Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
The head of Neptune
c.1853-1876Albumen print | RCIN 853992
A photograph of a red chalk drawing by Carlo Maratti now in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle (RCIN 904324). This drawing has been catalogued by Blunt as a study from Raphael's fresco of the Mass at Bolsena (see also RCIN 904315) in the Stanza di Eliodoro, Vatican, Rome, but it appears closer to the head of Neptune of the Banquet of Gods in the Villa Farnesina, as identified by Ruland (1876).
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).
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)
