Portraits of Raphael's Models

A set of eight engravings of heads, known as "Les Maitresses de Raphael", published in "Le Recueil d'estampes gravées d'apres des peintures antiques italiennes; dessinée par B. Desnoyers, gravée par A. Godefroy et Aubert" (Paris, 1821).  Each print is lettered with the title and signed by the printmaker and the draughstman. According to Passavant, only four of these were taken after the frescoes in Villa Lante.

The Villa was built for Baldassarre Turini da Pescia – a figure very close to Pope Leo X and his "datario" (Datary) from 1518 – on the Janiculum Hill. The Villa is now known as the Villa Lante as it was owned by the Lante family from 1551, after the death of Turini in 1541.

A number of scholars debated the architectural and decorative projects of the Villa. According to Giorgio Vasari, the Villa was built from c.1524 to a design by Giulio Romano, who was also responsible for the frescoes with the assistance of his workshop. In a book on the Villa, Lilius suggests Giulio Romano as the architect and recognises this as his first independent architectural project, therefore close to some Raphaelesque solutions, although without excluding the possible involvement of Raphael himself in the first stages of the commission (see Bibliographic References).

According to Henry and Joannides: "the frescoes were probably executed after Giulio had left Rome but they no doubt follow sketches or instructions left by him [...] and whether or not they were painted by Vincenzo Tamagni (1492-1530), as has been proposed [...], the frescoes were executed by an artist familiar with work by Raphael and his school and in a context where Raphael was very well-known". According to Lulius, the frescoes were executed mainly by Polidoro da Caravaggio, his pupil Maturino da Firenze and other figures of Polidoro's workshop. Lulius attributes the stuccoes (which were traditionally assigned to Giovanni da Udine) to an anonymous artist (see Bibliographic References).

When in 1837 the Villa was sold to the Order of the Sacred Heart –  which decided to use its rooms as a nursery – the mythological themes of the frescoes appeared inappropriate. Currently in-situ there are only the series of the Triumphs and the chiaroscuros. The Borghese family removed the other frescoes and moved them to the Borghese Palace. In 1891 they were bought by Henriette Hertz and have been exhibited ever since in Palazzo Zuccari on a purpose-built vault.  "La stufetta di Venere e Amore" was  washing room decorated with frescoes which Vasari attributed to Giulio Romano. It wa probably originally in the basement, part of the current dining room, but no longer survives.