BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (twentieth part)

Pietro da Cortona Hall

Vault: “Triumph of Divine Providence” and the fulfillment of its purposes under Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) 1632/39 (seven years!) masterpiece by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

Originally the Cardinal Taddeo Barberini nephew of the pope had entrusted the job to Andrea Camassei, but it was Urban VIII who wanted Pietro da Cortona to translate in painting a poem by the court poet Francesco Bracciolini

Pietro da Cortona was assisted by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, Pietro Paolo Ubaldini (about 1614/about 1684) and Raffaele Bottalla although the homogeneity of the decoration is amazing

“The illusion of depth and dynamism of the scene represented, accentuated by contrast with the static architecture which is superimposed on the layout, contribute to arouse in the spectator a sense of breakthrough of the architecture, which results in the intuition of 'spatial infinity'. But the markedly illusionistic character of the whole (architecture is also painted) causes the intuition to remain anchored in the imaginative dimension, thus excluding any intention of realistic representation. Reality and fantasy coexist and communicate a vital joy that interprets nature, not as eternal and revealed form of creation, but as a show constantly evolving, exalting the infinite vastness of the universe” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The cult of infinity, of remoteness, of relativity of space, unifies (...) many achievements (...) of the great enemies who live together under the label 'Roman Baroque'. (...) But only with Pietro da Cortona, in the vault of Palazzo Barberini, the problem of inducing in the perception of the work the concrete experience of limitless space, produces a new way of painting. The transparent architectural framing, permeable to space, clashes with the groups of figures that overlap it and hide it, using it as a close-up that accentuates the illusion of depth” (Paolo Portoghesi)

Hall of Marbles

Extraordinary marble statue “Vestal Tuccia” 1743 by the Venetian Antonio Corradini (1668/1752)

He was also the sculptor of the amazing “Veiled Truth” in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, carved with technique similar to the Vestal Tuccia

“Bust of Pius VI Braschi (1775/1799) by Ferdinando Lisandroni (1735/1811)

“Madonna and Child with Sts. John the Evangelist and Petronius” about 1629 by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641)