Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
Mercury transporting Psyche to Olympus
1520-1527Engraving | RCIN 853956
An engraving by Gian Giacomo Caraglio which may be linked to a drawing, now at Chatsworth (inv.no.54), attributed to Giulio Romano for the pendentive fresco depicting Jupiter and Cupid 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. Trimmed within platemark. First state.
Caraglio executed prints after drawings for two of the Farnesina frescoes (see also RCIN 853962), probably whilst part of the circle of Marcantonio Raimondi in Rome in the 1520s.
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).
Caraglio executed prints after drawings for two of the Farnesina frescoes (see also RCIN 853962), probably whilst part of the circle of Marcantonio Raimondi in Rome in the 1520s.
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).
- Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
