"Mantuna, born of a single family's vision, was one of Italy's most dazzling artistic centers, drawing artists as prestigious as Pisanello, Mantegna, Alberti, Giulio Romano, and Rubens. The rich history of this small town in tin Po, River Valley is closely bound up with that of the Gonzaga family, who ruled it for nearly four centuries (1328-1708)." "The zenith of the city's artistic prestige coincided with the arrival form Rome in 1524 of Giulio Romano, Raphael's most talented student. He dominated the city's artistic scene for twenty years, producing paintings and cycles of frescoes, drawing up architectural and city planning projects, and designing sculptures, tapestries, and stage scenery, But it was in his architecture and decorative painting for the Palazzo Te, one of the most important monuments of fifteenth-century mannerist art, that Giulio's ingenuity and inventiveness found full expression." "Although most of Mantua's artistic treasures were sold or claimed as war spoils upon the decline of the Gonzaga family, the rich cultural legacy of this fascinating city lives on in the city's many surviving frescoes and in the collections of some of the world's premier museums These priceless works of art are reunited in the pages of this beautifully illustrated volume."--Jacket.