Decoration of the Loggia di Psiche in the Villa Farnesina (1517-18)

In 1517 Agostino Chigi commissioned Raphael to decorate the ground floor loggia of the villa in which the artist had painted the Galatea a few years before. The frescoes represent the Story of Psyche, a myth derived from the Golden Ass of Apuleius (2nd century A. D.). The cycle of pictures appears only on the ceiling. Although the preparatory drawings and the general conception of the stories are by Raphael, the bulk of the painting was carried out by his pupils, notably Giovanni da Udine (who painted the rich plant festoons of the frame) with the collaboration of Giulio Romano, Raffaellino del Colle and Gianfrancesco Penni.