restoration of the room began, some non-invasive analyses were carried out on the two walls painted by Sodoma and his workshop depicting the Darius family before Alexander on the east wall (Figure 1)

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