Other Frescoes
Other Frescoes
The Fourteen Amorini: Cupid taming a lion
c.1662-1690Etching | 21.2 x 27.9 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 854031
Trimmed within platemark.
This print is part of a series of fourteen etchings by Gerard Audran. The first of the series bears a dedication to Charles Le Brun, court painter to Louis XIV, and the second is signed by Audran and bears publication details. The copper plates are in the collection of the Louvre and the prints depict each of the fourteen lunettes of the entrance loggia of the Farnesina.
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).
Creator(s)
Gérard Audran (1640-1703) (etcher)
After a work attributed to the workshop of Raphael (Urbino 1483-Rome 1520) (artist)
Gérard Audran : Rue St Jacques, Paris (Gérard Audran (1640-1703)) (publisher)
Charles Le Brun (1619-90) (dedicatee)
21.2 x 27.9 cm (sheet of paper)
- Added to the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (after 1876)
Subject(s)
- Putti
- Religion & Theology
- Religions and faiths
- Religions of antiquity
- Classical mythology
- Cupid
- Classical mythology
- Religions of antiquity
- Religions and faiths
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Zoology
- Animals
- Mammals
- Carnivorous mammals
- Felines
- Lions
- Felines
- Carnivorous mammals
- Fish
- Sea horses
- Mammals
- Animals
- Zoology
Bibliographic reference(s)
pp. 154-155, n. 35 (Raphael Invenit 1985 : Bernini Pezzini, G. et al., 1985. Raphael Invenit. Stampe di Raffaello nelle Collezioni dell'Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome)
pp.183-89 (Jones/Penny 1983 : Jones, R. and Penny, N. Raphael, 1983)