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AOBPreview published online on November 28, 2005
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcj025
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received August 8, 2005
Revised September 28, 2005
Accepted October 19, 2005

Article

The Cucurbit Images (1515-1518) of the Villa Farnesina, Rome

JULES JANICK 1 * and HARRY S. PARIS 2

1 Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, 625 Agriculture Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2010, USA
2 Department of Vegetable Crops and Plant Genetics, Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, PO Box 1021, Ramat Yishay 30-095, Israel

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
JULES JANICK, E-mail: janick{at}purdue.edu


  Abstract

• Background The gorgeous frescoes organized by the master Renaissance painter Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) and illustrating the heavenly adventures of Cupid and Psyche were painted between 1515 and 1518 to decorate the Roman villa (now known as the Villa Farnesina) of the wealthy Sienese banker Agostino Chigi (1466-1520). Surrounding these paintings are festoons of fruits, vegetables and flowers painted by Giovanni Martini da Udine (1487-1564), which include over 170 species of plants. A deconstruction and collation of the cucurbit images in the festoons makes it possible to evaluate the genetic diversity of cucurbits in Renaissance Italy 500 years ago.

• Findings The festoons contain six species of Old World cucurbits, Citrullus lanatus (watermelon), Cucumis melo (melon), Cucumis sativus (cucumber), Ecballium elaterium (squirting cucumber), Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd) and Momordica balsamina (balsam apple), and two or three species of New World cucurbits, Cucurbita maxima, C. pepo and, perhaps, C. moschata (pumpkin, squash, gourd). The images of C. maxima are the first illustrations of this species in Europe.

Keywords: Citrullus lanatus, Cucumis melo, Cucumis sativus, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita pepo, Ecballium elaterium, Lagenaria siceraria, Momordica balsamina, Cucurbitaceae, Agostino Chigi, Giovanni Martini da Udina.
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