ABSTRACT
The pergola as an expression of the Medici's scientific interest is especially manifest in the garden pavilion at the Villa Medici on the Pincio Hill in Rome, which houses a visual encyclopedia of flora and fauna in the guise of an illusionistic pergola. During the first period, Giovanni da Udine monopolized the commissions of the genre, but now each work was executed by a different artist, Pietro Venale or Prospero Fontana at the Villa Giulia, Matthijs Bril at the Vatican Loggia, and Antonio Tempesta at the Villa Farnese. The quadripartite compartments of each vault, delineated by the trellis, bore scenes with mythological figures including Diana, the Three Graces, and Europa. Here the "tapestry" motif seen at the Villa Farnesina makes a reappearance on a smaller scale, suggesting that for special occasions, real trellises may have been constructed to accommodate such canopies made of canvas and painted with mythological scenes.
