Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
A study for the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana
published c.1829-1834Lithograph printed in red | RCIN 854042
A lithograph of a red chalk drawing now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no. 17634), where it is attributed to Raphael (c.1517). This is a study of the nude figures of the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana. This print is lettered at the bottom with production detail; signed by the printmaker and lettered with the attribition to Raphael. Published in N. Förster, Lithographirte Copien von Original Handzeichnungen berühmter alter Meister der Italienischen schule aus der Sammlung seiner Kaiserlichen Hoheit des durchlauchtigsten Erzherzogs Carl von Oesterreich, 2 vols., Vienna (Mansfeld et Comp.), 1829-34.
A number of Raphaelesque drawings of this scene, including this one, have been related by some scholars to a lost drawing by Raphael for the "Sala di Alexander e Roxana" in the Villa Farnesina, which was frescoed by Sodoma with many differences. This theme was also frescoed in Raphael's Villa, the so-called Casino Raffaello and the detached fresco is now in the Galleria Borghese (inv. no. 303). This building — a small summer-house, also known as the Casino Olgiati — was destroyed in the siege of Rome in 1849 and used to be in the Galoppatoio area of the present-day Borghese Park. Ruland (1876) notes that: "the three principal frescoes have been removed before". In the life of Raphael written by Quatremere de Quincy and translated into Italian by Francesco Longhena in 1829, it is noted that seven prints after the paintings of this Villa were made by Francesco Saverio Gonzales, five prints of which are in the Royal Collection (see RCINs 854035.a-d and 854037). Longhena also writes that in the Villa there was a portrait of La Fornarina, the fresco of the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana, representations of the Vices with arrows and the Sacrifice of Flora on the ceiling.
This fresco derives from Luciano's story in the dialogue "Herodotus sive Action".
Between 1829 and 1834 the lithographic printers Mansfeld and Company, who were based in Vienna, published two volumes of lithographic copies after drawings then in the collection of Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen; volume one contained drawings attributed to the the Italian school, and volume two the German and Flemish school.
A number of Raphaelesque drawings of this scene, including this one, have been related by some scholars to a lost drawing by Raphael for the "Sala di Alexander e Roxana" in the Villa Farnesina, which was frescoed by Sodoma with many differences. This theme was also frescoed in Raphael's Villa, the so-called Casino Raffaello and the detached fresco is now in the Galleria Borghese (inv. no. 303). This building — a small summer-house, also known as the Casino Olgiati — was destroyed in the siege of Rome in 1849 and used to be in the Galoppatoio area of the present-day Borghese Park. Ruland (1876) notes that: "the three principal frescoes have been removed before". In the life of Raphael written by Quatremere de Quincy and translated into Italian by Francesco Longhena in 1829, it is noted that seven prints after the paintings of this Villa were made by Francesco Saverio Gonzales, five prints of which are in the Royal Collection (see RCINs 854035.a-d and 854037). Longhena also writes that in the Villa there was a portrait of La Fornarina, the fresco of the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana, representations of the Vices with arrows and the Sacrifice of Flora on the ceiling.
This fresco derives from Luciano's story in the dialogue "Herodotus sive Action".
Between 1829 and 1834 the lithographic printers Mansfeld and Company, who were based in Vienna, published two volumes of lithographic copies after drawings then in the collection of Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen; volume one contained drawings attributed to the the Italian school, and volume two the German and Flemish school.
Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-1876)
