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1 of 253523 objects
The Fourteen Amorini: a study for Cupid with Vulcan's tools c.1860-76
Carbon print | 16.4 x 12.2 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 854026

After a work attributed to the workshop of Raphael (1483-1520)
The Fourteen Amorini: a study for Cupid with Vulcan's tools c.1860-76
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A photograph of a red chalk drawing now in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (inv. no A76) where it is catalogued as by the studio of Raphael (c.1518). This is a study of a detail of the fresco in the vault of the entrance loggia of the Farnesina, Agostino Chigi's villa in Rome, which was frescoed with mythological subjects by Raphael's workshop c.1518. In the fourteen lunettes of the bays are Amorini or Cupids, with the attributes of the deities who have done homage to Love. This shows Cupid with Vulcan's hammer and trident.
The fresco decoration in the Farnesina illustrates the classical fable of Cupid and Psyche, a story which was also frequently used to decorate Florentine wedding chests. Raphael's fresco scheme comprises two primary scenes in the vault (painted to resemble tapestries), accompanied by a series of episodes painted in the pendentives. The whole is encompassed within a fictive pergola, which gives the viewer the impression of looking up into the heavens. Only the upper part of the loggia is painted (the vault and its supporting pendentives and spandrels).Provenance
Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1860-76)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Carbon print
Measurements
16.4 x 12.2 cm (sheet of paper)
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Bibliographic reference(s)
van Tuyll van Serooskerken 2000 : van Tuyll van Serooskerken, C., 2000. The Italian drawings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Teyler Museum. p.264-266, n.237
Jones/Penny 1983 : Jones, R. and Penny, N. Raphael, 1983 pp.183-89