# View of the main hall [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DORIGNY, Louis]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Fresco ## Commentary The Villa Allegri was built around 1656 by the Allegri family, nobility from Verona, on the site of a preexisting sixteenth-century structure. It was designed by the Veronese architect and sculptor <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/b/bianchi1/allegri.html'\)" href="/html/b/bianchi1/allegri.html">Giovanni Battista Bianchi.</a> The main hall of the villa and the adjoining oratory was decorated with frescoes by Louis Dorigny in c. 1719. The entire luminous, double height main hall is covered in trompe l'oeil architectural devices. The space is measured off by a double order of twin pilasters and columns that illusionistically support broad bays with flattened arches. These bays contain airy balconies, the balustrades of which hold displays of large vases brimming with multicoloured flowers. On the short sides of the room, flanked by boxes adorned with rose-coloured drapery and flower-filled vases, two imaginary spaces open up like stages, one shows Perseus Displaying the Head of Medusa, the other The Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths. Below each of them is a virtuosic depiction of a pair of virile nudes engaged in a tenacious struggle, painted in imitation of classical marble statues. The extraordinary upward thrust of the space is assured by the ceiling, which is divided into a complex system of transversal arches. In the corners, enormous crests, bordered by a large quantity of military symbols, hold the Allegri family coat of arms and the interwoven monograms of the family members. ## Related artworks - [Bacchanal \(detail\)]() - [Bacchanal \(detail\)]() - [Bacchanal \(detail\)]() - [Bacchanal \(detail\)]() - [Bacchanal]() - [Ballroom ceiling \(detail\)]() - [Ballroom ceiling \(detail\)]() - [Ballroom ceiling \(detail\)]() - [Ceiling decoration]() - [Ceiling of the grand staircase]() - [Corridor ceiling \(detail\)]() - [Deception and Avarice]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()