middle of the 16th century there were at least 12 statues of Antinous in Roman collections but we have no certain information about the whereabouts of the Antinous Farnese in the 1510s. Criticism Giorgio Vasari praised Lorenzetto's effort: "he executed the figures to perfection", the biographer claimed, and "these statues, then, were brought to the most beautiful completion by Lorenzetto with all the art and diligence at his command". In the 19th century Joseph Archer Crowe was equally enthusiastic: "But in both these statues, and more particularly in the former [Jonah], youth and grace are combined with a certain Raphaelic elegance, there is more trace of the spirit of the antique than of the hand of Raphael". John Pope-Hennessy was highly critical about Lorenzetto's skill in executing Raphael's design. The design "was blurred and weakened by the sculptor Lorenzetto. This is one of the few sculptures in the world whose true merits transpire more clearly from plastercasts than from the original", he wrote. John Shearman was less dismissive. "The two statues that Raphael designed for the chapel have never been given the attention they deserve (and they cannot get it here)", he observed. Literature The great Swedish Romantic writer, Viktor Rydberg in his Roman Days (1877) recorded - or simply invented - an allegedly Roman tradition about the origin of the statue. As the story goes a man was wandering among the ruins of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli when the spirit of Hadrian appeared before him in the night saying that his soul would not be able to rest until the good name of Antinous is cleared. The man bore the message to Raphael who was working on the Chigi Chapel, and he decided to christen Antinous and celebrate his beauty by immortalizing him as Prophet Jonah who also chose watery death to save a ship like Antinous, and came to see the light again. As Rydberg concluded: "So was the heathen allegory knit with the Christian, and Jonah, under the pencil of Raphael became, not the aged, long-bearded prophet, clothed in a mantle, but the youthfully fair, nude pagan Antinous, now free from all pain, and rejoicing that life has vanquished death." Notes Renaissance sculptures Sculptures depicting Hebrew Bible prophets Jonah Raphael Artworks in Santa Maria del Popolo