Cephalus and the Nymphs

Cephalus and the Nymphs is a fresco painted by Bernardino Luini in 1521 for the Milanese patron Gerolamo Rabia, for display in either the Casa Rabia on Piazza San Sepolcro or his country house, La Pelucca, near Monza. After remaining in place until about 1800, the work entered the collection of the lawyer Michele Cavaleri, who sold it to Enrico Cernuschi in 1873. The painting then passed to Charles Sedelmeyer by 1897, to Rodolphe Kann by 1900, to Duveen Brothers in 1907, and finally to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1942, which gifted it to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1943, where it remains in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. The fresco was detached from its wall and transferred to a new support during its history.

Bernardino Luini, a leading painter of the Lombard Renaissance, executed Cephalus and the Nymphs as a fresco for the private residence of Gerolamo Rabia; the work later passed through several European collections before being acquired by the Kress Foundation in 1942 and gifted to the National Gallery of Art. Scholars have regarded the painting as an exemplary mythological composition reflecting Luini's synthesis of Leonardo-inspired figure modeling with the decorative fresco traditions of Milan. Its inclusion in the Kress collection has made the fresco a reference point for the study of sixteenth-century Italian fresco painting in American museum holdings.

After its removal from the original site, the fresco passed through several European collections before being acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1942 and gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1943. Its inclusion in the Kress Collection, which emphasized Italian Renaissance works for American public museums, elevated Luini's profile in the United States and made the piece regularly accessible to scholars and visitors. The fresco's presence in the National Gallery has contributed to ongoing discussion of Lombard fresco painting and Luini's influence on later decorative work.

Bernardino Luini's fresco, Cephalus and the Nymphs, dates to approximately 1521. This mythological painting depicts a male figure with a spear alongside three women gathered near a water trough. The artwork, characterized by its soft palette of pinks and greens, presents a serene scene where the female figures appear calm rather than distressed.