Family Guide Rome by DK

Author:DK
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Limited
Published: 2016-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

6. Villa Farnesina

Music and art

Fresco in the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche, Villa Farnesina

A perfect example of Renaissance architecture, elegant Villa Farnesina was built in the early 16th century for Agostino Chigi, a fabulously rich banking tycoon, and served as a sophisticated retreat where he could entertain and hold magnificent banquets. After Chigi died in 1520, his business collapsed, the villa was abandoned and its statues, furniture and paintings sold. Fortunately, the best artworks – two loggias frescoed by Raphael – could not be moved.

Begin with the glassed-in Loggia of Cupid and Psyche, which was originally designed to resemble a pergola. Scenes from the love story of Cupid and Psyche appear on trompe l’oeil tapestries (look carefully and it is possible to see the fake hooks) against an illusionistic sky framed by illusionistic ribs garlanded with foliage, fruit, vegetables and flowers. Although designed by Raphael, it was painted by his pupils.

The second one, the Loggia of Galatea, is named after the one painting that Raphael completed here – the famous Triumph of Galatea. It shows Galatea, a beautiful woman with strawberry-blonde hair streaming in the wind, as she rides the sea in a shell drawn by dolphins surrounded by tritons and nereids.

Above the door to the immediate left of this fresco is a portrait of the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, sitting with his dog and gazing out to sea after having fallen hopelessly in love with Galatea. It was long believed that the blue drapes had been painted on after a woman was shocked by the giant’s naked body. However, a recent restoration revealed that there was no body underneath the drapery.

The upper walls of the room are devoted to horoscopes, one of Chigi’s main interests, while the panels on the ceiling depict the story of Perseus and Medusa as well as the story of the nymph Callista who was turned into a bear by Juno, and then into a constellation of stars by Jupiter.

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