Description
The Triumph of Galatea is a fresco painted by Raphael around 1512 to 1514 in the Villa Farnesina in Rome, the riverside villa of the banker Agostino Chigi. It is one of the most celebrated mythological images of the High Renaissance.
The sea nymph Galatea rides across the waves on a scallop-shell chariot drawn by two dolphins, her red cloak billowing as she turns to look back. Around her, tritons and sea nymphs embrace and blow conch shells, while three cupids in the sky aim their arrows at her. In Greek myth Galatea loved the shepherd Acis and fled the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus, who appears in a separate fresco beside her by Sebastiano del Piombo.
Raphael built the whole scene on circles and diagonals that spiral around Galatea’s figure, giving the wall its famous sense of movement and joy. Our hand-painted oil reproduction on canvas recreates the composition in full, with its sea-blue background, warm flesh tones and flying cupids.





