Palazzo Te. Giulio Romano's Masterwork in Mantua, Ugo Bazzotti, Thames and Hudson, 2013, hardback, 276 pp, £60.00, ISBN 9780500517109

Constructed for Frederico II Gonzaga between 1525 and 1536 Palazzo Te is celebrated as the masterpiece of the Renaissance artist, designer and architect Giulio Romano, the accomplished protégé and artistic executor of Raphael. Romano settled in Mantua in 1524 where he drained the marshes, protected the city from floods, and restored the Palazzo Te, ‘a lavish pleasure palace for rest and entertainment' together with the cathedral and ducal palace.

In this sumptuously illustrated volume, Ugo Bazzotti, former director of the Palazzo Te, escorts the reader via superb photography through the atriums, halls, courtyards and gardens that constitute this ‘elaborate masterpiece of Mannerist decoration'. He explains succinctly its history and the classical mythology which inspired the spectacular frescoes which decorate the Palazzo's interiors and celebrates the inventiveness and versatility of its creator who employed ‘richly imaginative scenes and trompe l'oeil fantasies' depicting gods and heroes, fictive marble statues and portraits of the Duke's favourite thoroughbred horses. The interior scenes in the famous Chamber of the Giants, based on the mythological defeat of the Titans by the gods of Olympus, reveal how ‘the High Renaissance ideal of classical harmony and balance' is dramatically overtaken by ‘breathtaking illusionist techniques', with images of giants, falling masonry and the gods' thunderbolts assailing the visitor's imagination.

His guided tour accomplished with the aid of 255 colour illustrations provides the main focus of the volume, but the author, drawing extensively on Giorgio Vasari, who considered Giulio Romano a close friend, provides an authoritative account of Giulio Romano's relationship with Raphael, who more than any other of Raphael's disciples ‘imitated him more closely in manner, invention, design and use of colour'. He also explains the circumstances and connections which resulted in his settlement in Mantua. He also draws upon surviving contemporary documents preserved in the State Archive to construct a necessarily fragmentary picture of how the building site functioned with 116 workers mentioned by name, from labourers to sculptors and painters, who received the highest wages, some details of which are supplied in the text. This large, 30.5 cm square, sturdily bound tome will add an authentic taste of Renaissance Italy to any coffee table, appealing particularly to readers with an interest in art history and tourists who have visited Palazzo Te or who might be inspired by this volume to include Mantua on their itinerary when next visiting Italy.