Venus pulling a thorn from her foot

An engraving by Marco Dente reproducing, in reverse, a lost drawing by Raphael for the fresco 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 at bottom right with publication line 'Ant.sal.exc.'; the engraver's monogram in the drapery at bottom left (Nagler, V, no.265). Trimmed to image. Second state.

A red chalk copy of the lost drawing reproduced in this print is in the Nationalmuseum Stockholm (inv.no.NMH 749/1863).

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.