Jupiter and Juno

Between 1597 and 1600 Annibale Carracci filled the vaulted gallery of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome with the loves of the gods, and one of its panels shows Jupiter drawing Juno towards him. The episode comes from the 14th book of Homer's Iliad, where Juno sets out to seduce her husband and distract him from the Trojan War. This small panel repeats the fresco for a private room. The window onto the sea and a steep mountain was added, and so were the two little Cupids, one flying in the sky, the other on the bed with a bow. The museum reads them as Eros and Anteros. Juno's peacock waits behind her and Jupiter's eagle stands at his feet. Long given to Annibale himself, the panel is now attributed to his nephew Antonio Carracci, around 1612, though some scholars have judged it a copy by another painter.