The cupids in the stufetta of Cardinal Bibbiena

A series of six outline etchings by Ferdinando Mori and Serafino Cesaretti reproducing the frescoes which depict Cupid in a number of attitudes, painted on the base of the walls of the stufetta, or bathroom, in the apartments of Cardinal Bibbiena in the Vatican Palace. The stufetta was frescoed with mythological subjects by Raphael's workshop c.1516. All are lettered with a title, attribution of the composition to Raphael and the printmaker's name below the images.

The National Art Library holds a volume containing 13 unnumbered plates which comprise 12 outline etchings after frescoes by Raphael and a view of Cardinal Bibbiena's bathroom (see RCIN 853856 for another impression of this view); most of the prints are signed by Cesaretti, with two signed by Ferdinando Mori.

Cardinal Bibbiena had a close friendship with Raphael, patronising him on a number of occasions and, it would seem, facilitating the betrothal of the artist to his niece. In addition to the stufetta, Raphael's workshop also painted Cardinal Bibbiena's loggia. Both spaces were designed in a manner imitating ancient Roman painted decoration, and included depictions of episodes from Ovid, grotesques and ornamental motifs. The stufetta was rediscovered in the nineteenth century and survives in a much damaged form today; the loggetta was not rediscovered until the twentieth century.