Agostino Chigi, because of the banks in his possession was not only the richest man in Italy, but most likely in all of Europe. Crowned heads of state as well as popes wanted his attention. There was of course a reason – without his financial backing it would have been impossible to wage wars or erect representative buildings. Chigi was also – besides popes Julius II and Leo X – the most important client of Raphael. It was for him that the artist planned the posthumous chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo and a family chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace. However Chigi’s greatest challenge and undertaking was his residence – the villa Farnesina. At the beginning of the XVI century it became a broad, reaching the banks of the Tiber park, which also included a garden with rare species of trees and flowers. The influential banker rarely resided within, he rather just spent the night. That is because this place was designated as a summer residence for the host and his guests. It was here that, poets, the intellectual elite, the wealthy, and cardinals met at feasts, poetry evenings or theatre plays. Courtesans also had to be present, especially the most beautiful one with whom Chigi shared a special friendship and a deep relationship – the divine Imperia, the most sought-after Roman courtesan, the greatest of all.

The painting decorations of Farnesina in large part refer to the life of Agostino, although their theme also touches on mythology and is inspired by antiquity. One of the most important rooms in the residence was the loggia, adorned with scenes telling the story of Amor and Psyche. In the second, which served the role of a summer dining room, there is a figure of Galatea – a work painted by Chigi’s friend and the sought-after and admired at that time Raphael.

In a way typical for that era, he created a composition based on a form of a pyramid, but in it we will notice new elements as well – intensity expressing itself through a large number of figures, their various movements, a strongly emphasized musculature, including that of Galatea herself, meaning solutions, which will be taken up by subsequent generations of painters, going outside the scope of the art of the Renaissance. Thanks to deploying those means, a dramatic work was created, at the same time being balanced, which was to serve as an inspiration for discussions on art, love and antiquity, in which Chigi’s guests willingly participated. Raphael knew that his work would be subject to keen analysis of the then humanists seeking artistic and poetic paragoni.

What, then did Raphael show us? The nymph Galatea – the daughter of the god Nereus, on a shell-chariot pulled by dolphins, surrounded by other nymphs, sea creatures and cupids, firing arrows at a beautiful woman with wind-blown hair, whose robe lifted by a strong gust of wind seems to play the role of a sail. Where is she going to? We can only assume that to her youthful lover – a shepherd by the name of Acis. Raphael took the tale from Galatea from the ancient poet Ovid, but also from a Renaissance one, Angelo Poliziano. The latter shows her passing by the cannibal cyclops Polyphemus, who was in love with her. The one-eyed monster, torn by love and jealousy can be seen on the adjacent wall. In a scene not bereft of comic relief, Polyphemus with a flute in his hand, looks on from his cave, most likely at the nymph drawing away from him. We can even imagine, as he reaches for his instrument, to in this way show his adoration, but also grief due to unrequited love. The cyclops was not painted by Raphael but by Sebastiano del Piombo – the second significant decorator of Farnesina. Both these scenes, as well as subsequent ones, which were ultimately not created, were designed with the thought of a knowledgeable  public, well-versed in literature, which would be able to admire the finesse of this combination, but also appreciate the painting skill, with which the artists inspired by poetry, created works full of nostalgia, dynamics and comic relief.

Some scientists, see the features of Imperia in the figure of the beautiful Galatea, as a way to honor her by Chigi. Yet, perhaps the story is completely different…This financial genius, despite his wealth and numerous attempts, was unable to endear himself to the Gonzaga family which ruled Mantua, and thus marry Princess Margherita. The main obstacle, was not his frivolous life, but rather the fact of being rather low-born. However, did this man possess enough self-irony to show himself as the discarded, ugly Polyphemus? And would he – rich, but untitled, nevertheless fervently believing in his special fate, which he proved by having the vault in the same room covered with his particularly beneficial horoscope, be able to recognize the injustice of fate and admit defeat, especially so cruel? We can shed some light on this mystery and finish off the romantic tale which is barely outlined on these two frescoes. The uncouth Polyphemus, despite his ability to play the flute did not sway Galatea’s heart. She gave it to a sixteen-year-old shepherd, which aroused such great jealousy in the cyclops that he killed his rival, casting an enormous rock upon him. The spilled blood of Acis, was then turned by Galatea into a river of his name – perhaps the very one upon which Polyphemus looks.

The sudden death of the founder, put an abrupt end to the plans of creating further scenes illustrating the romantic adventures of the beautiful nymph and the monster who loved her. In the following century, the landscapes still visible today were painted on the walls. In this way any attempts at continuing this romantic and dramatic tale were discarded.

Triumph of Galatea, fresco, villa Farnesina, 1512, Raphael