Venus and Adonis

An engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi reproducing, in reverse and with additions to the background, a drawing by Giulio Romano in the Albertina Museum, Vienna (inv.no.17632) for the fresco depicting Venus and Adonis on the north wall 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. Lettered with publisher's address at bottom centre: 'Ant.Sal.exc.'. Annotated on verso. On watermarked paper. Trimmed on all sides. Second state. Not in Ruland (1876). 

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.