(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 1 - ANSA EXCLUSIVE/ Renaissance genius
Raphael recreated the ancient 'Egyptian blue' to achieve the
intense blue of the sky and sea in his famed Triumph of Galatea
in Rome's Villa Farnesina, according to a new study seen by
ANSA.
The hue, the oldest blue in history, had been lost after the
fall of the Roman Empire and had been replaced by lapis lazulli.
Raphael carried out a unique experiment in his workshop and used
the colour in the masterpiece painted onto the walls of the then
luxury Palazzo Chigi, says the study.
The study on the fresco's materials was led by Lincei Academy
member Professor Antonio Sgamellotti,.
It was conducted together with ENEA, IRET-CNR, the Spoleto
Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Lab, and XGLab-Bruker.
It is the first time, Sgamellotti underscores, "that we find
this pigment in a work by Raphael, whose use for the Galatea,
not coincidentally a mythological subject, may have been born in
the Urbino artist's workshop and engendered by his great
interest in the ancient world".
The study, carried out to mark the 500th anniversary of the
painter's death, will be presented at the show "Raphael in the
Villa Farnesina, Galatea and Psyche", curated by Sgamellotti and
by Virginia Lapenta, which will be held from October 6 to
January 6, 2021 in the residence designed by Baldassarre Peruzzi
and decorated by Raphael together with all the other great names
in painting of his time.
The Triumph of Galatea is a fresco completed by Raphael in
around 1514.
The Farnesina was built for the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi,
one of the richest men of that age, and originally called the
Villa Chigi.
The Farnese family later acquired and renamed the villa, smaller
than the more ostentatious palazzo at the other side of the
Tiber.
The fresco is a mythological scene of a series embellishing the
open gallery of the building, a series never completed which was
inspired to the "Stanze per la giostra" of the poet Angelo
Poliziano.
In Greek mythology, the beautiful Nereid Galatea had fallen in
love with the peasant shepherd Acis. Her consort, one-eyed giant
Polyphemus, after chancing upon the two lovers together, lobbed
an enormous pillar and killed Acis - Sebastiano del Piombo
produced a fresco of Polyphemus next to Raphael's work. (ANSA).
Raphael used Egyptian blue in Galatea
Recreated ancient, lost hue in workshop says new study