A study of Apollo

A photograph of a drawing now at Holkham Hall (inv. no. CL 209), which is a copy of a drawing now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. no.218), where it is catalogued as by Raphael (c.1518). This is a study 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.

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).