Beginning
of 1500s for Giovanni Antonio Milesi an academic from Bergamo
FAÇADE
Painted
with very damaged mythological and
historical scenes: “The Story of Niobe”, “Cato the Younger”, “Rape of the Sabine Women”
and “Laws of Numa Pompilius” by Polidoro Caldara aka Polidoro
da Caravaggio (about 1495/1543) and Maturino da
Firenze (?/1528)
It is the
only palace with Palazzo Ricci where there are remains of the many frescoes
that used to adorn the façades of many buildings of Rome at the beginning of
the sixteenth century
“His
preference for reliefs let us make a comparison with Perin del Vaga: (...)
Polidoro's figures emerge from the darkness of the background in an even more
assertive way, with even more illusionism. The figures themselves are more
dynamic, more compressed; compositions are more concentrated, simpler and
closer to the ideal of the ancient reliefs than Perino's. The numerous
secondary elements show knowledge of antiquity more precise than the ones the
whimsical Florentine artist had” (Hermann Voss)
In 1576 Cherubino Alberti (1553/1615) painted in the center of
the façade a golden mask (maschera d'oro) that gave the name to the street
In 1615 it
was bought by the Baccani family
On the
façade of the adjacent PALACE ON VIA DELLA
MASCHERA D'ORO No.9 monochrome etchings on the plaster by Jacopo
Ripanda (about 1465/1516)
Inserted in
the corner there is a big ANCIENT SPIRAL COLUMN
Columns of
this kind were often inserted in the corners of the buildings for decorative
and for static functions, and also to serve as a “bumper” for the wagons that
used to pass near buildings in the narrow streets of Rome
Both
buildings now belong to the Lancellotti family who have their own main building
a few meters away
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