Antique Print of Mercury descending to Earth made after Raphael (1693)

Description: Antique print titled 'Mercurius uocalis Deus ex Louis mandato Deos omnes ad concionem conuocat de Cupidinis ac Psyches coniugio sententiam laturi'. Mercury descending to earth can be seen in a red waving coat. Garlands with flowers and fruits frame the picture. Winged figures, a lion and birds are to the right and left of Mercury. Above a wall ledge are two arched windows framed by garlands. This print originates from a series of twelve plates engraved by Nicolas Dorigny after a fresco by Raphael which can be found in Villa Farnesina. The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy. The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. Chigi also commissioned the fresco decoration of the villa by artists such as Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giulio Romano, and Il Sodoma. The themes were inspired by the Stanze of the poet Angelo Poliziano, a key member of the circle of Lorenzo de Medici. Best known are Raphael's frescoes on the ground floor; in the loggia depicting the classical and secular myths of Cupid and Psyche, and The Triumph of Galatea.

Artists and Engravers: Sir Nicolas Dorigny was a French engraver, the youngest son of Michel Dorigny, and was born in Paris in 1652 or 1658. His education prepared him for the legal field, and he followed that profession until he was thirty years of age, when, as a result of deafness, he turned to the arts.