Scenes from the Life of Furius Camillus

The Sala dell'Udienza is a large room in a corner of the Palazzo della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio) overlooking the Piazza del Signoria. It was prepared for painting by 1543 but the project to decorate it lasted for several years. Salviati worked there until the autumn of 1545.

The main narrative frescoes are drawn from Plutarch and by Livy of the legend of Furius Camillus, a Roman Republican general of the fourth century, earlier represented in a solitary standing pose by Ghirlandaio in the adjacent Sala dei Gigli. The principal subjects of Salviati's work on the dominant east wall consist of Camillus's triumphal entry after the siege of Veii, including the captured statue of Juno, and his battle with the Gauls to save the capitol. The narrative is organized and travels in painted relief from left to right, with the figures painted behind a massive fictive Corinthian order. On the overdoor in the centre of the east wall there is a grisaille representing the Allegory of Peace Burning Arms.

The Palazzo della Signoria decorations are a credit to Salviati's nearly unrivalled excellence in the medium of fresco so venerated by Tuscans.