Bibbiena Loggetta (Fresco detail 2)   

Loggetta fresco detail 2 (1519)

by:   da Udine   |    Raphael      patron:   Cardinal Bibbiena      category: Fresco    location: Loggetta of Cardinal Bibbiena

note:  Dating supported by a letter from Marcantonio Michiel dated 4 May 1519 that tells of Raphael's work in four rooms for the Pope as well as three loggie (Golzio 1936: 98). Most scholars, however, agree that the grotesques conjured in the Loggetta for Cardinal Bibbiena were largely Giovanni da Udine's creation, a task perhaps awarded given his successes in rendering various animals in the Sala dei Palafrenieri (1517-1518). Further links between this space, the Sala dei Palafrenieri, and the Baldassini camerino are not only stylistic; the bestiary of exotic animals that appears within the Loggetta also appear in the central ceiling panels of the Baldassini camerino (Dacos, 1960). Dacos (2008) also proposes that this chamber was one of the earliest in which Polidoro worked, potentially under the oversight of Giovanni da Udine.