Festoons in Villa Farnesina Loggia: Complexity beyond Decoration

The Villa Farnesina Loggia is a resting and meeting place in the Villa Farnesina, used to be called the Villa Chigi, owned by the wealthiest man in Renaissance Rome, Agostino Chigi. The frescoes are the story of Cupid and Psyche painted by Raphael Sanzio, from the Metamorphoses, and they have long been visitors’ and experts’ focus. Nevertheless, the festoons surrounding the frescoes created by Giovanni Udine, the team member of Raphael, are sometimes disregarded by art historians. The inclusion of 170 botanical species, including those introduced from the New World just twenty years before the commission of Villa Farnesina, may infer that these festoons mean more than decoration. This paper will merely target on the festoons and to prove how the artist masters these fruits and vegetables, artistically and contextually.