RAFFAELLO Sanzio
(b. 1483, Urbino, d. 1520, Roma)

Venus and Jupiter

1517-18
Fresco
Villa Farnesina, Rome

Raphael's pictorial narrative in the Loggia di Psiche begins in the spandrels of the short side on the left as one enters and continues along the spandrels to the right to the second short side and then along the entrance side. These triangular surfaces represented a problematic format for artists. Raphael solved this challenge in ever new and surprising ways, causing the form of the painting's support and the composition of its figures to interact in particularly fortuitous and varied manners.

In this spandrel, like a peaceful, innocent dove, Venus presents her flattery and pleas to the father of gods. The first half of the story finds its equable conclusion here at the end of the long wall.