THE STORY OF THE ELEMENTS

The Fire Room, 1658 – 1659

Francesco Cozza (Stilo di Calabria 1605 – Rome 1682)

The fresco unfolds as though it were a frieze, with monumental figures arranged in the foreground around a central scene (Venus); an open-air background provides a scenic backdrop for the stories depicted.  An artist with a classical approach, but sensitive to the innovative demands of his time, Francesco Cozza differs from the other artists of the Valmontone cycle in that he articulates his work within a continuous space, without resorting to the use of monochrome frames that characterise the more traditional compositions of the Water and Earth Rooms.

Vulcan, the god of fire and blacksmith of the gods, directs the feverish activity taking place in the vault. The various ‘workshops’ owe their industriousness to Fire, the element with which the god forges metals to produce weapons for men and jewellery for Olympus. Through this mythological representation, the artist illustrates the production techniques, use and trade of different metals – iron, steel, bronze, gold and silver – thus providing us with an intriguing lesson in the history of technology.

The narrative begins in Vulcan’s Forge, under a monumental arch, where the Cyclops, wielding heavy clubs, are forging iron on an anvil; to the left, a figure in the background operates a bellows to feed the fire. On the ground are armour and helmets. Vulcan is the only figure wearing a hat.

The narrative continues on the long side of the room, where the use of steel is illustrated. With a large hydraulic grinding wheel fed by a waterfall and two stone grinding wheels, the armour is polished. In the background is a rocky landscape with trees that have been snapped.

In the next scene, beneath an imposing architectural structure, bronze is being cast for the production of cannons. Burning coal fuels the furnace from which the fused metal emerges, while around it male figures carry bundles of wood and shovel coal. To the left are the tools used to finish the cannons: the drill, the hammer and the chisel.

The story concludes with the noble metals – gold and silver. We begin with a mound furnace with a round opening where men with long poles extract the scrap from the silver smelting. Next, we see a goldsmith at a bench with a chisel and a complex series of operations around a furnace fed by a bellows. The refined product is then displayed on a red-draped credenza of great splendour (‘piattaia di pompa’), where examples of precious tableware are displayed: five gold plates are on the shelf, while in the foreground the goldsmith weighs and sorts coins, necklaces, bracelets and pendants. Prominent in the lower part of the frame are three vases on which are reproduced the insignia of the Pamphilj and Aldobrandini families, a clear tribute to the couple who commissioned the work (Camillo and Olimpia).

In the centre of the vault, Venus, Vulcan’s consort and goddess of love, is surrounded by cupids and handmaidens.