The Four Parts of the World

During his fifty-year reign (1680-1730) Vittorio Amadeo II transformed Turin, the second royal residence on Italian soil after Naples, into one of the most splendid Baroque cities in Europe. In 1584 he started the enlargement of the palace known as the Palazzo Reale. The additions to the palace were patterned after the models of French court architecture, but for the wall decorations he looked for Italian painters. The decoration continued under the reign of Carlo Emanuele III (1730-1773).

In a small room in the western part of the new apartment, known as the Appartamento d’Estate, the Roman painter Gregorio Guglielmi painted The Four Parts of the World. He executed this ceiling painting as a cheerful and airy capriccio. The four regions, represented by charming female personifications, are backed by a colourful backdrop of clouds, which are largely responsible for the pictorial effect of the composition. Inn the centre a minimal grouping of gods, consisting of Jupiter, Juno, and Mercury, are bestowing their favours on Europa, who is given the attributes of a tiara and the gold imperial orb.