From Florence to Bohemia: Pugliani and the Language of Power in Wallenstein Palace

The frescoes of the Mythological Corridor in Wallenstein Palace, Prague, long attributed to Baccio del Bianco (1604–1656), are now credited to Domenico Pugliani (1589–1658), following the discovery of a contract dated 16 March 1628. Del Bianco, who worked briefly in Prague from 1623, likely only supplied preliminary designs. Pugliani, trained in the Florentine tradition of Matteo Rosselli (1578–1650), painted the cycle with characteristic clarity and restraint, bringing Florentine Baroque refinement to Bohemia at the height of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). Commissioned by Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583–1634), recently made Duke of Friedland, the corridor was part of a larger visual programme designed to present him as a princely, cosmopolitan, and divinely favoured commander.

In the fresco of Mercury and Argus, the god Mercury (Hermes) slays the watchful Argus to free Io, representing intelligence triumphing over brute surveillance—an emblem of strategic mastery. Diana and Actaeon shows the hunter punished for intruding on divine space, a warning against violating sovereign boundaries. Perseus and Medusa depicts divine heroism defeating monstrosity, echoing the control of fear through sanctioned violence. The scene of Callisto turned into a bear symbolises divine rivalry and the fall from grace, a veiled warning about courtly intrigue. In the Rape of Europa, Jupiter, disguised as a bull, abducts Europa across the sea—an allegory for conquest through seduction, linking classical myth with imperial ambition.