Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
AFTER A WORK ATTRIBUTED TO RAPHAEL (URBINO 1483-ROME 1520)
A study of Hebe and Proserpine
c.1820-1876Lithograph | 31.1 x 20.6 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 853980
A lithographic facsimile of a red-chalk drawing similar to the one which is now in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (inv. no. A 062), where it is catalogued as by Raphael (c.1518) This is a study of two female figures (possibly Hebe and Proserpine) 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.
Ruland (1876) notes that the drawing is: "in the collection of Mr Bale; published in the "Lawrence Gallery" No.19". The first name possibly refers to Charles Sackville Bale (whose collection was sold at Christie's on 09-06-1881), while the second reference is to a publication of thirty facsimiles of drawings by Raphael from the Lawrence Gallery (collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence) announced by Mr Woodburn in 1838 in the Literary Gazette.
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).
Ruland (1876) notes that the drawing is: "in the collection of Mr Bale; published in the "Lawrence Gallery" No.19". The first name possibly refers to Charles Sackville Bale (whose collection was sold at Christie's on 09-06-1881), while the second reference is to a publication of thirty facsimiles of drawings by Raphael from the Lawrence Gallery (collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence) announced by Mr Woodburn in 1838 in the Literary Gazette.
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)
31.1 x 20.6 cm (sheet of paper)
Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
Subject(s)
- Religion & Theology
- Religions and faiths
- Religions of antiquity
- Classical mythology
- Proserpine (myth)
- Omphale
- Venus (mythology)
- Classical mythology
- Religions of antiquity
- Religions and faiths
- Religion & Theology
Bibliographic reference(s)
p.262-264, n. 236 (van Tuyll van Serooskerken 2000 : van Tuyll van Serooskerken, C., 2000. The Italian drawings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Teyler Museum.)
p. 235 n. 402 (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)
