Frescoes in the Hall of Olympus (detail)

On three sides of the Hall of Olympus, high up in the patch of sky that illuminates the scene, mighty gods sit above the clouds. In the present detail, a musing Jupiter sits among the other gods and, exhorted by Juno, he must decide whether to allow Persephone, to return periodically to earth to embrace her mother, Ceres, thereby enabling nature to reawaken through the cycle of seasons.