The Olympus (Jupiter, Crowned with Myrtle By the Hours, Proffers a Goblet to Ganymede to Be Served Nectar)

In 1806 the royal palace beside Milan Cathedral was being fitted out for a new resident. Napoleon had been crowned King of Italy in that cathedral the year before, and the apartments were being redone to suit a sovereign. For his private cabinet Appiani prepared a set of scenes from the stories of Jupiter, and this is one of them: a band of canvas 45 centimetres high and 136 wide, painted to sit above a door.

Then the plan changed. The cycle was carried out in monochrome fresco instead, and the coloured version stayed in the painter's studio, which is how it survived as a canvas. Appiani's frescoes in that palace were among the losses when Milan was bombed in August 1943.

Here Jupiter sits at the right while the Hours set a myrtle wreath on his head, Ganymede kneels holding the cup that will take the nectar, and the eagle waits at his feet.