Cupid and Psyche
by BEVILACQUA, Giovanni Carlo, Fresco
With the Peace of Bratislava (1805), Venice was incorporated into the French Empire. It was decided that a new sovereign’s residence was required for Napoleon and the viceroy, Eug�ne de Beauharnais. Once the idea of converting the Palazzo Ducale had been abandoned, the notion was mooted to use the Procuratie Nuove and the Libreria Marciana for this purpose.
The interiors of the nearby Procuratie Vecchie, privately owned, were also restored during this period. Here Giuseppe Borsato, Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua, and the less well-known Pietro Moro were employed by the old aristocracy as well as by new bourgeois clients.
The picture shows a scene on one of the walls of the reception rooms in the Procuratie Vecchie.