A study of Apollo

A facsimile engraving of a red chalk drawing now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no. 218), where it is attributed to Raphael (c.1518). The study is of the nude figure of Apollo 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 figure of the God would have been depicted partially draped in the fresco. This print is lettered below the image with the name of Raphael identified as the inventor of the drawing, the previous location of the drawing, and signed and dated by the printmaker. Annotation on the verso.

This drawing was previously in de Ligne's collection and the drawings in this collection were catalogued by Adam Bartsch (who also made copies after some of them). The attribution of this drawing has been debated by a number of scholars (see Bibliographic References).

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).