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Other Frescoes

Other Frescoes

MICHEL OLIVIER LEBAS (1783-1843)

Venus pulling a thorn from her foot

published 1805

Outline etching | 17.9 x 15.6 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 853882

An outline etching by Michel Lebas reproducing the fresco, designed by Raphael, depicting Venus pulling a thorn from her foot on the west 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 below image with the etcher's signature, attribution of the composition to Raphael and title. Numbered at top right: 347. Annotated on verso. Plate 347 from volume 2 of Charles Landon's Vie et oeuvres des peintres les plus célèbres de toutes les ecoles (1805).

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. 
  • Creator(s)

    Michel Olivier Lebas (1783-1843) (engraver)

    After a work by the workshop of Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)

  • middle top

  • 17.9 x 15.6 cm (sheet of paper)
    16.5 x 14.5 cm (platemark)

  • Nymphe se tirane une épine du pied. / Wie sich die Nymphe einen dorn aus dem fuss zieben. / A Nymph drawing a thorn out of her foot.

  • Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)
  • Subject(s)
    • Religion & Theology
      • Religions and faiths
        • Religions of antiquity
          • Classical mythology
            • Venus (mythology)
    • Places
      • Europe
        • Italy
          • Lazio [Italy]
            • Rome [Lazio]
              • Vatican City [Rome]
                • Vatican Palace [Vatican City]
                  • Bathroom (stufetta) of Cardinal Bibbiena [Vatican Palace]
  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    pp.192-94 (Jones/Penny 1983 : Jones, R. and Penny, N. Raphael, 1983)
    pp.324-25 (Cordellier/Py 1992 : Raphael : son atelier, ses copistes, 1992 / par Dominique Cordellier et Bernadette Py, Paris (Inventaire general des dessins Italiens ; V / sous la direction de Francoise Viatte))