Venus and Adonis

A lithographic facsimile of 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. India laid; laid down on a backing sheet which is lettered at bottom with the names of Giulio and Pilizotti, and publication details. Trimmed on all sides. Annotated on verso. Published in N. Förster, Lithographirte Copien von Original Handzeichnungen berühmter alter Meister der Italienischen schule aus der Sammlung seiner Kaiserlichen Hoheit des durchlauchtigsten Erzherzogs Carl von Oesterreich, 2 vols., Vienna (Mansfeld et Comp.), 1829-34.

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.

Between 1829 and 1834 the lithographic printers Mansfeld and Company, who were based in Vienna, published two volumes of lithographic copies after drawings then in the collection of Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen; volume one contained drawings attributed to the the Italian school, and volume two the German and Flemish school.