A study of Cupid and Psyche

A facsmile-engraving of a pen and ink drawing now in Albertina, Vienna (inv. no. 90), where it is catalogued as by Raphael (c.1518) This is a study of the two nude figures of Cupid and Psyche 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. In the fresco, Psyche is depicted partially draped. This print is lettered at the upper left corner and below the image with the previous location of the drawing, the attribution to Timothé della Vite and is signed and dated by the printmaker.

This drawing was part of the de Ligne's collection, whose drawings were catalogued by Adam Bartsch (who also made copies after some of them). Annotation on the verso.  

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).