Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE A: ITALIAN ART: Sala di Galatea; Polyphemus

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE A: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title: 
Sala di Galatea; Polyphemus
Alternate Title: 
Polyphemus
Image View: 
Detail, Polyphemus as a shepherd with staff and pan pipes
Creator: 
Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian painter, ca. 1485-1547)
Location: 
repository: Villa Farnesina (Rome, Lazio, Italy)
Location Note: 
Via della Lungara, 230; Sala di Galatea
GPS: 
+41.893611+12.4675
Date: 
ca. 1512 (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Italian
Style Period: 
Renaissance
Work Type 1: 
fresco (painting)
Classification: 
painting
Material: 
pigment on plaster
Technique: 
fresco painting (technique)
Measurements: 
295 cm (height) x 225 cm (width)
Description: 
In early 1511 the Siennese banker Agostino Chigi came to Venice. When he returned to Rome in August, he took with him the painter he probably considered to be the best in Venice, Sebastiano. On his arrival in Rome, Sebastiano painted the frescoes in the lunettes of the loggia (Sala di Galatea) of Chigi’s villa, later known as Villa Farnesina; these consisted of mythological scenes set in the heavens. Beneath these a cycle of myths relating to water was probably intended: instead there is a large figure of Polyphemus facing towards the Galatea painted by Raphael. The theme is taken from a poem by the Florentine Angelo Poliziano where Polyphemus sings a song to the nymph. Sebastiano painted the fresco freehand in Venetian manner (instead of transferring a drawing), with colors of chemical composition and intensity hitherto unknown in Rome. The technical and stylistic innovation of these frescoes was noted by Vasari. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/)
Collection: 
Adjunct Module A: Italian Art
Identifier: 
7A1-RS-VF-TP-B02
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.