The painting was done for Caravaggio's patron Cardinal Del Monte and painted on the ceiling of the cardinal's garden casino of his country estate, which later became known as the Villa Ludovisi. According to an early biographer, one of Caravaggio's aims was to discredit critics who claimed that he had no grasp of perspective. The three figures demonstrate the most dramatic foreshortening imaginable. He might have been helped by the cardinal's brother Guidobaldo, who wrote a distinguished treatise on perspectiveThey contradict claims that Caravaggio always painted from live models. The artist seems to have used his own face for all three gods. Oh well.