XI-A. Florentine

High Renaissance

XI-1 Michelangelo, Bacchus

AD 1496-1497

Detail of head. Note wide eyes, unfocused gaze, parted mouth.

XI-2 Michelangelo, Study of Hercules

ca. AD 1530

Left to Right: Killing of the Nemean Lion, Hercules ad Antaeus, Hercules with the Lernean Hydra

XI-3 Michelangelo, Leda and the Swan

Painting modeled after Michelangleo, "Leda and the Swan," (copy of his lost painting).

Michelangelo painted Leda and the Swan in 1530 for the Duke of Ferrara. The painting ended up in the collection of the King of France, and subsequently disappeared.

This painted copy is in the National Gallery in London.

It measures 105.4 by 141 cm.

XI-3a Roman relief of Leda and the Swan

ca. AD 50-100

Currently in the British Museum

XI-4 Sketches by Leonardo da Vinci original, Leda with the Swan, ca. AD 1504

One of Leonardo's drawings of Leda with the swan. The twins are emerging from broken egg shells on the left

Another drawing by Leonardo of Leda and the swan with their children.

XI-5 Copy of Leonardo da Vinci original, Leda

Copy by Cesare da Sesto, AD 1515-1520

XI-6 Raphael, Three Graces

Because these women all hold gold balls, the title is sometimes questioned.

XI-7 Raphael, Parnassus

Raphael's painting of Mount Parnassus in the study of Pope Julius II (Stanza della Segnatura) in the Vatican. In the center Apollo sits under a laurel tree. On either side are the seven muses. Then there are groups of poets spilling down the hillside. The one woman poet, Sappho, leans against the window frame.

Detail of central figures of Apollo and muses

Stanza della Segnatura, decorated by Raphael for Pope Julius II. Parnassus on left.


XI-8 Raphael, Triumph of Galatea

Raphael. The nymph Galatea. c. AD 1512-24. Villa Farnesina, Rome

fresco, 2.95 by 2.25 m. or nine feet eight inches by seven feet five inches.

Painted for the banker Agostino Chigi.

Galatea stands in a shell drawn by a pair of dolphins (and also propelled by a side wheel). In front and back are paired mermen (part human, part horse, part fish) and female figures (sea nymphs?). Two more male figures blow horns at either side of the picture. In the foreground, a cupid rides forward in a shell while looking backwards, as does Galatea. In the sky, three cupids aim their arrows at her. A fifth cupid, holding more arrows, watches from a cloud.

Poliziano had described Galatea laughing at Polyphemus' attempts to please her, but that does not seem to be what is happening here.


Polyphemus (left) and Galatea (right).

Venus shows Psyche to Cupid.

XI-9 Raphael and Giulio Romano, Loggia of Psyche

Mercury and Psyche.

Persons and Events:

  • Bacchus

  • Satyr

  • Hercules

  • Leda

  • Zeus

  • Loves of Zeus

  • Apollo

  • Muses

  • Graces

  • Galatea

  • Polyphemos (Cyclops)

  • Cupid

  • Psyche

  • Love

  • Rape

  • “Triumph”

Objects and Places:

  • Painting on house walls

  • Sculpture for private ownership

  • Decoration of a study

  • Private space

  • Works for sale, no fixed place

Texts and Authors:

Ovid