Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
GIOVANNI JACOPO CARAGLIO (C. 1500-65)
The Council of the Gods
1520-1527Engraving | 36.5 x 53.8 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 853962
An engraving by Gian Giacomo Caraglio believed to reproduce a now lost drawing by Raphael for the fresco depicting the Council 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. Trimmed within platemark. First state. Annotated on both recto and verso.
Caraglio executed prints after drawings for two of the Farnesina frescoes (see also RCIN 853956), probably whilst part of the circle of Marcantonio Raimondi in Rome in the 1520s. There are differences, particularly in the heads, between this print and the finished fresco.
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 853956), probably whilst part of the circle of Marcantonio Raimondi in Rome in the 1520s. There are differences, particularly in the heads, between this print and the finished fresco.
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)
Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio (c. 1500-65) (engraver)
After? Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)
[illegible] X I; Farnesina / p.261, 36 First[?] [illegible]
[Illegible sentence, could be 17th century handwriting] / 1662
Raphael pinx / Giov Giac Cariglio 57p / Mr Abdrook[?]
36.5 x 53.8 cm (sheet of paper)
- Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
Bibliographic reference(s)
p.155, VII.11 (entry by Stefania Massari) (Raphael Invenit 1985 : Bernini Pezzini, G. et al., 1985. Raphael Invenit. Stampe di Raffaello nelle Collezioni dell'Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome)
p.347, no.E8.1. (Höper 2001 : Höper, C. Raffael und die Folgen, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001)
pp.183-89 (Jones/Penny 1983 : Jones, R. and Penny, N. Raphael, 1983)
