MADAMA PALACE

PALAZZO MADAMA

Piazza Madama

1503 for Giovanni de' Medici, the future Pope Leo X (1513/21) from a building of the fifteenth century

It was enlarged in 1512

It owes its name to Madame Margaret of Austria (1522/86), daughter of Charles V, the widow of Alessandro de' Medici and then wife of Ottavio Farnese, who was the nephew of Pope Paul III Farnese (1534/49). She lived in the palace from 1541 to 1550

Restructured in the years 1637/42 Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649) who worked from a project by Ludovico Cardi aka Cigoli (1559/1613) for the Grand Duke of Florence, Cosimo II Medici and his son Ferdinand II

“The 'facies' (general appearance) of the building reflects the need of the Grand Duke and cardinals to assert a Tuscan identity, adapting it to the Roman location and to the plasticity of the Baroque era. (...) It is apparent from recent archival research that Marucelli alternated the role of designer to the Director in charge of construction, coordinating artists and craftsmen working under his guidance in other important contemporary Roman sites, such as the sculptor Cosimo Fancelli (...) The bad critique of Marucelli began at least from Milizia who judged negatively façade and courtyard of Palazzo Madama and lasted into the twentieth century from Portoghesi to Ruschi. A deeper understanding of his work must necessarily start from the studies of Connors and can lead to see him as an interpreter of a seventeenth century balanced between late fifteenth century classicism, with strong references to the work of Palladio, and baroque eclecticism” (Laura Traversi - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

On the FAÇADE there are over a hundred figures of lions including the skin of the Nemean lion carved on the entrance door, which recalls the myth of Hercules and are consistent with the face of Omphale whose braids surround a window

Hercules and Omphale generated Tyrrhenus, mythical ancestor of the Etruscan (in Greek Tyrsenoi), from whom the Medici traced their genealogy

Omphale kept Hercules for three years as his slave. The submission of Heracles was such that he was forced to dress as a woman and humbled to spin wool while Omphale dressed the manly lion skin of Hercules

At the end of 1500 the palace was home of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, who hosted Caravaggio here from 1595 until 1600

From 1737 it belonged to the Lorraine family, then it was the seat of the papal government, the seat of the papal court and police headquarters and from this comes the Roman dialect word madama (lady) as to indicate the police

Since 1849 it was the Ministry of Finance and on the external loggia the extraction of the lottery used to take place

It was expanded in 1905 toward S. Luigi dei Francesi

It is the seat of the SENATE OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC

COURTYARD OF HONOR

Statue “Great squat figure” 1971 by Emilio Greco (1913/95)

SENATE CHAMBER

Obtained from the original courtyard by Luigi Gabet (active 1858/78)

MACCARI ROOM

Ceiling:

“Four round panels” with allegorical figures (trade, agriculture, weapons, arts, sciences and the arts), arranged around a central motif, symbolizing Italy

Along the frieze there are sentences of Guicciardini and Machiavelli

Three large frescoes:

“Appius Claudius the Blind conducted in the Senate”, “Regulus advises the Roman Senate resistance against Carthage” and “Cicero inveighs against Catiline”

Two small frescos:

“Senator Papirius Gallo impassive as the Celts invade Rome” and “Attempt to corruption of the Samnites against Curio Dentato to convince the Romans to peace” all made in the years 1882/88 by the Sienese artist Cesare Maccari (1840/1919)

MARCONI ROOM

Ceiling and seventeenth-century frieze

In the frieze “History of Pius IV Medici (1559/65)” maybe by Pietro Paolo Baldini (about 1614/about 1684)

ANTECHAMBER OF THE BALUSTRADE

Seventeenth-century frieze

Painting “Salome with the Head of John the Baptist” by the Florentine Carlo Dolci (1616/86)

ROOM OF THE POSTERGALI

The name of the room is given by the postergali, or headboards of a seventeenth-century choir preserved here

It occupies part of the area where the church of S. Salvatore in Thermis used to be. It was destroyed at the end of 1800s because, being adjacent to the palace, it could have posed a threat of terrorist attacks

Two paintings with views of the “Roman Forum” and of the “Baths of Diocletian” by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765)

ROOM OF THE OSTRICH

Painting “Etna eruption” by Corrado Cagli (1910/76)

ROOM CAVOUR

Oval in the center of the ceiling “Bacchus and Ariadne” by G.B. Pittoni (1687/1767)

The room is available to members of the government during sessions and sometimes here the Council of Ministers is held

PANNINI’S ROOM

Ceiling fresco “Allegory of the Chariot of the Sun” 1725/26 by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765)

The fresco was originally in the Palazzo Bachetoni which was demolished in 1926 for the opening of Via del Tritone

STUDY OF THE PRESIDENT

“Portrait of a Man” by Gerrit Van Honthorst aka Gherardo Delle Notti (1590/1656)

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar's” by Luca Giordano (1634/1705)

BUVETTE

“Fountain” by Vincenzo Gemito (1852/1929

LIBRARY

Arranged by Gaetano Koch (1849/1910). Since 2006 it is called Geopolitics Room

CORSINI PALACE - CORSINI GALLERY (eight part)

Room VII - Green Room

“Cardinal Andrea Corsini used the room as a new Audience Hall and for this purpose he placed here a series of paintings of great quality and indicative of his aesthetic taste. The current exhibit, unable to reproduce the original layout, includes a selection of works that entered the collection after the death of Neri Maria (1770). The date in mosaic under the window (1858) recalls the reconstruction of the floors in Venetian style” (Official Website of the Galleria Corsini - galleriacorsini.beniculturali.it)

Marble sculpture “Psyche carried by the Zephyrs” by the Welsh pupil of Canova John Gibson (1790/1866)

Marble sculpture “Dancer with Finger on her Chin” by Luigi Bienaimè (1795/1878)

Precious “Corsini Cup” in silver dating back to the first century BC

“St. John the Baptist” 1606 by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610)

“The figure of three quarters of this precursor dark and handsome dandy turns his head out of the field, observing something, while the intensity of his gaze, felt just below the thick mass of hair, is perhaps the poetically higher moment of the composition” (Vincenzo Pacelli)

“Madonna and Child” by Bartolomè Esteban Murillo (1618/82)

“Undisputed protagonist of the second half of the seventeenth century, he ushers in a new pictorial language. He opposes to the local tradition a conventional narrative representation made with delicate chiaroscuro, far away from the strong contrasts of light of Zurbaran. His appearance on the scene of Seville was in opposition to the current style, showing novelties from his knowledge of contemporary Neapolitan and Genoese production. An anti-rhetorical vein characterizes the production of religious subjects, where the sacred episodes are similar to scenes from everyday life” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Venus and dead Adonis” 1637 by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652)

“The original myth told in Ovid's Metamorphoses is enriched from the fourteenth century of new metaphorical meanings, which compare the figure of Adonis that of Jesus. As G.B. Marino, who in his famous poem Adonis (1623) explicitly alludes to the sacrifice of Christ, Ribera representing Adonis with an obvious wound on the side takes up the theme of the Passion” (Official Website of the Galleria Corsini - galleriacorsini.beniculturali.it)

“Entry of Christ in Jerusalem” by Luca Giordano (1634/1705)

“Herodias with the Head of St. John the Baptit” about 1625 by Simon Vouet (1590/1649)

“Particular attention is paid to the material quality of fabric and to the expression of the face of the protagonist, who shows his macabre trophy. Declined in the painting are the many different stimuli and influences in the formation of the French painter: the realism of Caravaggio's matrix on one hand, and the colors, the drapery and the preciousness of the Venetian school on the other “(Official website of the Corsini Gallery - galleriacorsini.beniculturali.it)

“Judith with the Head of Holofernes” by the Flemish painter Gerard Seghers (1591/1651)

“Annunciation” by Marcello Venusti (about 1512/79). It is a copy of a lost original by Michelangelo Buonarroti for the Cesi Chapel in S. Maria della Pace

“Tribute of money” by Mattia Preti (1613/99)

“St. George and the Dragon” by Francesco Raibolini aka Francia (1450/1517)

“Sinite Parvulos” the Frenchman Nicolas Tournier (1590/post 1657)

“Homer” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

“Mary Magdalene” by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)

“In Rome since 1678 he got closer to the circle of Carlo Maratta and of the Arcadia, developing a rococo style composed and refined, with tones graceful and pathetic” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Nativity” about 1748 by Pompeo Batoni (1708/87) with a spectacular frame

“Resurrection of Lazarus” by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640)

“Madonna of the Rose” by Massimo Stanzione (1585/1656)

“In Rome, the knowledge of the works by Caravaggio and the Carraccis, as well as Domenichino and Guido Reni (present in those years in Naples) led him to an attempt to mediate between the two modes. Following the sharp naturalism of the early works (...), looking at Simon Vouet and Guido Reni, he developed a style characterized by elegant and refined shapes of color, light and bright tones. Leading personality in Naples, he had a profound influence also in the opening to the baroque, clear in his later works” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“St. Peter freed by the Angel” by Johann Heinrich Schoenfeld (1609/83)

“The crowning with thorns” copy from Antoon Van Dyck (1599/1641)

Panel “Madonna with Child, Saints and scenes from the life of Christ” an early work by Giovanni di Jacopo di Guido aka Giovanni da Milano (active 1346/69)

Panel with “Coronation of the Virgin Mary” by Andrea di Cione aka Orcagna (active 1343/68)

Two panels long and narrow with “Apostles” by the Venetian Niccolò di Pietro (active 1394/1430)

Triptych “Madonna and Child, Saints and Crucifixion” by the Master of S. Verdiana (active 1370/1400)

“Madonna and Child” and “Madonna and Child with Sts. Jerome and Francis” by an unknown artist of the Florentine school

“Triptych” by an unknown artist of the Florentine school

“Madonna and Child” by an unknown artist of the Viterbo-Umbrian school of the fifteenth century

“Still life with fish and shellfish” by the mysterious Neapolitan Marco de Caro (Eighteenth century)

“Still Life with Peaches” and “Still life with peaches and grapes” by Jan Decker (Eighteenth century)

Above the doors “Flowers and fruit (Autumn and Winter)” and “Flowers and fruit (Spring and Summer)” by the Flemish Abraham Brueghel (1631/97)

Seven beautiful still lives by the German Christian Berentz (1658/1722): “The elegant snack”, “Clock”, “The Fly”, “Roman Vegetables”, “Still life with Mascherone (Big Mask)”, “Fruit”, “Preparations for Dinner” and “Casino dell’Aurora (Aurora Lodge)” where it is possible to recognize the Aurora Casino of the Ludovisi family

CORSINI PALACE - CORSINI GALLERY (second part)

GALLERIA CORSINI

Commissioned by Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini, nephew of Clement XII Corsini (1730/40)

It consists of about 600 paintings, including both those exhibited in eight rooms and those in storage. It is the only eighteenth-century Roman collection that was preserved intact

ATRIUM and STAIRCASE

“Roman Sarcophagi” and “Ancient busts”

VESTIBULE

Various ancient statues, some of which “completed” arbitrarily in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including “Cleopatra” completed by Pietro Paolo Olivieri (1551/99) an “Igea” and “Satyr with kroupezion”, also completed by Pietro Paolo Olivieri, dating back to 150 BC found in the Villa of the Quintili

The kroupezion is a kind of wooden sandal used to mark time in dance. This satyr is one of the best existing copies in the world

Room I - Antechamber

“Originally the room was called 'Antechamber of the servants' and it was divided by a corridor that ran along the entire perimeter of the façade of the building, thus allowing the servants to access the rooms that opened onto the Via Lungara through a system of stairs connecting the various floors, without having to go through the reception rooms. At the time of Neri Maria Corsini the room was also known as 'Room of canonizations' for the presence of some paintings (now on display in Room VIII) depicting episodes from the life of people beatified or canonized under Pope Clement XII” (Official Website of the Galleria Corsini - galleriacorsini.beniculturali.it)

On the wall above the door “Front of marble sarcophagus” of the third century AD with a bas-relief frieze depicting allegorical scenes of harvesting grapes and circus

Objects placed on furniture:

“Round Cup in yellow alabaster” of the eighteenth century

“Large piece of pink amber” maybe from the Baltic Sea

Small bronze “Time kidnaps Youth” by the Florentine sculptor G.B. Foggini (1652/1725)

Selection of mainly landscape paintings from the collection:

“Landscape with Rinaldo and Armida”, “Hercules capturing the mares of Diomedes”, “Orpheus and Eurydice”, “Landscape with nymph and satyr”, “Landscape with sheep grazing”, “Hercules and Antaeus” and “Stormy Landscape” by Gaspard Dughet (1615/75)

Dughet was born in Rome to French parents and was the brother-in-law of Nicolas Poussin

“Landscape with Rinaldo and Armida hinges on the shady hill in the center from which its bright reliefs convey the air on two telescopes prospective offset to each other, one climbing almost vertically with respect to one's point of view, between mountain ridges, the other scattering in a diagonal through the whole framework, breaking through boundaries to the furthest horizon. The movement of the clouds that are gathering on the mountain and fade bleaching to the marina, are useful to develop an atmospheric space that adds depth and naturalness to the view. (...) The inspiration was given by a view of Mount Soratte that Dughet enriched with specially invented details. (...) It is one of the masterpieces of the great Roman landscape painter” (Sivigliano Alloisi)

“Landscape with waterfall and shepherds” and “Landscape with women by a spring” by the Flemish who settled in Rome Jan Frans Van Bloemen aka Orizzonte (1662/1749)

“Even in the great tradition of Dughet and Lorrain, he was able to translate the landscape of Roman countryside according to the canons of the new Arcadian sensitivity. (...) His landscapes are constructed with a classic and serene balance that softens the natural reality in a timeless dimension, led by timid figurines almost afraid to disturb the charm of a nature finally freed from the cares of men” (Sivigliano Alloisi)

Four landscapes: “Landscape with a farmer who removes a thorn”, “Landscape with Diana”, “Landscape with peasant woman picking louses from her child’s hair” and “Landscape with bagpiper” by Crescenzio Onofri (1632/1712)

“River Landscape” and “Landscape with river and castle” by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) from Bologna

“Adoration of the Shepherds” by G.B. Passeri (1610/79)

“Landscape with shepherds by a lake” and “Landscape with fishermen and women” by the Roman Andrea Locatelli (1693/1741)

“Landscape” of the so-called Maestro della Betulla (Master of the Birch) (active 1630/40) maybe Gaspard Dughet

“Christ among the Doctors” about 1656/60 by Luca Giordano (1634/1705)

“He reworked the legacy of the past with great critical freedom and his immeasurable creative impetus took advantage of a fast technique: note for example in Jesus among the Doctors the fluid brush that dissolves forms in a golden glow mass. The ability to absorb the different styles or communication techniques made Luca Giordano a modern artist who chose the formal means according to the circumstances and for the purposes of expression. Large dimensions were particularly congenial to his lively sense of color and his inventive streak” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Judith and Holofernes” about 1715/20 by G.B. Piazzetta (1683/1754)

“Piazzetta chose to represent the moment immediately prior to the beheading of the Assyrian general. Judith is preparing to loosen with her left hand the strap to which the sword of Holofernes is suspended, while he lies dormant in the lower left of the painting, and at the same time she indicates high above as to implore the help of God and to point to the real inspirer of the act” (Official Website of the Galleria Corsini - galleriacorsini.beniculturali.it)

“Small Triptych with Judgement and Pentecost” by Fra' Giovanni da Fiesole aka Fra Angelico (about 1395/1455)

“He wouldn’t paint if he hadn’t prayed first and he never corrected his works, because he was convinced that every stroke of his brush would have a divine inspiration. For all his life he painted sacred subjects (…), but he nevertheless introduced a touch of realism in those solemn compositions, the figures appearing solid and real, reminding us of Masaccio’s style. We must consider that Fra Angelico lived in between two different periods: the Fourteenth century – a century during which the medieval tradition was still felt, emphasizing precious colorful fabric and using golden backgrounds – and the Fifteenth century, during which the Renaissance culture prevails with realism in painting and the rules of perspective. Fra Angelico was influenced by both cultures and styles” (Bettina Mirabile - Enciclopedia dei ragazzi Treccani)

“Battle” by Jacques Courtois aka Borgognone (1628/79)

“Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist” by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) a pupil of Perin del Vaga

“Madonna and Child” by anonymous painter, copy from an original by Perin del Vaga

“Moses freeing the daughters of Jethro” and “Rebecca at the Well” by Giuseppe Nasini (1657/1736)

“Meeting of Jacob and Laban” by Ciro Ferri (1634/89) from the original by Pietro da Cortona

“Winter” by Eberhard Keilhau detto Monsù Bernardo (1624/87)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (twenty-first part)

Oval Room
Designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

Prime example of a room designed for civilian use with elliptical transversal plan

In the four niches ancient sculptures “Palémon”, “Igeia”, “Hour” and “Athlete”

The busts in the upper part are of uncertain identification

“This room is peculiar expression of the climate of Neoplatonic speculation to which Cardinal Francesco Barberini adhered. He organized in this very hall meetings with distinguished scholars. From here, guests, exiting through the large doorway on the opposite side to the Hall of Pietro da Cortona, could enjoy the beauty of the private gardens” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

SECOND FLOOR

Room XXV - Painters in Naples from Ribera to Luca Giordano

“St. James” by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652)

“Portrait of his wife Lucretia” about 1657, “Poetry” and “Music” by Salvator Rosa (1615/73)

“Having abandoned the sense of clarity and balanced tone of the first works, he later invented the genre of the fantastic view: landscapes with ruins with dark scenes of magic or alchemy. Inspired from iconographic and stylistic experiences of the Flemish and the Germans, the artist proposes unconventional subjects, polemic against the official culture and painting and expresses a taste of horror that alludes to a world in crisis” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Pietà” by Massimo Stanzione (1585/1656)

“His Caravaggio influence is more allied to that of Simon Vouet, Carlo Saraceni and Artemisia Gentileschi than that of G.B. Caracciolo and Ribera. In his best works that belong to the decade 1635/45, he exhibits a sharp sense for the refined chromatic values, melodic lines, figures built with grace as well as gentle and lyrical expressions. Stanzione became known as the Neapolitan Guido Reni” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“St. Peter and the centurion Cornelius” about 1647 and “Departure of Tobias” by Bernardo Cavallino (1616/about 1656)

“A pupil of Massimo Stanzione strongly influenced by Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Cavallino made his best paintings in small format. His work is in a class by itself; great colorist, his tenderness, elegance, grace and finesse are unparalleled at this time” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“Aeneas and Anchises” about 1635, “The Dinner of the Rich Glutton” and “Resurrection of Lazarus” about 1655 by Mattia Preti (1613/99)

“With Enea and Anchises Preti shows to have gone beyond subjects suggested by the 'Manfredi methodus' i.e. interior scenes with players and musicians, where the Caravaggio matrix is evident (...) and chose a historical dimension of broad influence influenced by Poussin and by Vouet (Vodret 1999). The emergence of the group in diagonal from the shadows into the light (...) is as a powerful dramatic effect, stressing the ultimate meaning of history: the escape from a world in ruins towards a new destiny of salvation and glory” (Angela Negro)

“St. Onuphrius” by G.B. Caracciolo aka Battistello (1570/1637)

“He learned first the lesson of Caravaggio and initiated a renewal of the local language that gave birth to a new figurative school. He enriched his draughtsmanship culture of research in the use of light offering a personal capacity of reading Caravaggio's experience. If for Caravaggio light was the main component of the things themselves, for Battistello is a formal means to give vision to clear and statuesque forms” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Hermit follower of S. Bruno” by Aniello Falcone (1607/56)

“Allegory of Time (Chronos and Love)” and “Saul and the witch Endor” by Johann Heinrich Schoenfeld (1609/83)

“The Philosopher Crates” about 1559, “Self Portrait” and “Foreman” by Luca Giordano (1634/1705)