Photo Credit: Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025.
A newly conserved painting by Giulio Romano and Workshop has gone on display in the King’s Bedchamber at Windsor Castle, reuniting it with others from the series and marking its first public showing since 1965.
Giulio Romano, a 16th-century painter and architect, was the trusted aide and protégé of Raphael, working alongside him on the Vatican frescoes, and later became court artist to Federico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua.
The Nurture of Jupiter, likely commissioned by the Duke to celebrate his son’s birth, forms part of a series depicting the infancy and upbringing of the Roman gods. Painted around 1535, it was acquired by Charles I in the 1620s alongside at least four others from the series and hung in The King’s Privy Gallery at Greenwich Palace. The painting shows the infant god Jupiter being raised in secret to escape his murderous father, Saturn.
The painting has undergone extensive conservation treatment in preparation for display, during which conservators removed layers of discoloured varnish and overpaint to reveal its original luminous colour scheme and fine details – including bees around a honeycomb and delicate variations in foliage.
The painting now joins two other works from the series in the King’s Bedchamber, one of the historic State Apartments that can be seen on a visit to Windsor Castle, with the fourth painting in the Collection set to join them next year following conservation.
Windsor Castle is open to visitors six days a week in September and five days a week from October. Tickets and visitor information can be found on the Royal Collection Trust website.
