Tendrils of blossoms adorn stucco medallions.
Stucco, a gypsum mortar made of limestone, sand and water, is used to decorate interior walls and ceilings. Italians were the masters of this technique: they were almost exclusively the sole purveyors of stucco work into the 18th century. However, the Meersburg stucco is Swiss. The stucco decor was created by Carlo Luca Pozzi, a member of the famous, Ticino-based artist family and studio.
Varied stucco motifs can be found throughout the palace.
Most of the rooms on the bel étage have ceilings decorated with highly original stucco motifs. They were created between 1760 and 1762 by Carlo Luca Pozzi (1735–1803) and his associates. With the exception of the audience chamber, all the stucco has survived! Thus, to this day, the lively hunt scenes, personified virtues, daytimes and elements can be admired along with scenes of courtly life, such as setting the table or playing billiards.
Original scenes: “Morning” depicts a cherub drinking coffee with a crowing rooster, while “Evening” shows a pipe-smoking cherub with a mug of beer.
The former antechamber to the envoy's apartment, in what is the hunting room today, is decorated with stucco depicting far more mundane scenes. Little cherubs personify the times of day: one drinks coffee with a crowing rooster, one eats a roast in the midday sun, another smokes a pipe and drinks beer in the evening, and another sleeps under a crescent moon. In the natural history cabinet, personifications of the four elements populate the ceiling: e.g., a puffing cherub, for air, and a fire-spitting dragon, for fire.
Apropos for the room: Aristocrats playing billiards.
The stucco in the former bedroom, now home to the exhibit “The Prince Bishopric and the Town of Meersburg”, depicts something special: Pozzi created old Meersburg Castle with Lake Constance and vineyards as well as the townscape and the New Palace. The new and old residences face each other diagonally. The stucco themes in the salons, one floor below, make direct reference to each room’s function and depict lively courtly scenes: e.g., above the door to the billiard room, three gentlemen pay billiards.
