Cupid and the Three Graces

When Raphael painted the frescoes in the garden loggia of Rome’s Villa Farnesina, he faced an unusual pictorial format. Working in the spandrels, he had to account for the nearly triangular spaces created by the arched ceiling. This engraving, a detail of the fresco, clearly demonstrates the structural obstacles of the architecture, as the numerous curved lines represent the vaulted ceiling, trim, and wall.