The statues were done by Italian artists brought there for that purpose in the early part of the 18th century, and represent figures from Greek mythology: Cephalus, Aurora, Cupid, Aphrodite (Venus), Adonis, and Flora, the goddess of flowers and gardens.
Cephalus |
However, in 1755 Araja composed Цефал и Прокрис (Tsefal i Prokris – Cephalus and Prokris), an opera in three acts to the Russian libretto by Alexander Sumarokov after the Metamorphoses by Ovid.
He played the main role (Cephalus) in the opera by Francesco Araja Цефал и Прокрис (Tsefal i Prokris – Cephalus and Prokris) written to a Russian libretto by Alexander Sumarokov after the Metamorphoses by Ovid, staged at St. Petersburg on March 7, OS February 27, 1755.
He engraved a: Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Fountain after Il Garofalo; The Penitent Magdalene after Bartolomé Esteban Murillo; Madonna del Rosario after Sassoferrato; and Aurora and Cephalus after Annibale Carracci.
He also painted Cephalus and Love and Theseus and Ariadne Among his pupils were Francesco Conti, Giovanni Battista Marmi, Pietro Nelli, Francesco Zuccarelli and Odoardo Vicinelli.
Other subjects include Hades kidnapped Persephone, Eos kidnapped Cephalus, and Castor and Pollux abducting the daughters of Leucippus.