CIRCA 1540

The figure of Pluto appears to have been derived from an engraving of Neptune calming the Tempest, possibly by Giulio Bonasone, a detail of which is illustrated opposite. For a 1540 design for a medal by Perino del Vaga showing Neptune in exactly the same pose but in reverse, see Martin Clayton, 'Raphael and his Circle, Drawings from Windsor Castle', Exhibition Catalogue, 1999, pp. 188-190, no. 55. Clayton refers to another drawing by Perino del Vaga in the Louvre, showing Neptune in the same pose and direction as this dish, which was probably a study for a mural of circa 1528 in the Palazzo Doria, Genoa, now destroyed. The kneeling figure on the left of the dish (possibly representing Ceres, Proserpine's mother, or Venus or Diana, both of whom are sometimes depicted trying to stop Pluto), could possibly have been adapted from the figure of Tantalus in Giulio Bonasone's engraving 'Tantalus Speaking to Diana'.