FARNESE PALACE (third part)

Camerino (Dressing Room)

First to be painted for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese with “Scenes of the myths of Hercules, Odysseus and Perseus” 1595 by Annibale Carracci who followed the theme of “The Virtues prevails over Vice” thought by the humanist Fulvio Orsini

The central painting “Hercules at the Crossroads” is at the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples

“Like any great artist, Annibale created something completely new in comparison to his models; he joined the nuanced of Correggio and the warm tonal values of the Venetians to the austere compositions and figurative concepts of late Renaissance in Central Italy, while at the same time, he knew how to give his figures sculptural qualities and plasticity one would seek in vain during the late Renaissance” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Hall of Hercules

Wooden ceiling by Jacopo Barozzi aka Vignola (1507/73) who also designed the polychrome fireplace

On either side of the fireplace statues “Abundance” and “Peace” 1555/75 by Guglielmo Della Porta (1515/77) for the tomb of Pope Paul III in the apse of the Basilica of St. Peter, but never put in place because, as Vasari wrote, “They left to be desired in chastity

Chamber of the Cardinal

1547 frieze by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66)

Hall of the Farnese Glory

Great mannerist frescoes:

“Celebration of the greatness of the Farnese family: deeds of Paul III (pope of the Council of Trent and peace of Nice between Charles V and the French King Francis I) and celebration of Ranuccio the Elder (represented in the guise of Aeneas) and Peter V Farnese” 1522/56 by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“Here for the first time Salviati represented stories with costumes of his time, and we must admit that, despite all the exaggerations of his style of the late period, here dominate a grandeur and a pathos never achieved by any Florentine artist. The walls with frescoes are two, both divided by the same system: in the center, a figure on a throne with chained slaves (...), above, a canopy with allegories full of figures, on the sides, historical scenes, and as a crowning frieze, the usual naked bodies on their knees with medallions and festoons of fruit” (Hermann Voss)

The paintings were completed in 1563 by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66)

ECOLE FRANÇAISE DE ROME

Cultural institution located on the top floor since 1875

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS

“Boundary stone limiting the Tiber” with the name of the censors of 54 BC

Remains of large public buildings in brick with three phases of construction of which the second, Domitian, is the most important

“Mosaics of desultores (acrobats) on horseback” in relation to the near Tarentum and to the Stabula factionum the stables of the four teams of charioteers two of which were in the vicinity

The Veneta (blue) was in the area of Piazza Farnese and the Prasina (green) in the area of S. Lorenzo in Damaso

QUIRINAL PALACE (sixth part)

Room of Hercules

Coffered ceiling and frieze with trophies 1940 by Cesare Maria Crestini

Paintings over the doors “Six stories of Aeneas” brought here in 1893 from the Savoy residences:

“Aeneas sacrifices to Apollo”, “ Venus appears to Aeneas as Diana”, “Aeneas and Dido caught by the storm”, “Mercury appears to Aeneas”, “Venus deliveries the weapons to Aeneas” and “Departure of Aeneas from Carthage” 1735/38 all sublime masterpieces by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66)

“It is with the musical theater here that the painter seems to relate more explicitly than in his other works. (...) A new aesthetic marked by the desire to affirm the seriousness of art and to restore expressive decorum starting right from the reform of opera. His characters exemplify, in terms of behaviors, a way of feeling graceful and sensitive, according to the rules of society. The Arcadian world that reigns in these paintings is made of a mixture of subtle tones in which everything is blurred and in where the epic is transformed, rejecting the extremes of tragedy and comedy” (Sara Parca)

Three tapestries from the left “Stories of Apollo”, “Stories of Minerva” and “Stories of Hercules” beginning of the eighteenth century by the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris

Hall of the Chests

It takes its name from the five chests of the sixteenth and seventeenth century

In this room Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800/23) was arrested by the French on July 9, 1809

Busts “Hector” and “Paris” beginning of nineteenth century by Pietro Fontana

Four French tapestries 1743/47 by the Gobelins manufactory in Paris

Tapestry with “History of Don Quixote” 1773 by the royal manufactory of Naples

MASCHERINO'S STAIRS

1583/85 by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606)

Loggia of Honor

The center of the Gregorian Small Palace, the oldest part of the palace built by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino for Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85)

Ceiling “Allegory of the Arts” 1908 by Ernesto Ballarini (1845/1922)