Valentine’s Day defines February for many; not by chance there are an increased number of tourists arriving in Rome. The proverbial charm of Italianos, public works of art and secret city legends, innumerable padlocks left on outdoor railings by couples who wish to lock themselves up in the other, all give the impression that the capricious little Amor constantly hovers over this city. Yet I wouldn’t say it’s difficult to pick the work of art that speaks best of him: what could be more befitting than the story of the god of love himself falling in love.
Raphael and his colleagues (among them my personal favourite Giulio Romano) pictured this early Roman romance on the right bank of the Tiber, in a loggia of the Villa Farnesina. The lavishing villa was built in the beginning of the 1500s, for the probably richest man in Europe, the banker (what else…) Agostino Chigi. Businessmen back then, just as today, had far reaching influence, which in Agostino’s case meant financial dealings even with the Vatican. He was also a passionate lover of the arts – and not less passionate but much less lucky in love.
Agostino’s first wife died childless, following which he had a child from a courtesan, who also died. The banker then approached a duke’s daughter with a marriage proposal, which was regrettably turned down. This was the point when he met Francesca Ordeaschi, daughter of a poor Venetian merchant, who quickly picked up the pieces of Agostino’s broken heart and bore four children – outside marriage. The latter circumstance was particularly embarrassing in case of the Pope’s business partner, so Leon X finally pressed the couple into marriage in 1519. The happy ever after shrank into a tragically short period, however, when both Agostino and Francesca died within a mere two years of one another and their son soon wasted his father’s fabulous fortune (as it, again, too often the case today).
The occasion of his wedding with a woman of humble origins inspired Agostino to decorate their wedding site with the story of love elevating a mortal to divine heights. Raphael’s unexpected death prevented him from decorating the walls with the scenes taking place in the mortal world, but the ceiling’s triangular pendentives preserved the parallel events on the Olympus.
The first scene thus recalls the very moment Amor notices Psyche, upon Venus requesting a punishment for a mortal beauty that challenged her own. The next scene shows Amor consulting the Three Graces about Psyche once they had fallen in love. Psyche accepted her lover in total darkness, without knowing his identity, but a very human curiosity drove her to discover the truth one night. This scared Amor away, but Psyche set off to find him. An outraged Venus consults Juno and Ceres, and eventually even Jupiter in the following pediments meanwhile, until Jupiter finally sends off Mercury, the winged messenger god, to help find Psyche. The next two scenes show Psyche arriving at the Olympus and meeting Venus after accomplishing, with Amor’s divine assistance, missions the goddess had considered impossible for her. Finally Amor consults Jupiter to ensure that the gods are ready to welcome Psyche in their circles, and the last pendentive shows Mercury accompanying Psyche to the council of gods. The events culminate in the council and the united couple’s cheerful wedding on two large rectangular compositions in the centre.
Much could be added about the erotic symbolism of the festoons framing the scenes, as well as about the intermittent triangular segments, where mini Amor figures play around with stolen insignia of gods to remind the viewer how love sways all. Supporting this message, the decoration of the Villa recalls two more love stories for connoisseurs – maybe more about them in later posts. The story of Amor and Psyche earns priority by bearing witness to a soft spot humans share with gods and Rome shares with Amor.
Edina Eszenyi, Art Historian
References and further reading:
- Cupid and Psyche. Lucius Apuleius. The full story in the University of Pittsburgh’s Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts database, from Lucius Apuleius’ 2nd century A.D. Metamorphoses
- Hubertus Günther, ’Amor und Psyche.Raffaels Freskenzyklus in der Gartenloggia der Villa des Agostino Chigi und die Fabel von Amor und Psyche in der Malerei der italienischen Renaissance’, Artibus et Historiae 44/22 (2001), 149-166. (Description and analysis in German)
- Luisa Vertova, ‘Cupid and Psyche in Renaissance Painting before Raphael’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 42 (1979), 104-121. (How would you depict lovemaking in the dark…?)
- Alessandro Vicenzi ed., La Villa Fernesina a Roma – The Villa Farnesina in Rome (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2014). (The Villa’s richly illustrated, quality bilingual guidebook in the Mirabilia Italiae series)
Image: Courtesy of Sebastià Giralt via Flickr