The Women of Darius's Family before Alexander the Great

Chigi’s bedchamber was adjacent to the banquet hall, and he had Sodoma decorate two of its wall, probably in conjunction with the decoration of the hall. The surfaces of the walls open up onto a narrative with large-scale figures, as if inviting visitors to enter. In the painting on the wall to the right, the women of Darius’s family approach the Macedonian ruler. Sisigambis, the mother of the defeated Persian ruler, initially mistook Hephaistion for Alexander, but the true ruler inclines graciously toward her. The painter revels in his depiction of female grace, pushing the female bodies close together before Alexander and the viewer. The forms on the left also repeat the triad of goddesses, Venus, Ceres, and Juno from Raphael’s spandrel in the Loggia di Psiche. The smithy scene along the base of the wall alludes to the love themes and to the fireplace.