Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
AFTER A WORK ATTRIBUTED TO RAPHAEL (URBINO 1483-ROME 1520)
A study for Ganymede
c.1853-1876Albumen print | 28.2 x 21.8 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 853984
A photograph of a red chalk drawing now in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 4019), where it is catalogued as by Raphael (c.1518) This is a study of Ganymede for the Banquet of the Gods from the vault of the entrance loggia of the Farnesina, Agostino Chigi's villa in Rome, which was frescoed with mythological subjects by Raphael's workshop c.1518.
The fresco decoration in the Farnesina illustrates the classical fable of Cupid and Psyche, a story which was also frequently used to decorate Florentine wedding chests. Raphael's fresco scheme comprises two primary scenes in the vault (painted to resemble tapestries), accompanied by a series of episodes painted in the pendentives. The whole is encompassed within a fictive pergola, which gives the viewer the impression of looking up into the heavens. Only the upper part of the loggia is painted (the vault and its supporting pendentives and spandrels).
The fresco decoration in the Farnesina illustrates the classical fable of Cupid and Psyche, a story which was also frequently used to decorate Florentine wedding chests. Raphael's fresco scheme comprises two primary scenes in the vault (painted to resemble tapestries), accompanied by a series of episodes painted in the pendentives. The whole is encompassed within a fictive pergola, which gives the viewer the impression of looking up into the heavens. Only the upper part of the loggia is painted (the vault and its supporting pendentives and spandrels).
Creator(s)
After a work attributed to Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)
28.2 x 21.8 cm (sheet of paper)
Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
Bibliographic reference(s)
p. 378-379, n.570 (Cordellier/Py 1992 : Raphael : son atelier, ses copistes, 1992 / par Dominique Cordellier et Bernadette Py, Paris (Inventaire general des dessins Italiens ; V / sous la direction de Francoise Viatte))
p. 235 n. 404 (Joannides 1983 : Joannides, P., 1983. The Drawings of Raphael, with a complete catalogue, Oxford)
pp.183-89 (Jones/Penny 1983 : Jones, R. and Penny, N. Raphael, 1983)
