Trascrizione
Dedicated to Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon’s second wife, these apartments were actually the residence of Auguste Amélie of Bavaria, wife of the Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais.
The rooms are part of the Medieval Magna Domus, former home of the Bonacolsi, and were added by Paolo Pozzo during Habsburg rule then renovated in the Napoleonic era. Beauharnais ordered that the monumental four-poster bed in the first room be moved here from Milan in 1811. The precious fabrics and ivory-coloured wooden frame with many gilt fretwork decorations create a logical counterpoint to the other Neoclassical pieces set around the room: pier-glasses, console tables, upholsteries, fireplace, kneeler and even a stove and firewood chest.
Then there are two studies, overlooking Piazza Sordello, with lavish Neoclassical decoration by artists of Mantua’s Academy of Fine Arts. The wall panels in the first study are mounted with medallions illustrating episodes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The second study, with ochre tapestry and decorated overdoors, has a faux coffered ceiling illustrating episodes from the cycle of Hercules and other secular subjects.