The hall
The reading of the Hall’s frescoes is partially compromised by numerous grooves and gaps in the paint layer, due to the earlier presence of eighteenth-century stuccoes and their subsequent removal.
The walls are punctuated by a fictive architectural frame: the ionic columns which stand on a high plinth showcasing marble squares, support a continuous architrave with corbels and alternating panels, adorned with painted cameos.
Within this white, illusive frame are located real doors and windows, as well as four painted scenes, which all display the common element of a female character, regal in nature and recognizable in every scene because of her clothing.
It is Scylla, daughter of Nisus, king of Mègara, whose unfortunate story is told by Ovid in the eighth book of his Metamorphoses.
The first scene depicts the siege of the city of Mègara by the army of Minos – the handsome firstborn son of princess Europa – who longed to avenge the killing of his own son, Androgeus. It is possible to discern, at the very top of a tower dominating the walls of Alcàtoe castle, a small, light-blue-clad figure: it is princess Scylla who, while admiring the Cretans battle in their shining armours, falls in love with the enemy commander, portrayed sitting on a white horse in the foreground, recognizable by the splendid, feathered helmet.
Tormented by thoughts of love, the girl performs a desperate gesture to win Minos’ favour: in the second scene she enters her father Nisus’ bedroom, depicted as a large terrace, and cuts from his head the enchanted lock of crimson hair from which, according to the myth, the fate of the kingdom depended.
With her heart full of hope, Scylla visits the Cretan camp: in the third scene, she stands before Minos, handing him the lock of her father’s hair, as a token of her love. The commander’s reaction, however, is one of pure indignation: appalled by the girl’s betrayal, he orders his victorious fleet to raise their anchors and set sail for Crete.
In despair, Scylla throws herself into the sea, clinging to Minos’ ship and invoking paternal punishment upon herself. The last fresco, in fact, matches the story’s tragic epilogue: Scylla is clinging to the boat, while Nisus’ silhouette can be seen near a tower in the distance, immortalized in the act of turning into a sea eagle to attack her daughter with his hooked beak. The bird in the foreground could, therefore, indicate either Nisus’ complete metamorphosis, or Scylla’s own as she, for her part, turns into a Ciris, or heron.
According to an eighteenth-century source, the Hall’s overdoors represent the Four Parts of the Day: Dawn, Midday, Twilight and Night. (Barbara Maria Savy, Sara Danese | trad. Anna Dal Pont, Sarah Ferrari)
