Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
Psyche and Venus
c.1853-76Albumen print | RCIN 853945
A photograph of a drawing by Raphael in the Louvre, Paris (inv.no.3875), for the pendentive fresco depicting Psyche and Venus 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. Annotated on verso.
A far sketchier, perhaps earlier, drawing for this fresco is in the collection of the Ashmolean, Oxford (see RCIN 853947 for a photograph of this drawing).
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).
A far sketchier, perhaps earlier, drawing for this fresco is in the collection of the Ashmolean, Oxford (see RCIN 853947 for a photograph of this drawing).
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).
- Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
