Identification and Transgressive Gazing: Paola Gonzaga’s Fontanellato Frescoes

Abstract

Of all the early modern depictions of Diana and Actaeon, one of the most unusual is located in a small room inside the Rocca Sanvitale, the castle of Fontanellato in northern Italy. On the ceiling, Parmigianino frescoed scenes featuring the Ovidian tale. While much of the imagery is typical of the period, the most famous scene from the myth, in which the goddess Diana catches Actaeon beholding her nude form, is strikingly less so. This article provides an alternative reading of the ceiling’s iconography, one that considers how the room’s patron, Paola Gonzaga, might have interacted with the frescoes. Through the use of methodologies such as gender and sexuality studies and iconography, I argue here that Parmigianino’s imagery was specifically crafted for a female beholder, Gonzaga, granting her the ability to not only identify with the figures depicted, receiving moral instruction from them, but also sensually enjoy them in private.