Raphael completed this work for the Villa Farnesina, a suburban Renaissance villa in Rome in 1512. The Farnesina was built by one of the richest men of the early Renaissance, Agostini Chigi, who was a banker. This was the only painting of Greek mythology that Raphael painted, the story of the Nereid Galatea, who had fallen in love with a peasant shepherd, Acis. Galatea’s consort, after finding the two lovers in an embrace, killed Acis by throwing a giant pillar at him. Although Raphael’s painting is based off of the story, it does not illustrate any of the actual events of the story.