The ‘Crucible’ Chamber presents numerous works that give an insight into the culture, historical and artistic interests and the construction of an image for power, of Francesco II Gonzaga.
In front of the entrance are three important busts of Virgil, the Carmelite Battista Spagnoli and the Marquis himself, while on the entrance wall is an 18th-century gloss of Andrea Mantegna’s ‘Madonna della Vittoria Altarpiece’ – the original of which is now in the Louvre in Paris – and an evocative torn fresco from the school of Mantegna illustrating the theme of the crossroads between virtue and vice.
The setting is particularly significant because it strongly focuses on the representation of the ‘Crogiolo’ emblem. The symbolic image refers to the events following the Battle of Fornovo in 1495 with the victory of the Venetian army led by Francesco II Gonzaga over the French troops of Charles VIII. Despite his success, Marquis Gonzaga was accused by the Venetian Senate of treason for not having pursued and finally defeated the fleeing French. To commemorate this difficult moment, Francis II took as his personal emblem a crucible, in which he melted a bundle of pure gold rods, accompanied by the motto ‘PROBASTI ME DOMINE, ET COGNOVISTI’: ‘Lord, you have tested me and you have known what material I am made of’. A shower of flames descends from the emblem in the centre of the pavilion vault.
