An erotic pagan fresco commissioned by one of the naughtiest popes in history has been restored and returned to the public after decades in the dark.
The fresco, in a long-closed papal apartment inside famed Rome monument Castel Sant'Angelo, illustrates the classic fable of Love and Psyche - a beautiful girl visited by a mysterious winged lover, punished by the gods when she lights a candle to see his face.
The myth - which has a happy ending - was used by the Roman philosopher Apuleius as an allegory of the soul seeking divine love. The wall painting shows Love lying in full-frontal glory while the naked Psyche leans over him, her gleaming highs and buttocks lovingly rendered.
It was commissioned by Pope Paul III (1534-1549), a member of the powerful Farnese family who lived a wild life and sired four children before and after a marriage he renounced to become pope. Painted in 1545-1546 by Florentine maestro Perin del Vaga, the fresco was damaged over the centuries by decay and clumsy restoration efforts - the last in the 1960s.
"This restoration is part of an important project which we have been working on for months," said Rome art expert Fiora Bellini at Thursday's reopening of the room. "The idea is to set up a separate guided tour of the Farnese apartments, recognising their stylistic autonomy from the rest of the monument".
Bellini said she was now hoping to get funds to restore a second, adjacent apartment used by the former Alessandro Farnese. Like the Love and Pysche Room, the Perseus Room is called after the splendid fresco on its roof. "The aim is to make the circuit formed by the two rooms shine out with its former splendor".
Chief restorer Rossano Pizzinelli said: "We tried to recover the lost balance between the original painting and the successive interventions". "The project highlighted the quality of Perin's school, truly perfect in its mastery of all fresco techniques".
There are twelve apartments in the former papal fortress on the Tiber - built on the tomb of philosopher-emperor Hadrian - but they have been closed to visitors for years.
