Venus and Jupiter

Raphael painted this Venus and Jupiter around 1517 as part of the mythological decorations for the Villa Farnesina, Agostino Chigi's magnificent pleasure villa on the banks of the Tiber in Rome. By this period Raphael was the dominant artistic personality in Rome, directing a large workshop on multiple simultaneous projects. His mythological works for the Farnesina—including the famous Galatea and the Loggia di Psiche—represent a new kind of secular humanist painting for the Italian elite, drawing on classical poetry and mythology for aristocratic entertainment and intellectual display. The gods' interaction would have carried allegorical meaning for Chigi's educated guests familiar with classical sources.

The fresco demonstrates Raphael's supreme command of monumental figure painting with the soft, luminous modeling and harmonious composition that defined the High Renaissance classical ideal.