The writing on the wall: visiting the Sala degli Imperatori in Foligno with Francesco Da Fiano as literary guide

Beer, S.T.M. de (2025)

Part of book or chapter of book

Around 1411–1412 Ugolino III of Trinci, the signore of Foligno, commissioned Gentile
da Fabriano to decorate the so-called “Sala degli Imperatori” with 20 larger than life
images of Roman heroes. Each hero was accompanied by a Latin epigram, composed
by the humanist poet Francesco da Fiano. Da Fiano was probably also the mastermind
behind the iconographical programme as a whole, which served to legitimise
the Trinci’s rule by forging ancient roots. This article asks how the room was supposed
to be ‘read’ by its contemporary audience. How were visitors expected to walk around,
take in the decorations, and reflect on their meaning? And by whom were they guided?
To answer this question, I consider Da Fiano’s appropriation of the Parade of Heroes
in Virgil’s Aeneid 6 which offered the main roadmap for visiting the room. Its relevance
extends from the selection and order of the heroes to their relationship with
Ugolino III Trinci and contemporary Foligno, as also to the conception of the space,
the interaction between the characters and visitors, and between the different arts
exemplified in the room, painting and poetry above all.

• Parade of heroes
• Literary spaces
• Virgil’s Aeneid
• Francesco da Fiano
• Ekphrasis
• Uses of the past
• Ugolino III Trinci
• Neo-Latin epigram
• Paragone delle arti

• All authors: Beer, S.T.M. de
• Editor(s): Melion, W.S.; Pieper, C.; Smith, P.J.; Traninger, A.
• Date: 2025-01-23
• Title of host publication: Intersections: Interdisciplinary Studies in Early Modern Culture; Reading images from the past
• Pages: 131 - 160
• ISBN (print): 9789004712959
• ISBN (electronic): 9789004712966
• DOI: doi:10.1163/9789004712966_008
• Name: 100