GALLERIA BORGHESE
1608/13 Flaminio Ponzio (1560/1613) for the Card. Scipione
Caffarelli Borghese (1577/1633), son of the sister of Paul V Borghese
(1605/21), to be used mainly as a museum
Completed
in the years 1613/about 1617 by Jan Van Santen aka
Giovanni Vasanzio (1550/1621), after the death of Flaminio Ponzio
Vasanzio
dealt with the completion of the building and most of the exterior decoration
that used to include statues and as many as 144 ancient bas-reliefs
“The model
is that of the Roman suburban villa, set almost a century earlier by Peruzzi with
the Villa Farnesina. But where the Peruzzi had used a somewhat classical
austerity, Vasanzio covered the entire U-shaped façade with niches,
indentations, classical statues and reliefs, a late example of ‘horror vacui’
(fear of empty space) typical of Mannerism that had found its classic
expression in the Casino of Pius IV by Pirro Ligorio and Villa Medici by Annibale
Lippi” (Rudolf Wittkower)
Renovated
with internal work in the years 1766/93 by Antonio
Asprucci (1723/1808) and assistants for Marcantonio IV Borghese
“The whole ornamental
program designed by Asprucci creates one of the most exciting European
buildings of the Age of Enlightenment where there is a great combination of the
solemn aura of antiquity and the flamboyance of Baroque style to the sound of an
educated melody, sometimes erudite, never pedantic” (Alberta Campitelli and
Maria Giulia Barberini)
In 1807
Camillo Borghese sold to Napoleon 523 pieces of ancient art (statues, busts and
reliefs) many of which used to decorate the exterior of the building
The objects
that decorate the exterior now (including two important “Loricate statues with
heads of Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius”) come from Gabi and they were kept until
the end of the nineteenth century in the Casina
dell’Orologio
At the
beginning of the nineteenth century the seventeenth century DOUBLE STAIRCASE
was removed. It was recently rebuilt during the restoration work
In 2013
498.477 people have visited the museum using an efficient booking system which
prevents lines and allows to enjoy the works of art with no large crowds
“The
prevailing character of the original archaeological collection is evident in
this porch, where there are no modern paintings or frescoes, a feature of all
the other rooms instead. (...) Since the first arrangement here remained
fragmentary sculptures, contrary to what happened inside, where arbitrary integrations
were applied. This difference assigns to this porch the evocation of the
authenticity of discovery which was common in the first collections of marbles
in the porches and courtyards of Roman palaces” (Paolo Moreno - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
“Three fragments of
reliefs with scenes of the Dacian wars” about 117 from the same frieze of
the Trajan's Forum from which the
fragments in the Arch of Constantine were taken
Other fragments of this long frieze are in the
Antiquarium of the Forum and in Villa
Medici
“The
naturalism of the reliefs of Trajan's Column is overcome by a sense of human
mass that begins to concentrate the power of the message, as in the late
imperial production. The work is part of the program of celebrations organized
by the successor Hadrian, and culminated in the dedication of the Temple of the
Divine Trajan (about the exact location of which, in relation with the Trajan's
Forum, scholars keep discussing), and it could have been part of its decorative
frieze” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Front of sarcophagus
with battle of Romans and barbarians” about 200 AD, originally from the Vatican Necropolis and later in
the porch of the old St. Peter's Basilica
“Front of sarcophagus
with Apollo and the Muses divided into two parts” about 225/250 with the figure of
Apollo transformed into a Muse
“Statue of
Serapis” second century AD on “Fragment of a sarcophagus’ front festooned with
marine parade” about 130/140
“Head of
Dionysus”about 150 on “Portrait of a Young Girl” about 40/50 on “Headless
bodies of father and daughter” about 150/200 on “Fragment of a sarcophagus’
front festooned with marine parade” about 130/140
Interesting
composition made out of fragments of different meaning and from different
places, absolutely typical of a very long period, which lasted centuries,
during which the historical and philological interest was dominated by
hedonistic taste and horror vacui
(fear of emptiness)
“Torso of Apollo
seated”
about 100/150
“It seems
that the character would be intent on a challenging action since the muscles of
the arms are in tension. The plant colossal, the softness of the modeling, the
fullness of the forms, the veristic complacency in underscoring the folds of
the stomach, would lead to a date beyond the period of Praxiteles (IV century
BC) which would have been suggested by the treatment of the surface, and would
indicate the dating of the original in the Hellenistic period, perhaps from the
area of Alexandria. The Roman copy, true to the spirit of the original, is
dated to the first half of the second century AD” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia
Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Torso of woman of
the Grande Ercolanense type” second century AD
“Statue of Sleeping Nymph” about
140/160 on “Sarcophagus including putti supporting a clypeus” about 220
“The statue
belongs to a type widely used in the imperial period as decoration for gardens:
in this case also the opening of the vessel reveals the use as fountain. This
statue was so much appreciated that a replica in modern times was made and it
was located symmetrically opposite to adorn the transition from the porch to
the entrance hall” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
VAULT
“Apotheosis of
Romulus” 1775/79 by the Sicilian Mariano Rossi (1731/1807)
“Rossi has
been criticized for frequently repeating himself despite that was typical of
the painters with a large production on commission. Another shortcoming that
has been criticized is some impropriety of drawing and some errors in the
proportions but the effect of chiaroscuro, the harmony of colors and his talent
in composition end up being appreciated also by the most meticulous observer
and make him one of the greatest exponents of the late Italian Baroque” (Antonella
Tedesco - www.abitarearoma.net/s-giuseppe-alla-lungara-e-le-opere-di-mariano-rossi)
On the
WALLS decorations with
animals
painted by Peter Wenzel (1745/1829)
In the
FLOOR spectacular ancient “Mosaic with
gladiators and hunts in the circus” about 325 discovered in 1834 in Torrenova on
Via Casilina
“Gaps and
restoration make it difficult to reconstruct the general appearance of the
work, but the composition itself was not consistent, as it is understood by the
disproportion of the figures” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
“Two marble
candelabra” second century AD restored and completed
“It is
possible that the ancient parts of both candelabra belonged to a single copy
dismembered to obtain independent decorative elements” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia
Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Portrait of a Woman” about 115 on “Statue
of Artemis of the Colonna type” about 250
“This type
of hairstyle popularized by Marciana, sister of Trajan, and by Matidia, was chosen
at first even by Sabina, daughter of Matidia and wife of Emperor Hadrian. The object
on the turban assimilates the woman to Diana” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Head of a
deity” about 130 on “Statue of Artemis of the Colonna type” about 140
“Colossal statue of fighting
Satyr “
about 130 on “Marble slab with relief representing a Dionysian parade” first
century BC
“Group of
Venus and Mars” about 150 AD on “Funerary altar with a dedication to Statius” first
century AD
“Colossal head of
Isis”
about 160/180 on “Fragment of sarcophagus slab festooned with Nereids carrying
weapons of Achilles” about 140/150
“Colossal head of Hera” first century AD on “Fragment of
sarcophagus slab festooned with Nereids carrying weapons of Achilles” about
140/150
“Portrait
of Vespasian (69/79)” about 70
“An isolated
tuft stands on the head, a detailed to be found also on a portrait in Naples
and on one in the Capitoline Museums. Considered by Nibby one of the best
portraits of Vespasian, it was compared for the first time by Raissa Calza to
the portrait in the Uffizi: in fact the square structure of the face, the mouth
thin and tight and the shape of the eyes are similar. The bust is modern”
(Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Statue of Claudius
(41/54) as Jupiter” 54 on “Burial altar with the deceased on kline (bed used during meals)”
about 85
“Statue of Meleager” about 140/150
“This copy
of Meleager is from an original referred to Scopa Paro, in his final activity
(330/325 BC). The legendary winner of the boar of Calydon had luck in Roman
times as celebratory image of the heroic virtues of the deceased” (Paolo Moreno
and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Portrait of Augustus” about 10 AD
on “Statue of man with toga” first century AD
“Marcus Curtius
throws himself into the abyss” horse about first or second century AD, knight
1617 by Pietro Bernini (1562/1629) restored by Agostino Penna (active since 1768/d. 1800)
Originally
it was located outside the building and in 1776 it was moved to the current
location inside at the behest of Antonio Asprucci
“Through the
solution of orienting the relief of the horse on a different axis, Bernini was
able to give the illusion of the moment of the hero’s jump, a symbol of Roman
virtue that with individual sacrifice gets the win against the enemy. In 1606
Scipione Borghese had gone to help the people affected by the floods of the
Tiber: this gesture favored the metaphorical transposition of the image of
Marcus Curtius on the portrait of the Cardinal” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini
- Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Marble
slab with relief representing a Dionysian parade” first century BC
“Statue of Satyr” first century AD
“Portrait of Menander” first century
AD on “Statue of man with toga” first century AD on “Burial altar with scene of
sacrifice to Minerva” 90/110 AD
“Menader was
an Athenian playwright who died in 293/292 BC (...) The two eyes close to each
other and the furrowing of brows are a reminder of the strabismus the writer
suffered of” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Statue portrait of
Salonina” about 175 (changed about 268) on “Funerary monument of Petronia Musa” about 120
“Portrait
of Augustus (27 BC/AD 14)” about 10 BC
“Portrait
of Galba (68)” probably not authentic but Renaissance copy of a lost portrait
of Galba
“Colossal portrait of Hadrian
(117/138)” about 140 AD on “Fragment of sarcophagus slab festooned with Nereids
carrying weapons of Achilles” about 140/150
“Colossal statue of Dionysus” second
century AD on “Marble slab with relief representing a Dionysian parade” first
century BC
“Colossal portrait of Antoninus Pius
(138/161)”
“Head of a
deity” about 130 on “Statue of Artemis of the Colonna type” 140
“Busts of the Twelve
Caesars” by G.B. Della Porta (about 1542/1597)
VAULT
In the
center “Judgment of Paris” surrounded by four paintings
embedded with “Stories of the Trojan War”: “Juno asking Aeolus
to unleash storms against Aeneas”, “Minerva asks Atropos
to cut the life’s thread of Troy”, “Aeneas flees Troy” and “Venus convinces Zeus
to rescue Aeneas” 1779 by Domenico De Angelis (1735/1804)
with false niches and columns by G.B. Marchetti (1730/1800)
who also did all of the geometrical decorative paintings in the building
Reliefs above
the doors “Mercury weighs the
destinies of Achilles” and “Achilles learns about the death of
Patroclus” by Vincenzo Pacetti (1746/1820)
Reliefs above the
niches of the back walls and entrance “Wedding of Peleus and Thetis”, “Children of
Medea bringing poisoned gifts to Creusa”, “The Tale of Alope” and “Laodamia and
Protesilaus” 1780 by Agostino Penna (known since
1768/d. 1800) who used ancient sarcophagi as models
Portraits in the oval niches:
“Britannicus” about 50
“Roman Woman” about 90
“Scipio Africanus” by an anonymous
artist of the seventeenth century
“Roman Child” about 160
“Sabina” about 137/139
In the center of the room:
“Pauline Bonaparte as
Venus Victrix” 1805 masterpiece by Antonio Canova (1757/1822)
The wooden
bed hides a recently restored mechanism that allows to rotate the statue
“Canova’s
statues are not simulacra. To see in them some kind of casts of real people
demonstrates at the same time ignorance of anatomy and ignorance of the
conditions under which a work was produced. There is no natural vision of
bodies, neither there is an ideal canon of a body, that is to say a constant
one, from which formal qualities would derive. Not unlike what happens with the
famous Greek nose - never observed 'live' but produced by a plastic desire -
the set of almost constant volumetric values constituting the human pattern
of Canova is not made 'ipso facto' by nature. In every age the model images
male and female are strictly cultural, mostly unconscious, and are the
foundation of what we reject and what attracts us. Well then nothing is more artificial
than the bodies of Canova, by accentuation, deletion, removal, parallelism and
oppositions. They give shape to an ideal, indeed complex and by no means a
naturalistic copy” (André Corboz - from the essay “Pygmalion, Servant of Two
Masters” in the catalog of the exhibition “Canova”)
“Herm of Bacchus” 1773 by Luigi
Valadier (1726/85)
“Statue of Venus
Genetrix” first century AD in Pentelic marble, copy of the Venus Louvre-Naples
from the 410 BC original by Callimachus
“The woman
is caught by surprise as she is going to undress, prelude to the nakedness
revealed eventually by Praxiteles. (...) Around 410 BC Callimachus, a
multipurpose artist, was working in the Athens of Nicias, disappointed by the
disaster of the Sicilian expedition, and already nostalgic of a magnitude that
would never return. (...) For the subject and the clarity of the execution out
of Pentelic marble, the statue in this room is an unsurpassed response and echo
from the past to the 'Pauline' by Canova” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Head of a deity
restored as Isis” about 140
“It is a
classicist work inspired by a model that should be dated to around the middle
of the fifth century BC, as the features of the face would show” (Paolo Moreno
and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Statue of Nymph restored
as Muse” first century AD
“Three cloaked
children” second century AD
“Fragment of the side
of a sarcophagus with Minos sacrificing to Poseidon” about 160/180
“Two fronts of
sarcophagi with Apollo and the Muses in between columns” about 220/230
“Portrait of Antonia Minor” about
30/37 on “Group of Leda and the Swan sitting and Eros” about 200/230
Antonia
Minor (36 BC/37 AD) was the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia who was the sister
of Emperor Augustus (27 BC/14 AD). Augustus was therefore Antonia Minor’s uncle
and she was also sister of Emperor Tiberius (14/37), grandmother of Emperor
Caligula (37/41) and mother of Emperor Claudius (41/54). She would also have
been the great-aunt of Emperor Nero (54/68), because her sister Antonia Major
was grandmother of Nero. Nero, however, was born six months after the death of
Antonia Minor
“Relief with Ajax and
Cassandra” first century BC in Parian marble
“The
restoration of 1997 revealed a striking evidence: the marble is in several
places calcined by deep burns, the effect of which had been hidden by an
artificial coating. This damage is typical of stone elements of buildings
destroyed by fire and it confirms the hypothesis repeatedly published of this
piece being part of some architectonical decoration. (...) The presence of the
Latin letters suggests a neoclassical version, made for a public building of
Rome inspired by models common in Taranto in the fourth century BC” (Paolo
Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Statue portrait of woman of the Spes
type” about
110 on “Circular altar with bucrania and garlands” about 5 BC
“Portrait of man with
oriental hairstyle” second century AD in morato
marble
Gold
bracelet “Retour d'Egypte” by Jean
Baptiste Claude Odiot (1763/1850) and inkwell with pen in
gilt bronze, malachite, rock crystal, gold by Luigi
Valadier (1762/1932)
“Statue of cloaked
woman restored as Flora” about 160 on “Circular altar with scene of
sacrifice to Hercules Invictus” about 20 BC
The statue
of woman was found in Frascati and it was restored in 1827 by Massimiliano Laboureur (1767/1831)
“Relief with Artemis
kourotrophos (nurse of infants)” about 140/160
The child
should be Telephus, son of Hercules, given by a servant to Artemis. Johann
Joachim Winckelmann used to love this relief and described it as bellissimo
“Group of Aphrodite
with Eros sitting” about 100/150 BC
Relief “Eros on eagle” attributed to Pietro Bernini (1562/1629) by Cesare D'Onofrio
“Bust of Clement XII” Corsini (1730/40) about 1735 by Pietro Bracci (1700/73)
VAULT
“Jupiter strikes
Phaeton unable to drive the chariot of the sun” 1775/79 by Francesco
Caccianiga (1700/81)
Figures and
medallions by Gioacchino Agricola (known since 1758/85)
In the middle of the room:
Sculpture “David” 1624 by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)
It was
executed in seven months, after the Rape of Proserpine, at the same time of the
Apollo and Daphne
“It is evident
the overcoming of the Mannerist arrangement with a twisted figure obtained by a
solid execution and a spiral structure that develops the action of throwing the
stone. This is a masterful interpretation that emphasizes the psychological and
realistic aspects. The fixity of the Renaissance statue is outdated and, as
viewers, we can imagine the gigantic antagonist because we feel involved in the
action: there is no rift between our real space and the fictitious one of the
statue, which Bernini conceived leaning against a wall. This pictorial
conception of sculpture required a unique vantage point and it was intended to
reveal the climax of an action rousing moments of great emotional tension” (Carlo
Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
“Torso of
Child restored as statue of a Satyr” first century AD
“Statue of Aphrodite
of the Capitoline type” about 120/130 on “Burial altar of Antistia
Tryphena and Titus Antistius Cosmus” about 100
“Statue of Dionysus
restored as Apollo” second century AD on “Burial altar of Marcus Ulpius Eliade” about 150
“Herm of
Pan” about 35
“The god of
shepherds and flocks, having lost the character of the wild goat (...) has
taken the form of a young man with small horns in his hair. (...) The sharp cut
of the eyelids and the incisiveness of the hair make us almost feel the bronze
model. It is the creation of a pupil of Polykleitos: the reduction as herm
dates to the time of Tiberius” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
“Slab with relief representing
Satyrs courting Nymphs” first century BC
“Sarcophagus cover
with the presentation of Apollo and Artemis to Zeus” about 150
Painting on
canvas “Samson in prison” about 1593 by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)
“The
anatomical study of the naked body focuses on the muscles of the abdomen,
revealing a knowledge of Venetian art - certain drawings by Tintoretto come to
mind - absorbed by Annibale Carracci during his trip in the lagoon, made at the
beginning of his formation. It may be that the painting is a sketch, connected
to the many paintings of telamons executed by Hannibal in his fresco cycles”
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Fragment of
sarcophagus with marine sacred procession” about 220
“Sarcophagus
cover with Amazons at the Trojan War” about 200
“Two slabs of a
sarcophagus with Heracles’ labors in between columns” about 160
In the second slab Hercules’ labors were completed
arbitrarily in modern times and the last two on the right (dragon and Centaur)
are unrelated with the original cycle
“The
monument belongs to the Asian production of sarcophagi with arches of which it
represents one of the first examples. In the main frieze (...) are represented
the labors performed by Heracles in the Peloponnese region by order of
Eurystheus: the killing of the Nemean lion, the hydra of Lerna, the Erymanthian
boar, the deer of Cerine and the birds of Stinfale” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia
Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Herm of Dionysus
beardless” about 70/90
“Herm of Dionysus
bearded” about 70/90
“Herm of
Dionysus Lenaîos” about 70/90 so named for the basin (lenos) used to press grapes
“Head of Heracles of
the Pozzuoli-Antinori type” about 185
“Head of Aphrodite” about 120 on “Burial
altar of Flavia Variana” about 90
The head
was found in Tusculum, the altar in Gabi
Painting on
canvas “Andromeda” about 1612 by Rutilio Manetti (1571/1639)
“Herm of Heracles
cloaked” about 180
“Herm of Heracles as
a child” about 160/170
Painting on
canvas “David with the head
of Goliath” 1612 by di G.B. Caracciolo detto Battistello
(1570/1637)
“Frieze with
Anthemius” about 112 probably found in the Forum
of Trajan
“Sarcophagus with
marine sacred procession and cover with the Seasons” about 140/150
“From the
cover the masks warn of the transience of mortal remains, and the Seasons mark
the melancholy of transit: the frequency of these pairs lying in the ancient
funerary world was such that Michelangelo was inspired for the personifications
of Time on the tombs of the Medici family” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latin -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Painting on
canvas “Still Life with Two
Lizards” and “Still Life of Birds” late 1500s, maybe by the Master of Hartford
“Portrait of
Alexander the Great” first century AD on a modern bust
“In this
romantic face one sees expressed what Nearchus from Lato, one of the most
capable staff of Alexander the Great, called 'the perpetual desire to do
something new and extraordinary'. The portrait is among the closest to the
literary descriptions of Alexander by Lysippus for the leonine hair and the
passionate head movement upwards” (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
“Statue of child as
Heracles fighter” about 140/160)
“Statue of a child as
Herakles resting of the Pozzuoli-Antinori type” second century AD
VAULT
In the
center “Apollo and Daphne” and, on the sides “Allegories of
Seasons” in monochrome 1780/85 by Pietro Angeletti (about
1737/98). Geometrical drawings by G.B. Marchetti (1730/1800)
In the middle of the room:
Sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” 1625 by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) with the help for the base, the tree
and the leaves of Giuliano Finelli (1602/53) a master
in sculpting marble in a fine and spectacular way
In the base
there are carved two interesting Latin verses by Maffeo Barberini himself that,
translated into English, read: Everyone
chasing the fleeting pleasure of a form, remains with a handful of leaves in
his hand, or at best picks bitter berries
“Even for the
young Bernini, like Domenichino, classical antiquity was a rule to follow,
against the wiles of reality and of the petty side of nature, the starting
point for achieving the ideal beauty. In his early works there does not seem
ever to be subjective realism but a delicate idealism and although they
perfectly mimic nature, are nevertheless charged with meanings, especially
allegorical ones” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
“Bernini
competes with Ovid (whose work 'Metamorphoses' inspired this statue) in showing
the nuances of mood, and because figurative art is the master of space, but not
of time, which instead belongs to poetry, he must join together the moment of
the race with that, immediately following, of the transformation” (Tomaso
Montanari)
“Group of Harpocrates
with duck” about 110/120
“Group of
child with two ducks” about 100/200
Two
paintings: “Apollo and Daphne” about 1525 and “The Sorceress Circe” about 1518 Giovanni Luteri aka Dosso Dossi (about 1486/1542)
“Dosso
expresses a fantastic vision of the world in the magical setting of his
narratives, which deviate from the albeit evident Giorgione matrix, for his vibrant
color solutions, forced to the limits of eccentricity. Thanks to his rich
qualities of imagination he became interpreter of an original fantastic genre” (Carlo
Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
Two
paintings on canvas “Wondrous Landscapes” beginning of XVII century by Paul Brill (1554/1626)
“Group with fountain,
fishermen and shepherds” about 210 on “Altar with fronds of ivy in relief”
early first century AD
“Group of Aphrodite
of the Medici type with Eros on dolphin” early second century AD
“Statuette of Kore
restored as Isis” about 20/40
“According
to Heinrich Bulle it is the interpretation of an archaic figure of Kore by a
Neo-Attic artist: the result is a work reproducing antiquity” (Paolo Moreno and
Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Head of Apollo of the Ariadne type”
first century BC on “Body of Apollo with griffin and tripod” about 135
“Funerary Lion” in alabaster about 75/100 of
Egyptian origin
“Colossal head of
Apollo”
about 150/100 BC
“The size
and the treatment of the eyes correlate this head with Neo-Attic works of the
first century BC. The comparison with the head of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, now kept at the Central
Montemartini, is particularly striking: the work is attributed to the disciples
of Euchirus II, father of Eubulides III, and in particular, for the affinity
with Igea by Feneo in Arcadia, to the sculptor Attalus, the sculptor of that
statue for the Temple of Asclepius. It would be a gigantic acrolith” (Paolo
Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Crater with dance
scenes”
about 90
“Base of candelabrum” first century AD
VAULT
On the left
wall "St. Charles Borromeo, St. Frances of Rome and Eternal Father"
On the
right wall “Assumption” 1618 by the French Claude Deruet (1588/1660)
This time
to that on the vault of Room XIV are the only mural paintings dating back to
the time of Scipione Borghese
This room
was originally the oratory of the villa
Three
paintings: "St. John the
Baptist", "Beheading of
St. John the Baptist" and “Flight into Egypt” 1593 by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640)
"The
painting with St. John the Baptist was maybe part of the seizure of assets of
Giuseppe Cesari ordered by Paul V in 1607, the date which is the Ante Quem for
the execution of the work" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Madonna and
Child" by Ventura Salimbeni (1568/1613)
"Christ dead
among the angels" 1566/69 by Federico
Zuccari (about 1542/1609)
Altarpiece of rosewood and silver of the end
of 1500s by Mattias Wallbaum (1554/1632)
Plaster
statue “St. John the Baptist” 1767 by Jean-Antoine
Houdon (1741/1828) model for a marble statue destined to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and
Martyrs but that was never made
Wax on
blackboard “Crucifixion” by Guglielmo
Della Porta (1515/77)
VAULT
In the
center “Triumph of Galatea”, in the left oval “Galatea desired by
Polyphemus" and in the right oval "Galatea loved
by Aci" 1778/80 by Domenico De Angelis (1735/1804).
Geometrical drawings by G.B.
Marchetti (1730/1800)
Under the ledge of the vault:
“Eleven stuccos with
scenes of divinities of the sea” 1778/79 by various artists: Laboureur, Carradori, Pacetti, Penna, Salimbeni and Righi
In the middle of the room:
Sculpture “Rape of Proserpine” 1621/22 by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)
The
spectacular group with Hades kidnapping Persephone in order to take her with
him to hell unleashes explosive sensuality and impresses with the realistic and
vivid representation of a mythological event happening in an extraordinarily
credible way in front of our eyes
For this
work Bernini was evidently influenced by the pictures painted in that period by
Annibale Carracci and Peter Paul Rubens and he evidently influenced in turn the
way of painting of another genius such as his contemporary Pietro da Cortona
“The concept
that he chooses as a representation is always the highlight of the drama”
(Rudolf Wittkower)
“The group
was thought for a single point of view, the front. As the theme of the
abduction can evoke the famous precedent of the 'Rape of the Sabine' by
Giambologna,the detachment from the Mannerist culture now seems entirely
fulfilled: the god and his prey are not conceived as three-dimensional objects
but as figures of a big picture in three dimensions, built through light and
shadow, and sculpted to give the illusion of flesh, hair in motion, color. It
is stated here for the first time the foundational element of Bernini’s sculpture:
the statue is not a picture but an event, and, moreover, an event agitated and
transient” (Tomaso Montanari)
“Busts of the Twelve
Caesars” beginning of 1600s made by an anonymous seventeenth
century artist in porphyry and oriental alabaster
"Two
vases in porphyry" probably ancient, restored in 1780 by Lorenzo Cardelli
"Amphora with
handles carved as eagle heads" by Silvio Calci da
Velletri (active in Rome in the first half of the seventeenth century)
on "Octagonal
table" of the eighteenth century by Luigi Valadier (1726/85)
"Two urns" in ancient black marble by Silvio Calci da Velletri on rectangular tables of the
seventeenth century in red porphyry with standings in white marble carved as
lions probably of the nineteenth-century
“Statue of
Artemis of the Dresden type restored as muse” about 105
“Statue of Artemis of
the Borghese type” about 120/130
"We are
in front of a monument of exceptional importance, since we do not know of any
other replica of this figure of Artemis: the quality of the marble,
recognizable as Pentelic, speaks in favor of an Attic copy made in the period
of Emperor Hadrian (117/138)" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
"Statue of
Artemis" second century AD
"The
Borghese statue derives from a Greek original (about 200 BC) of which other
Roman copies are known: among the most important are the one in Copenhagen,
which gave name to the type, and the one in Ostia, of which only the torso
remains" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Sculpture “Farnese Bull” 1613 by Antonio
Susini (about 1582/1624)
"Statue of
Dionysus" about 120/130
"Statue of
Dionysus with a panther" about 100/150
"Two
fragments of a sarcophagus cover with Seasons" about 150/160
"Four vases with
representations of the four Seasons" about 1785 by Francesco Massimiliano Laboureur (1767/1831) who
carved the reliefs and Lorenzo Cardelli who
worked the vessels, inspired by the huge cantharus
(basin in the courtyard of an ancient church for worshippers to wash before
entering) in the atrium of the church of St.
Cecilia in Trastevere
"Statue of
Aphrodite cloaked with dolphin" about 120/130 AD with neck and head made in
modern times
"Bronze
statuette of Neptune" maybe by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini (1598/1680)
Smaller
size copy in bronze of the marble group of 1622 for the fishpond of Villa
Negroni-Montalto at the behest of Cardinal Alessandro Peretti
"Bust
of Juno" in ancient red marble and oriental alabaster by an anonymous sculptor of the late eighteenth century
VAULT
1781/82 “Five episodes of the
story of Hermaphrodite” by Nicola Bonvicini (1735/98)
Right under
the vault “Putti” in stucco maybe by Vincenzo Pacetti (1746/1820)
FLOOR
“Ancient Roman mosaic with fishing
scene”
On the
walls three paintings with “Landscapes” by Paul
Brill (1554/1626)
“Statue of Sleeping
Hermaphrodite” copy of the second century AD from the original of the second century
BC by Policle with head restored by Vincenzo Pacetti and
mattress by Andrea Bergondi (active in Rome in
the eighteenth century)
It replaced
after 1807 another “Hermaphrodite” found during the excavations for the
foundations of the church of S.
Maria della Vittoria which had been taken by the French and it is
still in the Louvre today, featuring a marble mattress sculpted by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini
Cardinal
Scipione Borghese used to keep the Hermafrodite in a closet to not disturb the
view of his more susceptible guests
There are
about twenty copies of the Hermaphrodite but it is believed that this is one of
the best
“Hermaphrodite
exerts flatters with his torpid move, attracts with his unconscious act: with the
change of perspective induced by the movements to which we are invited, it reverses
its appearance from female to male, deceiving even the nature of sleep,
innocent or nightmarish in turns” (Paolo Moreno - Hellenistic Sculpture)
“The work
was not normally visible. Cardinal Scipione was afraid that that creature with
such an ambiguous sexuality could disturb the most sensitive among his guests,
so he kept it jealously guarded in a wooden cabinet that was very rarely opened.
At the end of the eighteenth century, Marchetti had executed the ornamentation
of the vault of the room where the statue was preserved, with included five
pictures by Nicola Bonvicini, in which was told the poignant story of
Hermaphrodite, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, and the nymph Salmaci, also sung by
Ovid in his Metamorphoses. The nymph was in love with the beautiful
Hermaphrodite, without being reciprocated. In the fountain sacred to the nymph,
near Halicarnassus, Salmaci clung so tightly to the body of her beloved who was
swimming so as to merge with him, so they could no longer be divided for
eternity, giving rise to a new being by the double gender” (Cinzia Dal Maso -
From the website www.specchioromano.it)
“Female statue
cloaked with portrait of Severina” head about 275, body about 185
“Portrait statue of
woman restored as Demeter” second century AD
“Head of Aphrodite” about 105
Painting
“Landscape with St. Jerome” by Frederick van
Valckenborch (about 1570/1623)
“Torso of child with
jug” first
century AD found in Nomentum (Mentana). It is one of the few
ancient statues in this museum that has never had interventions in order to
complete the missing parts
“Portrait of young
Titus (79/81)” about 70
“Amphora” about 1783 by Antoine-Guillaume Grandjacquet (1731/1801)
“Fragment of a statue
of Athena Parthenos” about 85, in Pentelic marble
"Among
the few Borghese monuments not subject to modern remakes, this torso is
remarkable as it manages to mantain the original pictorial values. The copy is
of the time of Domitian, the promoter of the corresponding cult of Minerva,
which meant for him an enlightened government" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia
Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Statue of young
satyr playing the syringe" second century AD
"Statue of young
satyr playing the flute" second century AD
“Porphyry basin” about 100/200
According
to Antonio Nibby it was found in the Mausoleum
of Hadrian
"Monuments
of porphyry were intended only for the emperor or his family members. The
material induces therefore to think of an imperial burial: Nero is the first
emperor who is remembered for the use of porphyry for burial (Suetonius). The
indication of provenance offered by Nibby circumscribes the possible
identification of the person to whom the precious document was intended, as in
the mausoleum were buried only Hadrian, the Antonini and Severi until
Caracalla. (...) The shape of the upper edge of the tub, not suitable for a
cover, can, however, lead to the conclusion that the artifact was destined to
an ornamental function rather than a burial one" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia
Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Head of Kore” Italic art maybe executed in Magna
Grecia (Southnrn Italy during the period of the Greek colonies about 480/470 BC
One of the
most valuable and beautiful pieces of ancient statuary in the whole museum
VAULT
“Council for the
Trojan War” 1777/83 by Laurent Pécheux (1729/1821). Geometrical drawings by G.B.
Marchetti (1730/1800)
Under the
vault "Two friezes
with pyrrhic dances" in stucco 1776/78 by Vincenzo
Pacetti (1746/1820) inspire by the ancient ones in the Pius Clementine Museum part of
the Vatican Museums
In the middle of the room:
“Aeneas and Anchises” in 1619 by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)
“The bodies
with serpentine shape has fixed Mannerist precedents, which are also to be
found in the works of his father, while the precision, the vigor and firmness
of execution is clearly a step forward from the first phase” (Rudolf Wittkower)
"Head of Athena" second
century AD on "Statue of Athena" second century AD
Marvelous
bas relief with “Profile of Alexander
the Great” in ancient marbles reworked at the end of the seventeenth
century/beginning of the eighteenth century
"Funerary relief
with three figures" about 20 BC
"Fragment
of slab from sarcophagus with cupids" about 117/138
"Statue of
Hecate with three bodies" second century AD
Hecate was
a goddess of Indo-European origin, worshiped by the Greeks and Romans. She was
the goddess of spells and spectra, she was both male and female, she was
depicted with a triple body and she was worshiped at shrines on crossroads
"Statue of Nymph
with basin" second century AD
"Statuette of
Eros in strains" about 150/200
Relief with
"Three Cherubs
sleeping" by an anonymous artist of the early XVII
century
"Head of Asclepius" second
century AD on "Group of Asclepius and Telesphorus" second century AD
Canvas “Cupid
and Psyche” 1589 by Jacopo Zucchi (about
1542/96)
Canvas
"Minerva dressing up" 1613 by the Bolognese paintress Lavinia Fontana (1552/1614)
Canvas "Death of the
Virgin Mary" by Giovanni Maria Morandi (1622/1717)
Sketch for
a bigger canvas commissioned for the church of S.
Maria della Pace
Canvas "Cupid and
Psyche" copy by Alessandro Varotari (1588/1648)
“Portrait-statue of
young girl” first century AD
"Fragment of a
sarcophagus in a basin with three philosophers" about 300
"Sarcophagus
cover with the deceased lying down" about 200/220 on "Slab of
sarcophagus with marine procession" about 230
"The
portrait of the deceased in the slab shows the type of hairstyle typical of
Orbiana, wife of Emperor Alexander Severus (222/235) and it is the term of
reference for dating the piece" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
"Group of Leda
and the Swan" second century AD
"Group of the
Child with bird" about 100/200
Bas relief "Bacchanal of
putti" in touchstone on background of lapis lazuli and "Statues of
black hunters" in 1651 by Giovanni Campi (active in the
second half of the seventeenth century)
Statue “Truth” 1647 by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)
“The relic
of the incomplete original concept is unsatisfactory. However, it is a pure
Bernini work of an unusual kind and significantly private and it has been
correctly pointed out that in this work, done only for himself, he shows for
the first time signs of what was to become his late style” (Howard Hibbard)
VAULT
In the
center “River Nile and
Goddess Cybele” and at the sides eight paintings with representation of planets: "Moon", "Jupiter", "Uranus as
Anubis with dog's head", "Saturn", "Venus", "Mars", "Sun" and "Mercury" 1779/80 by Tommaso Maria Conca (1734/1822) who was a pupil of his
uncle, the great Sebastiano Conca
Geometrical drawings by G.B.
Marchetti (1730/1800)
Under the ledge of the vault:
Eight paintings
inspired by Egypt including "Stories of
Antony and Cleopatra" also by Tommaso Maria
Conca
“Designed by
architect Antonio Asprucci, this decoration makes reference to the famous work by
Mengs, of a decade earlier: the Room of Papyri in the Vatican Museums. If it
cannot admittedly compete with that work, however, in the Egyptian room, rigor
and simplicity of geometrical divisions, the clarity of the spatial
organization, prevent profusion to become confusion. The intensity of the color
and the skill of the painter (Tommaso Maria Conca) soon made famous this room,
which was considered with care a few years later by a young architect of the
French Academy, Charles Percier, because he reckoned it was a model” (O. e G.
Michel - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
FLOOR
"Panels
with mosaics" about third century AD: "Three sea
gods", much restored, and a panel taken from a Calendar mosaic with "Rite of
purification of the Salii priests". It used to take place in March,
when the priests would struck a pigskin in front of the statue of Mars Ultor
after their leaping dances
"Salii
were ancient Roman priests, divided into two colleges, Salii Palatini and Salii
Collini, perhaps originally two different priesthoods, one of the community of
the Palatine Hill, the other of the Quirinal Hill. The associations of the
Salii were said to have been instituted by Numa to honor and cherish, confused
among others 11, a shield which had fallen miraculously from heaven, as a sign
of divine future military power of Rome. Salii, elected among the patricians,
were consecrated to Mars and Quirinus, whom they celebrated with leaping dances
of warlike type. Every March 1, they used to carry in procession through the
city the sacred shields (Ancilia), beating the spears on them and singing the
old Carmen Saliare" (Enciclopedia Treccani)
In the middle of the room:
“Group of Satyr on
Dolphin” about 130 made out of white marble with small crystals and dark veins
on "Fragments of a pair of trapezophori" first century AD
It was
restored in the early sixteenth century and in 1520 it inspired the Jonah by
Lorenzetto in the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del
Popolo, and the famous ephebes of the Turtle
Fountain by Taddeo Landini
"Sphinx" about 100 in basanite
"Sphinx"
of the nineteenth century in green basalt maybe by Luigi
Canina (1795/1856)
"Statue of
Isis" about 170 in African black marble with white marble pieces added in the
seventeenth century when it was transformed into Ceres
"The
knot at the breast and the fringe of the mantle make this statue recognizable
as the goddess Isis, represented running in the dramatic search for the
dismembered body of her husband Osiris" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Statue of a
priestess of Isis" first century AD
"Statue of Paris
(or Ganymede)" first century AD
"This
work is still tied to the Peloponnesian tradition as shown by the strength of
the structure and the insisted way of representing the inguinal groove and the dry
relief of the anatomical partitions of abdomen and chest. (...) A cold classicism
that freezes any chiaroscuro vibration" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Head of a
Woman" second century AD
"Despite
the heavy rework, this Borghese head reveals characteristics of the late fourth
century AD in the treatment of the hair" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Head of a deity" about
120/130 on "Statue of Maenad" about 135
"Statue of
Peplophoros" 50 BC/50 AD in Pentelic marble. Only the body is ancient. Head, arms
and feet are modern
"Statue of
Athena of the Cherchell type" about 140 AD in Parian marble
"Statue of
Aphrodite variant of the Landolina type" first century AD
"It is
a variant of the Landolina Aphodite of Syracuse, for some scholars to be
identified with the Callipige Aphrodite, mentioned by literary sources in that
city. The type is passed on in several examples, in which the movement of the
body and the hand gesture are derived from the Pudic Aphrodite" (Paolo
Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Statuette of
Attis" second century AD in Phrygian marble
"Four jars" and "Two vessels" in
oriental alabaster, respectively, of the eighteenth and seventeenth century
"Cup
in ancient red" about 1781/82 by Lorenzo Cardelli
"Two oval cups" in black and pink granite of the
seventeenth century
VAULT
In the
center oil painting “Sacrifice to Silenus” and at the sides two monochrome
paintings "Drunken
Silenus" and "Silenus returns
Bacchus to King Midas" 1775/78 Tommaso Maria
Conca (1734/1822)
The subject
of the vault was inspired by the statue that was originally in the middle of the
room, the "Silenus with Bacchus child" purchased in 1807 by Napoleon
and transferred to the Louvre, where it is now
Geometrical drawings by G.B. Marchetti (1730/1800)
“On the 27th
of March 1775, Conca received an initial advance sum of money for the Sacrifice
to Silenus (...). It is the beginning of a collaboration foor the decorations
ordered by Marcantonio Borghese. The commission places the Conca among the best
artists of his time. The painting (...) received the approval of Mengs; however,
today our admiration goes rather to the Dance of the Satyrs in the same vault,
over the ledge, where Conca shows his anatomical knowledge and the sureness of
his brushwork, and at the same time, thanks to his compositional freedom, it
gives a sense of vitality and cheerful paganism” (O. e G. Michel - Dizionario
Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
In the middle of the room:
“Statue of Dancing Satyr” about 220, found in 1824 in Monte
Calvo in the province of Rieti and restored by the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)
"The
restoration by Thorvaldsen gave the hands castanets, while originally the demon
would have taken a double flute to his mouth with a different rhythmic
movement. From his feet touching the ground with just the toes springs a spiral
movement that constantly changes the outlook of the body. One has to turn
around the statue to understand the restless spatiality of this sculpture"
(Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Statue of Satyr
Resting (Anapauòmenos)” about 120/130 from the original of about 340
BC by Praxiteles (about 395/326 BC)
"It is
identified with the Satyr at Rest by Praxiteles that Pliny called 'periboetos',
very famous. (...) There are more than one hundred copies known, of which
twenty in fragments. (...) The finer replica, the one that would almost give
the feeling of the original, remains the fragment from the Palatine Hill now in
the Louvre" (Paolo Moreno and Alexia Latini - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Portrait of Aesop” first century AD
Canvas “Judith and
Holofernes” 1608 by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)
Canvas "The capture of
Christ" by the Dutch Dirck van Baburen (about 1595/1624)
“Original
name Theodor Baburen, Dutch painter who was a leading member of the Utrecht
school, which was influenced by the dramatic chiaroscuro style of the Italian
painter Caravaggio.(…) After studying painting with a portraitist and history
painter in Utrecht, Baburen traveled to Rome about 1612. (…) A certain
coarseness in conception, irregular compositional rhythms, and less atmospheric
quality distinguish Baburen’s art from that of his greater contemporaries, but
his manner of painting can be said to be broad and forceful” (Encyclopaedia
Britannica – www.britannica.com)
Canvas "The Judgment of
Solomon" by the so called Master of the Judgement of
Solomon who worked in Rome between 1620 and 1630
Canvas “Joseph and Potiphar's
Wife”
1610 by Ludovico Cardi aka Cigoli (1559/1613)
"One of
the slippers, overturned in the foreground at the foot of the bed in a nice
detail of still life, is a sign of attention of the artist for costumes and
furniture, for which he meticulously chose precious materials, like silk,
damask, and velvet, able to reflect the light in different ways. Also gestures
participate to the theatrical moment represented on the scene. Architect as
well as painter, Ludovico Cardi began following the Mannerist style of
Alessandro Allori, he later followed the style of Federico Barocci, and was
eventually influenced by Venetian painting" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
Canvas "Diana and
Actaeon" about 1600/10 by Bernardino Cesari (1571/1622)
brother of Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino
Oil on
copper "Capture of
Christ" 1596/97 and canvas "Rape of
Europa" about 1603/06 by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier
d'Arpino (1568/1640)
"As in
the painting by his brother with Diana and Actaeon, in the myth of the Rape of
Europe doesn’t appear the dramatic side of the abduction, and Europe, with her
robes billowing, takes off nicely as her companions wave goodbye. Even in this
work the landscape elements, in the left foreground and in the background to
the right, show stylistic tangents with Paul Brill" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
“Head of Periander” about 135 on “Body
of Greek Lettered Man Sitting” first century AD
"Statue of
emperor sitting as Jupiter restored as Mercury" first century AD on "Fragment
of sarcophagus slab festooned with Nereids carrying Achilles’ weapons"
140/150
"Nude male
statue restored as Commodus" second century AD
“Portrait of a Woman” third century
AD on “Cloaked Female Statue Restored as Muse” second century AD
"Portrait of a Woman third
century AD on "Cloaked Female Statue of the Small Ercolanese type"
second century AD
"Portrait of
Faustina Major" about 138/141
"Portrait of
Domitia Lucilla" second century AD, mother of Marcus Aurelius
"Portrait of
Tiberius (14/37)" about 13 A.D.
Six
masterpieces by the giant of art Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610):
“Boy with a Basket of
Fruit”
about 1593/94 representing his young (16 years) pupil and maybe lover Mario
Minniti
“The mirror
adopted as optical chamber, already reveals a new way of painting; for he
sensed evidence of a stronger definition that is acquired by an object painted and
not as seen directly, but through the mirror on which it reflects. The artist
thus obtained a true representation of all the natural reality and of the human
figure” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
“Hibbard,
referring to the archetype, narrated by Pliny the Elder, of the painting of
Zeuxis depicting a young man wearing bunches of grapes so realistic as to
deceive the birds trying to catch them, underlined the concept of the illusive quality
of art, imitating natural reality. The diversity of drafting of the figure,
more nuanced and inaccurate in the definition, has perhaps its mythographic and
thematic source in Zeuxis’s disappointment for not being able to paint just
like the reality in the depiction of the human figure, because the bird was not
scared. The contrast between the figure and the fruit basket shows the
intentional challenge to represent with different camouflage capacity the
contrasting nature of living reality, with a soul, and dead reality of inanimate
objects” (Anna Coliva)
“St. John the Baptist” about 1610
“The model
was so immature that the previous identification of Caravaggio with adolescent
introspection of his models is replaced by a delicate sensitivity to the
vulnerability of children (...). It was wonderful what Caravaggio could create
with a red cloth. It was a leitmotif in his work, ever more intensely present
in these paintings of 1610, and it intensified feelings very different from
each other, from the carnal to the tragic to the desolate, as if it were itself
a blaze of human feeling, that would burn or shine against the invading
darkness” (Peter Robb)
“St. Jerome Writing” about 1606, painted for Cardinal
Scipione Borghese who used to own twelve paintings by Caravaggio in total
“The
structure, powerfully sucked into the foreground to invade almost all the
available space, is strongly articulated thanks to the books protruding
sideways out of of the picture plane, towards the viewer, thanks to the intersecting
groups of parallel planes, identified by large painted drafts, and thanks to
the lighting typical of Caravaggio, projected on individual elements from
multiple sources” (Mia Cinotti)
“The fact
that a painter would show as much interest for the realities of old age as for
youth and beauty was something absolutely new. Even Leonardo had shown old age as
caricature. Caravaggio showed instead a deep sensitivity to its fragility”
(Peter Robb)
“Our Lady of the
Grooms”
1605, originally painted for the Chapel of S. Anna in the Basilica of St. Peter
and later acquired by Cardinal Scipione Borghese
“It was the
late twentieth century that would understand and demonstrate that Merisi da
Caravaggio, this irascible and violent character, frequenter of bad company,
was an authentically religious spirit, bearer of the ideas and feelings of the
most advanced modern Christian aesthetics. Catholic spirituality of Counter
Reformation invited artists to adhere to the letter and meaning of Scripture
and, at the same time to update the message, so as to make it understandable to
everyone and effective for all. In all his paintings of religious subjects the morality
of visible Truth revealed by light becomes a modern epiphany of the Sacred,
essential catechesis stripped of any rhetoric” (Antonio Paolucci)
“David with the Head
of Goliath” about 1606
David has
quite possibly the appearance of Cecco Boneri, later painter known as Cecco da
Caravaggio, a disciple of the master whom he had perhaps followed in his flight
from Rome after he had killed Ranuccio Tomassoni in 1606
Goliath has
the appearance of Caravaggio himself
“Noting the humble,
anti-heroic, Christological interpretation and the self-portrait in Goliath, a
symbol of evil, it is clear that the motto engraved in the shell of the sword,
the final instrument of Justice, would be on H(umilit)AS O(ccidit) S(uperbiam),
humbleness kills haughtiness. In a way one can recall the rebus-paintings with
music of the Roman period, but, in this case, are apparent the confession, the
auto da fe of the haughty and fugitive murderer, and his humble and desperate
request for grace through a biblical symbol of divine justice” (Maurizio
Marini)
“It is the
most dramatic and exciting representation of the story of David ever painted
until then ... The intense and heavy look of David is full of desolate piety, of
endless and deep melancholy, the same that veiled in an earlier period the look
of Boy with Basket of Fruit. It is a kind of expressiveness of unique strength
that encompasses the entire poetic art of Caravaggio whereby contemplative
consciousness, painful and full of infinite pity, pities guilty humanity,
impossible to save” (Anna Coliva)
“Sick Bacchus” 1593/94 self-portrait of Caravaggio
The
painting belonged to the painter Cavalier d'Arpino, but Cardinal Scipione
Borghese had him imprisoned for owning illegal firearms and took it away from
him as well as the “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” as a ransom for his freedom
“It is
significant that, at the end of 1500s, the starting point towards realism is
the still life painting of objects. The same will happen with the new realist
revival in the last decades of 1800s. The result is a revolutionary thesis, the
dismantling of hierarchies of topics, the choice of a painting without a
subject and without apparent action, better able to approach the truth, to get
rid of myths, ideologies and false decorum. Only in this way it would have been
possible to get to a just, modern idea of action, with a new living implementation
of paintings of History. And the histories will be painted, by the hand of
Caravaggio, and we know how violently he would eventually propose them” (Renato
Guttuso)
VAULT
“Ceres and Cupid” 1788 by Vincenzo
Berrettini (active 1774/1818)
In this small room there are works visually
connected to the Borghese family
Canvas
"The Fall of Lucifer" by Jacopo Negretti aka Palma
the Younger (1544/1628)
Four images
made out of inlaid stones "Sacrifice of
Isaac", "The Promised Land", "The Penitent Magdalene"
and "The Virgin Mary as a laundress" by Tuscan
workers of the seventeenth century
"The
anonymous artist has cleverly exploited the variety of colors of the stones,
fitting the geometric profiles in a set that reveals its modernity in stylized
landscapes. Little space in fact is given to the figures, within a context modeled
on classicists canons, derived from painting" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
Oil on
alabaster "Vision of St. Augustine" and "Temptation of St.
Anthony" by an unknown Roman artist of the second
half of the sixteenth century
"In the
Vision of St. Augustine, the Eternal Father supports the Son in a pose clearly
derived by Michelangelo. (...) Various paint losses prevent from understanding
what was the original appearance of these works" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Oil on board
"Orpheus" by an unknown
artist of the first half of the seventeenth century inspired by Jan Bruegel the
Elder
Two oils on
copper "Vase with Flowers" 1595 maybe by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568/1625), son of Pieter
Brueghel the Elder
"Flowers and
Butterflies" about 1670 by the Dutchman Willem van Aelst aka
Guglielmo Fiamengo (about 1626/83)
Mosaics by Marcello Provenzale (1575/1639): "Madonna and
Child", "Orpheus" and "Portrait of Paul V Borghese"
"Playing
on the alternation of lighter and darker tiles, the artist has represented with
technical mastery the three-dimensionality of the mass of clouds that surrounds
the Virgin Mary and her mantle folded in thick folds, even managing to show the
brightness of the halo surrounding the head. (...) A pupil of Paolo Rossetti in
Rome, he worked as a mosaic artist in the Gregorian Chapel in St. Peter. (...)
Countryman of Guercino, to whom he was very close, he long worked for the
Borghese family and they even gave him accomodation in their Campo Marzio
palace " (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Portrait of
Paul V Borghese" of the early XVII century by Ludovico Leoni
aka Padovanino (1542/1612)
"Marble bust of
an unknown man" by an anonymous artist of the sixteenth century
"View of Villa
Borghese" mid-seventeenth century by the Dutchman Abraham
van Cuylenborch (about 1610/58)
"In contrast
with the view by Baur, the artist did not pay any attention to the façade,
using it almost as a scenic backdrop: in this way the paths that open up in the
woods on either side of the main path seem to have the function of theater
wings capable to give access to the extras of a show" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Façade
of Villa Borghese" 1636 by the Alsatian Johann
Wilhelm Baur (1610/40)
"View
of a seaport" about 1611/12 by Paul Brill (1554/1626)
"The
Flemish artist was busy at that time with the cycle of frescoes for the
Borghese residence of Montecavallo. (...) The flags flying on the flagpole of
the sailing ship are variously related to the Borghese family and the city of
Rome" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
VAULT
“Stories of
Aeneas and Dido”: in the center “Dido’s Suicide” and at the sides "Aeneas escaping
from Troy", "Aeneas and
Achates before Dido", "The Banquet of
Dido with Aeneas and Achates" and "Mercury urges
Aeneas to leave Carthage" 1783/85 by Anton von
Maron (1733/1808)
Geometrical drawings by G.B.
Marchetti (1730/1800)
Spectacular fireplace with marble bas-relief in ancient
red marble "Theseus looking at Fea he had just killed" 1783 by Vincenzo Pacetti (1746/1820)
"Holy
Family" beginning of 1500s by the Spaniard Pedro
Machuca (d. 1550)
"He was
in close contact with the generation of the first mannerist painters, and his
Hispanic origin favored those forces in the direction of a markedly
anti-classical painting. The compositional structure as an X of the painting
breaks in fact the Raphael-like equilibrium to which the work is inspired, the
so-called Madonna of the Chair of Pitti Palace in Florence" (Chiara
Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"St.
Sebastian" and "Crucifixion with Sts. Jerome and Christopher" by Pietro
Vannucci aka Pietro Perugino (about 1450/1523)
"Madonna with
Child" maybe by Pietro Perugino
Round
painting "Adoration of
the Child" by Piero di Cosimo (1462/1521)
Round
painting "Adoration of
the Child" maybe by Jacopo del Tedesco (active late
fifteenth/early sixteenth century)
"The
works by Jacopo del Tedesco have been identified and catalogued just because of
this painting that, previously, had made scholars coin the conventional name
'Maestro del Tondo Borghese', Master of the Borghese Round Painting"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Madonna
and Child with St. John the Baptist" about 1488/90 by Lorenzo di Credi (1459/1537)
"Madonna and
Child with St. John the Baptist" about 1530 by Raffaellino
del Colle (about 1490/1566)
Round
painting "Adoration of
the Child" 1495/1500 by Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino aka Fra' Bartolomeo (1472/1517)
"The
key figure in Florentine painting of the beginning of the late Renaissance,
Fra' Bartolomeo, was a deeply religious spirit. In this way the decisive step
towards the new artistic ideal is accomplished without completely breaking with
tradition. As the economy of his pictorial compositions is part of the new era,
in fact, it is the focus point of the works by Raphael, Fra' Bartolomeo,
rejecting the drama and merely placing peacefully side by side the figures of
the Holy conversation, remains the perfecter of the ancient ecclesiastical
style, comparable in many ways directly to Perugino" (Hermann Voss)
Round
painting "Madonna with
Child, St. John and Angels" 1488/90 by Sandro Filipepi aka Botticelli (1445/1510)
"The
small proportions of the saint, compared to the other figures, indicate that
this round painting is a collaboration with the artist's workshop. (...)
However, there remain characteristic features of other works of the master: the
position of the head of the Virgin Mary, reclining on her Son’s head, the
angels with slender hands and faces framed by curls and floral garlands"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Psyche
transported to Olympus" maybe by the Flemish Lambert
van Noort (active 1520/1570-71)
"Portrait
of Young Man" by Ridolfo Bigordi aka Ridolfo del
Ghirlandaio (1483/1561)
"Pieta and Four
Saints" about 1509 by Andrea d'Agnolo aka Andrea Del
Sarto (1486/1531)
"It
exemplifies the effort of synthesis made on models by Raphael in his Florentine
period and on Leonardo's sfumato on which a whole generation of modern painters
of Mannerism was formed" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Rond painting
"Madonna and
Child with St. John the Baptist" by Lorenzo di Credi (1459/1537)
"Crucifixion and
Sts. Jerome and Christopher" about 1473 by Bernardino di Betto aka Pinturicchio (1454/1513)
"Virgin Mary and
Child with St. John the Baptist as a child" about 1522 by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio Romano (1499/1546)
"Portrait of a
Man" 1505 maybe by Hans Leonard Schäufelein (about
1483/about 1538-40)
Three
paintings: "Madonna and Child", "The Holy Family with St. Anne
and St. John the Baptist" and "Holy
Family" about 1530 by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del
Vaga (1501/47)
"The
layout of the Holy Family with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist, leaving aside
St. Anne and St. Joseph in the background, emphasizes the central figures of
the Mother, the Child and St. John, accentuated by light. Coming from the
right, light shows, through a shimmering effect, the left sleeve of Our Lady's
dress and the neckline of her dress, to which the child is clinging, according
to a pattern typical of Raphael" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese
T.C.I.)
Three
paintings: "Portrait of a
Man" about 1505, "Portrait of a
Young Woman with Unicorn" 1505/06 and "Pala Baglioni
(Baglioni Altarpiece): Deposition of Christ" 1507 by Raffaello
Sanzio (Raphael) (1483/1520)
The
"Portrait of a Young Woman," probably at the end of 1600s, had been
repainted and turned into a portrait of St. Catherine. The great art historian
Roberto Longhi had the intuition that it was a painting by Raphael representing
a woman with a unicorn and during the restoration of 1935 the original work of
the great master from Urbino was rediscovered
The "Pala
Baglioni" was stolen at the order of Cardinal Scipione Borghese himself
from the Baglioni Chapel in the church of S. Francesco in Perugia. The people
in Perugia complained and his uncle, Pope Paul V, sent a copy of the painting executed
by Giovanni Lanfranco
"Sanzio
articulates the individual figures and groups according to strained dynamic
cadences similar to the dissonant rhythms of Michelangelo, while the enhanced
expression of the faces reveals, together with the influence of Leonardo, the
knowledge of the classic depictions of pathos, perhaps of the Laocoon itself
which was found on January 14, 1506 and it is echoed in the face of the third
bearer from the left" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio
Giuliano)
"Although
the picture is the sum of two distinct inventions, a Deposition, with the dead
Christ derived from the Pietà by Michelangelo, and one of the Virgin Mary fainting,
derived from the Tondo Doni, the fact is that the artist proposes it as a unit,
by connecting the two parties with the large carrier on the right, who is, in
fact, the dominant figure, and at the same time, the less expressive of a
particular affection. It is indeed an obviously ideal figure: archangel or incarnate
genius, as suggested by his hair hit by a wind that does not touch the other
figures. It is this ideal figure at the center (with whom tradition identifies
Grifonetto, son of the client of this painting, Atalanta Baglioni, murdered in the
year 1500 during the fratricide war of the Baglioni family in Perugia - editor's
note), which dominates the pained expressions of the others and establishes
between the two episodes a unity of time and place that may in fact reflect
compliance with the principles of Aristotle's Poetics" (Giulio Carlo
Argan)
Two copies
of paintings by Raphael: "Portrait of Pope Julius II", the original
of which is in the National Gallery in London and "La Fornarina" the
original of which is in the National
Gallery of Ancient Art in Palazzo Barberini
VAULT
"Stories of
Hercules": in the center "Apotheosis of
Hercules" and at the sides "Hercules
receives the Horn of Achelous", "Nessus and
Deianira", "Hercules and
Lica" and "Death of Hercules" 1784/86 by the Tyrolean artist Christopher Unterberger ( 1732/98)
Geometrical drawings by G.B.
Marchetti (1730/1800)
"Unterberger
moved to Rome in 1759 and he was accepted among the academics of St. Luke in
1772 thanks to Anton Raphael Mengs. When he was called to work for Prince
Marcantonio Borghese in this room known as Room of Hercules or Room of Repose,
Unterberger was an established artist at the height of his career. He was later
appointed to re-arrange the gardens of the villa on Pincium Hill in a quaint
English style, with sculptures and architecture, such as the Fountain of the
Sea Horses (1790/91) or the Temple of Faustina (1792). In this vault he showed
an unsuspected Michelangelo-derived style" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
This room
in the seventeenth century was known as the Room of Repose for the presence of
a four-poster bed and the statue "Sleep" in black marble by
Alessandro Algardi, now in Room XIV
White
marble and porphyry fireplace 1783 by Vincenzo Pacetti (1746/1820)
with "Masks and Garlands" in gilded bronze by
Antonio De Rossi
In the middle of the room:
"Statue of Young
Gypsy Woman" polymateric, in bronze, white marble and gray marble, of the beginning
of 1600s by Nicolas Cordier (1567/1612)
"Danae" 1531 by Antonio
Allegri aka Correggio (1489/1534) for Federico II Gonzaga who wanted to
donate this painting and the others of the series Loves of Jupiter (Io, Ganymede and Leda) to Charles V for his
coronation in 1530 in Bologna
The two cupids in the
lower right corner check with a touchstone that love has not been corrupted after having been
touched by gold dropped as rain on the beautiful Danae
"The
mastery of chiaroscuro effects, the exquisite coolness and light transparency
of shadows, parted to Correggio new ways of beauty, even for painting figures.
And not only he was the very first, but he was among the finest who studied the
play of light on epidermis. Without endless study it would have been impossible
the miracle of Danae, where it seems possible to perceive the flickering of
feelings on the skin, such as wrinkling of breeze on motionless water. (...)
Among his contemporaries no one else expressed feminine charm in such a
beautiful way; even his closest follower, Parmigianino, soon lost it among too
much elegance" (Bernard Berenson)
"Tobias and the
Angel" about 1545 and "Judgment of
Solomon" by the Florentine Pier Francesco Foschi (1502/67)
"After
his debut in the workshop of Andrea del Sarto, the artist was influenced by Fra'
Bartolomeo, Sogliani and Pontormo, producing works embodying a religiosity that
anticipated the dictates of the Counter Reformation" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Venus and Cupid
at Sea" about 1565 and "Love at
rest" about 1565 by Luca Cambiaso (1527/85)
"Portrait of
Young Woman as St. Catherine" first decade of the sixteenth century and "Venus between
two Cupids" about 1520/25 by Andrea Piccinelli aka Andrea
Brescianino (active in the early sixteenth century)
"After
an initial knowledge of Raphael during his Florentine period, Andrea del
Brescianino approached the style of Fra' Bartolomeo. Only after the twenties of
the sixteenth century, the artist seems to be influenced by Andrea del Sarto,
and it is during this period that this Venus was painted" (Chiara Stefani
- Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Venus and Cupid
bearing the Honeycomb" by Lucas Cranach the
Elder (1472/1553)
"The
episode of Love receiving the comfort of Venus, after being stung by bees,
having naively stealing a honeycomb, it is of Hellenistic tradition, and, not
surprisingly, the subject is commented on by the verses of Theocritus (Idilli,
XIX) displayed in the upper right of the painting" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Leda" and "Lucretia" about 1565 by Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1503/77)
"St. John the
Baptist" about 1555 by Agnolo di Cosimo Tori aka
Bronzino (1503/72)
"The
attention to the different texture of matter, typical of Bronzino, is found in
the treatment of the beardless face of the saint, which has almost the
smoothness of a sculptural surface " (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese
T.C.I.)
"Madonna and Child
with St. John the Baptist" about 1518 by Andrea d'Agnolo aka Andrea Del Sarto (1486/1531)
“David with head of
Goliath and a Page” first half of the sixteenth century by an unknown
pupil of Dosso Dossi
“Portrait of Woman” by Innocenzo Francucci aka Innocenzo da Imola (about 1488/about 1545)
"Portrait of a
Man" about 1526 by Francesco Mazzola aka Parmigianino
(1503/40)
"For
Rome Parmigianino became important for having given new elegance and grace to
the scheme of the tapestries of Raphael; to this should be added the expressive
pattern of his profiles, which fascinated as a musical tune never heard before.
However, a characteristic of his style, the strong elongation of the figures,
could not find echo on Roman soil, although abroad, not least in France and in
the countries of the North, has influenced the ideal body" (Hermann Voss)
"Portrait of a
Youth" about 1530 by an unknown pupil of Parmigianino,
maybe Pietro Negroni
"Sts. Cecilia
and Valerian" about 1555 by Lelio Orsi (1511/87)
Lelio Orsi dressed
up the two saints as two nobles of his time and placed them in an environment
that could have also been of his time as well, in an interesting task of
updating and alluding elegantly to the martyrdom of St. Cecilia and St.
Valerian
"Landscape with
Magical Procession" 1527 and "Portrait of a
Man with Gloves in Hand" by Girolamo da Carpi (1501/56)
"Landscape with
figures of Knights and Ladies" about 1550/52 and "Portrait of a
Woman" about 1547/51 by Niccolò dell'Abate (about
1510/71)
"With
consistency the artist is able to filter out artistic ideas from the Veneto
region and Ferrara, which came from the paintings by Dosso Dossi, and those of the
Northern Schools. In the background the thin buildings help to create the fable
universe typical of his landscape paintings" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
VAULT
Three scenes
of the "Myth of Ganymede”: in the center “Ganymede presented
to Jupiter” and, at the sides, “Ganymede and
Jupiter” and “Ganymede on the
Eagle”
1790 by Vincenzo Berrettini (active 1774/1818)
Decorations
on a light background by Felice Giani (1758/1823)
In this
room there are many paintings of the School of Ferrara. Ferrara became part of the
Papal States in 1598 and the Cardinal Scipione Borghese was thus able to more
easily enrich his collection with works by artists of that city
Five
paintings by Ippolito Scarsella aka Scarsellino (1551/1620):
"Dinner in the House
of Simon the Pharisee" 1590/95
"The Bath of Venus" about 1585
"Salmaci and
Hermaphrodite" about 1590
"The Massacre of
the Innocents" about 1600/10
"The
red robes of some female figures stand out in the golden brown and almost
uniform color in the painting, which reveals the restless pre-Baroque style of
the maturity of this artist" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Madonna with
Child, St. John and St. Joseph" about 1592/93
"The
work of Scarsellino lies at the turning point of the sixteenth-century
tradition of Ferrara, whose intense chromaticism, gained during a fruitful
Venetian stay, anticipates the painting style of the new century, thanks to a
direct relationship with the art of the Carraccis" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Nine
paintings by Benvenuto Tisi aka Garofalo (about
1481/1559):
"Holy
Family" about 1516
"Madonna and
Child" about 1517
"Flagellation of
Christ" 1527
"The
classicism of the face of Christ emphasizes the suspended moment only reminiscent
of the real representation and contrasts with some features of the faces of the
torturers who, like their clothing and like the headgear of one of the elders
on the left, show references to Nordic prints that the artist could have known in
the Veneto region or in the city of Ferrara" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
"Crying on the
Deposition of Christ" about 1530/32
"Conversion of
St. Paul" 1545
"Adoration of
the Shepherds" about 1510/16
"Jesus calling St.
Peter" about 1520/22
"Madonna
and Child with Sts. Peter and Paul" about 1518
"Madonna with
Child, St. Michael and Saints" about 1508
"The
Madonna with Child, St. Michael and Saints summarizes various artistic
experience gained by Garofalo, from Dosso, Raphael or Giulio Romano. The
Archangel Michael with the armor that reflects the flashes of light reveals the
assimilation of the lesson of Giorgione, probably occurred during his stay in
Venice, to be dated 1508" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Four
paintings by Ludovico Mazzoli aka Ludovico Mazzolino (about
1479/about 1529):
"Adoration of
the Magi" about 1522
"Christ
and the adulteress" about 1527
"Nativity"
1506/07
"Incredulity of
St. Thomas" about 1521
"Trained
at the Este court, Ludovico Mazzolino grafted, on the branch of Ferrara’s
tradition - of Ercole de' Roberti or Lorenzo Costa -, his knowledge of Nordic
prints, sometimes reaching outcomes almost grotesque in the definition of the
figures" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Deposition from
the Cross" about 1518 by Giovanni Battista Benvenuti aka
Ortolano (1487/after 1524)
"Christ and the
Samaritan woman at the well" mid-sixteenth century by an unknown follower of Garofalo
VAULT
In the
center "Women Followers
of Bacchus" 1790 by Felice Giani (1758/1823)
"Pieta" about 1518 and "The Holy
Family" by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi aka Sodoma
(1477/1549)
Oil on
paper "Head of a Youth" by Domenico
Beccafumi (1486/1551)
"Very
special artist, full of fantastic inventions, perfectly able to compete on an
equal footing with Sodoma. However, his strength lies not in the delicacy and
harmony of the north-Italian pictorial creation, in that feeling typical in
Lombardy for grace and subtlety of physiognomic expression, as is the case for
Sodoma. An authenticTuscan artist, Beccafumi tends rather to force and tension
in the drawing of the figures and movements, to compositions full of contrasts,
to interesting interpretation and to animation of the subject, a style that
characterizes him for a strong inclination to bizarre and eccentric" (Hermann
Voss)
"Blessing
Christ" about 1500 by Marco D'Oggiono (1470/1549)
"The
artist could have known the map of Enrico Martello (about 1490) or that of an
unknown Lombard of 1502, but he was certainly also aware of the evidence given
by Leonardo on the sphericity of the Earth" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
"Christ Carrying
the Cross" about 1511 by Andrea Solario aka Solari (about
1473/1520)
"Our Lady of Sorrows" and "Ecce Homo" 1543 by Simon
Mailly aka Simon de Châlons (mid-sixteenth century)
"Portrait
of a Gentleman" about 1535 by Lorenzo Lotto (about
1480/1556)
"The
small skull surrounded by rose petals and jasmine is a memento mori of high
symbolic value that is linked to the gesture of the hand pressed on the spleen
(believed to be the seat melancholic mood), expressing a sense of melancholy
and suffering" (Bernard Berenson)
Drawing in
silverpoint on paper "Female
Head" by the Master of the Sforza Altarpiece (active
in Lombardy 1490/1520)
"The
chiaroscuro made with a silver pen is able to emphasize the three-dimensional
face, similar to Leonardo’s style. (...) Attributed to Leonardo in the
inventory of 1790, it was long thought that it was a preparatory study for the
Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre. Instead, it is to be referred to the Master
of the Sforza Altarpiece, named by the work painted in 1494 by Ludovico il Moro
now in the Pinacoteca di Brera" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Virgin
Mary with Child" about 1451 by Bartolomeo Vivarini
(about 1432/after 1491)
"Virgin Mary breast
feeding her Child" about 1520 by Giovanni
Pedrini aka Giampietrino (active about 1515/40)
"The idea
of the iconography of the Virgin Mary which gives the breast to the Child - the
'Madonna del Latte' - is attributed to Leonardo. (...) Here Giampietrino prove himself
attentive to the compositional motifs of another artist influenced, like him, by
Leonardo: Marco d'Oggiono” (Chiara Stefani – Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Portrait of a
Woman" about 1515 maybe by Bernardino Licinio (about
1485/after 1549)
"Portrait
of a Woman" about 1500/10 by Giovanni Antonio
Boltraffio (1466-67/1516)
"Growing
up in the orbit of the Lombard Vincenzo Foppa, Boltraffio was early influenced
by the novelty of Leonardo's painting. He devoted himself particularly to the
portrait, exploring the potential of psychological insight, as already revealed
the look of this woman" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Portrait of Fernando
Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba" second half of the sixteenth century by an unknown Venetian master
"Portrait of
Ludwig X of Bavaria" about 1530 by an unknown
artist from the workshop of Barthel Beham
"St. Jerome" early sixteenth century by an unknown Lombard master
"Portrait of a
Man" early sixteenth century maybe by Giovanni
Mansueti (1465-70/1526-27)
"Leda and the
Swan" copy from Leonardo da Vinci (1452/1519) maybe by Sodoma (1477/1549)
"As the
Battle of Anghiari foreshadows the Baroque megalomaniac convulsion, so the Leda
imposes the serpentine line that would be appreciated and imitated by generations
of mannerist. It is remarkable that in the same period (between 1504 and 1506),
Michelangelo was working on the Tondo Doni, where the central figure of the Virgin
Mary shows a posture not too dissimilar from the kneeling Leda by Leonardo.
Hard to say if the virtuosity of Buonarroti in trying the strangest twists owes
something to the research of Leonardo or vice versa. What is certain is that
the two rivals artists found here a point of contact" (Massimiliano
Capati)
VAULT
Paintings
representing the "Fame of the
Borghese family" 1790 by Felice Giani (1758/1823)
"Stories of
Joseph Hebrew" about 1530 by Antonio di Donnino del Mazziere (late
fourteenth century/1547)
"Stories of
Joseph Hebrew" by Ubertino Verdi aka Bachiacca
(1494/1557)
"In the
Stories of Joseph Hebrew, when the shortage in form and
weak compositional talents don’t disturb excessively, Bachiacca is surprising
for his pleasant qualities of narrator and all sorts of bizarre
inventions" (Hermann Voss)
"Madonna
and Child with St. Anthony Abbot and St. Catherine" by Jacopo de' Boateri (active in Bologna about 1540)
"Madonna with
Child, St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist" about 1513 maybe by Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani formerly known as Master of the Kress Landscapes (1484/1527)
"Holy
Family" about 1510, "Virgin Mary and
Child with Two Angels" and "Mary Magdalene" about 1510 by Domenico Puligo (1492/1527)
"Portrait of
Petrarch" by an anonymous artist of the end of 1400s from
a prototype by Francesco Bonsignori (about 1455/1519)
"Communion of St.
Catherine of Siena" about 1490/1500 by Bernardino
Fungai (about 1460/1516)
"Based
on a comparison with a painting in a private collection, the board is
attributed to Bernardino Fungai, Sienese artist, tied to the school of Giovanni
di Paolo and Sassetta, who keeps in his works - of mainly devotional subject -
a style still archaic" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Christ at the
Column" about 1470/80 by Lorenzo Costa from
Ferrara (about 1460/1535)
"Madonna with
Child, St. John and St. Elizabeth" about 1512 by the Spaniard Alonso Berruguete (about 1488/1561)
"It was
Roberto Longhi to recognize here the hand of Alonso Berruguete, active in
Florence and Rome between 1508-10 and 1514. An important, if not among the
best, artists of the Manneristic period, he reveals his eccentric and
anti-classical style in the smile of St. John and in the pointed profile of St.
Anna" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Holy Family with St. John" 1511 by Mariotto Albertinelli (1474/1515) and Bartolomeo di
Paolo del Fattorino aka Fra' Bartolomeo (1472/1517)
"Christ Blessing" by Bartolomeo di
Paolo del Fattorino aka Fra' Bartolomeo
Three
paintings by Francesco Raibolini aka Francia (1450/1517):
"S. Francis" about 1475
"This hairless
face of St. Francis, with its mild expression of resignation to the divine
will, foretells in its purism influences of paintings by Perugino, increasingly
evident in the works of Francia around the end of the century" (Chiara
Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Madonna
and Child in a Rose Garden" about 1470/80
"St. Stephen" about 1475
"Madonna and Child
with St. John the Baptist" about 1518 Francesco
di Cristoforo aka Franciabigio (1482-83/1525)
VAULT
Amazing
fresco "The council of
the Gods" 1624/25 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)
maybe from an iconographic program of Ferrante Carlo, Secretary of Cardinal Scipione
Borghese
This room
was a lodge until the end of the eighteenth century, when the openings on the
garden were closed
"In
January of 1624 from the marriage of Marcantonio Borghese and Camilla Orsini
was born Paolo the new heir to the Borghese family: the event was perhaps
greeted with the decoration of this very Loggia - in emulation of the Casino
Ludovisi - which portrays the gods of pagan mythology as celebration of a
return to the Golden age. While portraying an allegorical design not yet fully
understood, it is clear the reference in the figure of Jupiter to Pope Urban
VIII, and in that of Apollo to Cardinal Scipione Borghese. (...) Unlike the
precedents of 'illusionary frames' in Rome (Raffaello in the Farnesina,
Annibale Carracci in the Palazzo Farnese) Lanfranco conceived a unitary
representation, playing with the fake architectural structures on either side
of the vault" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Five lunettes
on the wall with windows "The Winds"
and various monochrome paintings 1779 by Domenico Corvi
(1721/1803)
Four
landscapes: "Landscape with Scene
under a Tent", "Landscape with
Waterfall", "Landscape with Fishermen" and "Landscape with
Sermon of St. John the Baptist" by the artist from Bologna Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/about 1680)
"The
identity of the size and material leads to believe that the four oils were part
of a single decorative project. As was common at the time for the genre of
landscape painting, these paintings could have been used above doors’ lintels.
(...) They are part of the rare landscape paintings on easel by Grimaldi, who had
a predominant activity as painter of frescos in Rome" (Chiara Stefani -
Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Two rounds
of copper oil paintings "Calling of St. Peter" and "Christ and the
Samaritan Woman" first half of 1600s, by an unknown artist follower of Domenichino
Four round
panels with "Stories of Venus and Diana": "The Hair of
Venus”,
"Venus in the
Forge of Vulcan", "Venus and
Adonis" and "The Triumph of
Diana" about 1618 by Francesco Albani (1578/1660)
"A little
self creatively, he strengthened the classic trend in the academic sense,
especially evident in the works of great format. He participated in the
decorative works of colleagues in Bologna, he worked for Guido Reni and
constantly shared positions Domenichino" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano
Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
Five
sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680):
"Bust of Paul V
Borghese (1605/21)" about 1617/18
"An essential
difference between this bust and the works of the same period is in the
rendering of the eyes, the only case, together with putti of the ' Amalthea Goat',
where eyes sculpted by Bernini have smooth globes, without the notches of the
pupil. The vagueness of the look enhances the expressiveness of the other features
of the face, such as the mouth. (...) The imperiousness of the nose is much
more evident. All these characteristics give a 'psychological truth' to the
portrait of the Borghese pope, which the other portrait of 1921 (known only from
a reproduction and from a bronze version executed by Sebastiano Sebastiani now
in Copenhagen) does not achieve" (Anna Coliva - Bernini Scultore)
"Two
busts of Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese" 1632, of which one with a crack on
the forehead
When Bernini
saw that a crack had opened in the marble bust that he was completing, he rushed
immediately to carve a new identical bust which he finished in a few days
So he
presented to the cardinal the bust with the crack as if nothing had happened
and, to his embarrassment but composed reaction, he revealed the second bust
causing this time the uncontrolled jubilation of his protector
"Its
style is dynamic; the head is presented in a momentary movement, the lively eye
seems to stare at the viewer and his mouth, half open as if talking, would
almost invite the viewer to have a conversation with him. Also dynamic is the
arrangement of the drapery, on which light shines and almost sparkle, and therefore
seems in constant motion" (Rudolf Wittkower)
"Amalthea
Goat" about 1615, his first work as a youth
"Bernini
worked the group confronting the art of painting, as evidenced by the various
surfaces mimetically represented: the fleece of the goat and the metal bell,
the baby's skin and his garland of vine shoots. The sculptor thus enters into
competition with the painter in evoking the color scheme of the individual
materials and in dosing differently the light that they absorb or reflect"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Bozzetto in
terracotta for the equestrian statue of King Louis XIV of France" about 1670
Three
paintings by Gian Lorenzo Bernini:
"Portrait of a
Boy" about 1623/30
"According
to Bernini’s biographer Filippo Baldinucci, the artist was interested in all of
the special features of the individual characters that he was representing, not
bothering to make them comply with the fixity of a pose, but preferring to
observe their movements. (...) Within the genre of childhood portraiture, this
canvas is innovative precisely because of the representation of the child
himself, avoiding any reference to the census or the education of the boy"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Self-Portrait as
a Mature Adult" about 1630/35
It is half
of a double portrait originally with Costanza Bonarelli, the wife of an employee
of Bernini and his mistress. He had her scarred by thugs after learning that
she was also the lover of his brother, in turn punished with a clubbing
"Self-Portrait
as a Youth" about 1623
According
to his biographers Bernini painted about 150/200 paintings, but the ones extant
are only a dozen
"His
self-portraits are all made with short strokes, vigorous modeling forms and
reveal the hand of the natural born sculptor. This characteristic impetuosity
is combined with a neglect of detail, in a way improvised and sketched to deal
with accessories like clothes, and spontaneity of expression. Most of his
portraits, carved, painted and drawn show a similar movement of the head, bright
eyes and half open mouth as if the character was about to speak" (Rudolf
Wittkower)
"Concerto" about 1610/20 by Lionello Spada (1576/1622)
"Deposition of
Christ" by Marcantonio Bassetti (1586/1630) from
Verona
"Judith Praying" by the Frenchman Jacques Stella (1596/1657)
"Holy Family and
Angels" about 1605 by Cristoforo Roncalli aka
Pomarancio (1552/1626)
"The
painting was meant to be looked at from below, as evidenced by the foreshortening
of the stool on which the Virgin Mary leans (...). A certain academicism in the
face of the Virgin Mary and of the angels is muffled by the subtle conversation
between father and son. The angel on the left may have been inspired by St.
Peter's Escape from Prison and the Child from the Madonna di Foligno, both
works by Raphael" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"St. Jerome Praying" by an unknown
Roman artist of the late 1600s
"Landscape" about 1613 by G.B. Viola (1576/1622) from Bologna
"Raising of
Lazarus" about 1610/20 by Pasquale Ottino (1580/1630)
from Verona
"Concerto"
about 1623 by the Dutchman Gerrit Van Honthorst aka
Gherardo Delle Notti (1590/1656)
"The
insertion of the piece of still life on the table, made evident by the light
beam shining from the left, seems almost a quote from the famous Basket of
Fruit by Caravaggio in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. Here the artist added
a special care in the tangible perception of the clothes, managing to give the
illusion of softness of feathered headdresses or gloss of satin robes" (Chiara
Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Killing of St.
Peter Martyr" and "Landscape with
Christ's Baptism and Preaching of John the Baptist" about 1600/10 by Paul Brill (1554/1626)
"Moses with the
Tablets of the Law" 1625 by Guido Reni (1575/1642)
"Lot and his Daughters" 1617 by Giovan
Francesco Guerrieri (1589/1656)
Originally
painted as over-door for the Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio where Guerrieri
used to work a lot
Oil on
board "Dead Christ between Mary Magdalene and Angels" and "Resurrection of
Lazarus" by Alessandro Turchi aka Orbetto (1578/1649)
"The
gray color of the blackboard was used by the artist for a night scene, as he
had done in other cases, and as was customary for the Veronese painters of his
time" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Battle of
Tullus Hostilius against the army of Veii" about 1597 by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640) model for the large
fresco in the Hall of the Conservatives in
the palace of the Capitoline Hill
"St. Peter Freed
from Prison" maybe by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)
"The Prodigal Son" about 1628 by
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino
(1591/1666)
Statue in
black marble "Sleep" by Alessandro
Algardi (1598/1654)
Ancient
statue "Group of Amazon
with Greek and Barbarian" about 160 found in the Villa of Nero at Anzio in the
seventeenth century
Ancient
statue “Deer” of the second century AD
VAULT
In the
middle of the vault "Aurora”, “Dawn” and “Vesper" 1782 by Domenico
Corvi (1721/1803) from Viterbo
Decorations
of the vault by G.B. Marchetti (1730/1800)
Three
paintings: "The Last
Supper" 1547, "Adoration of
the Shepherds" 1554 and "Sheep and Lamb" about 1560 by Jacopo Da Ponte aka Jacopo Bassano (about 1510/92)
"He
transfigured a series of themes taken from the Old and New Testament into real-life
rural scenes, destined to be very successful in the 1600s when different and
various genres of painting became popular" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano
Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
"In the
Last Supper, the realism of the still life on the surface of the table, almost
overturned toward the viewer, already announces the painting style of the
seventeenth century" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"The
painting of sheep and lamb is a rare example of a work, for the time, having an
animal as a single subject, something that would become common only during the
seventeenth century" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Adoration of
the Magi" about 1576/80 maybe by Jacopo Da Ponte aka Jacopo
Bassano and his son Leandro Da Ponte aka Leandro
Bassano (1557/1622)
Five
paintings: "Sts. Cosmas and
Damian" about 1534/42, "Gyges and
Candaules" about 1508/10, "Madonna with
Child" about 1517, "Adoration of the Child" about 1519 and "Diana and
Callisto" or, maybe, the nymph Syrinx who was transformed into cane or, also maybe,
Gyges and Candaules by Giovanni Luteri aka Dosso Dossi (about
1486/1542)
"As a
romantic illustrator he had few rivals. He painted with the same ease, wealth
of tones, charm and strangeness with which his friend Ariosto used to write
poetry. In his paintings there is so little structural material situation, as
in the poetry of Ariosto there is little human nature, but in both the set is so
beautiful and fascinating, that it is pointless to complain and quibble. His
landscapes evoke morning hours of youth, almost under mystical rapture. His
figures live with passion and mystery. We must not contemplate for too long or
too often these paintings; but for a moment, looking at them, one can breathe
the air of fairyland" (Bernard Berenson)
"Holy Family
with St. John" about 1535/40 by Battista Luteri aka Battista
Dossi (1490-95/1548)
"Nativity" about 1520/30 by Evangelista Dossi aka Dossazzo (?/1586) son of
Battista Dossi
Two
paintings: "Young Man" about 1525 and "Tobias and the
Angel" by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (about
1480-85/after 1548)
"While opposing
frontally Tobias and the Angel, the artist has used the same colors for their
clothes (...). As much as the adherence to the style of Titian influenced the
career of this artist from Brescia, the scholars do not agree on the date of this
work - Paola Della Pergola dated it to 1540 - in which the cold tones palette
seems rather defer to Romanino or the young Moretto, and the landscape anticipates
of almost a century certain scenes by Adam Elsheimer" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
"Christ with the
Disciples on the Road to Emmaus" about 1590 and "Diana and
Actaeon" about 1584 by Ippolito Scarsella aka Scarsellino
(about 1550/1620) from Ferrara
"The tight
connection between figures and landscape places chronologically the canvas with
Christ on the road to Emmaus close to other mythological paintings of this artist,
of which there are many examples in the Galleria Borghese (rooms III and XI). To
the early Mannerist culture of Ferrara, the artist joined the knowledge of
Venetian art, after his period in Venice during which he had contacts with Veronese"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Tobias and the Angel" about 1570/80
Raffaellino Motta aka Raffaellino da Reggio (1550/78)
"Portrait
of the family of his brother" about 1532 by Bernardino
Licinio (about 1485/about 1550)
Marble
statue "Removal of a Thorn" by an anonymous
sculptor of the late sixteenth century
VAULT
In the
center of the vault “Flora” 1785 by Domenico
De Angelis (1735/1804)
Decorations
of the vault by G.B. Marchetti (1730/1800)
Fireplace by
Luigi Valadier (1726/85) with his son Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) and the collaboration of
Antonio De Rossi
"Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici" by
Alessandro Allori aka Bronzino (1533/1607) pupil
of Agnolo di Cosimo aka Bronzino
"The
minute observation of the sumptuous dress is typical of Bronzino: in fact the
work is but one of several replicas of the original - painted by the Florentine
artist in 1560 - executed by Alessandro Allori, who was his friend and
pupil" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Portrait of
Vittoria Farnese" and "Cleopatra” by Jacopino
del Conte (about 1515/98)
"Lucrezia"
about 1560 maybe by Jacopino del Conte
"Portrait of
Cardinal Marcello Cervini Spannocchi" maybe by Jacopino
del Conte
Cardinal
Cervini was elected pope in 1555 under the name of Marcello II but he died only
22 days after the election
"An Apostle
(maybe St. Peter)" maybe by Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena (about 1525/87)
"An Apostle
(maybe St. Paul)" about 1555 maybe by Girolamo
Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80)
"The
view from below of the two figures leads us to believe that the paintings were
models for mosaics or organ doors. There is no iconographic detail to possibly distinguish
one apostle from the other " (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Resurrection of
Christ" about 1570 by Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena
"It is
clear, in the body of Christ, the influence of serpentine figures inspired by
Michelangelo" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Flagellation" copy from the
original by Sebastiano Luciani aka Sebastiano del Piombo (1485/1547) in the Borgherini
Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio
"Fishing
Coral" about 1580 and "Allegory of
Creation" by Jacopo Zucchi (about 1542/96)
According
to what Giovanni Baglione wrote, the female nudes in the Fishing Coral painting
have the faces of well known Roman noblewomen of the time
"The
figure of Adam in the Allegory of the Creation is taken from an engraving by
Giulio Bonasone. The armillary sphere he holds indicates the effort of
knowledge through which man can approach God" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
"Nativity" by Giorgio
Vasari (1511/74)
"Adoration of
the Child" 1549 by Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527/96)
"The
open book and the scroll in the foreground are two still lifes of effective
virtuoso prospective. (...) The twisting of the figures and the downward motion
of the angel show clear influence from the frescoes of the vault and of the
Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. To his initial influence from Michelangelo
Tibaldi added up the working partnership with Daniele da Volterra, during the
decoration of the Della Rovere Chapel in the church of S. Trinita dei Monti
(Briganti)" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Deposition
of Christ with the Virgin Mary and two Angels" about 1555 by Marcello Venusti (about 1512/79) maybe from an
engraving by Giulio Bonasone who had reproduced a drawing by Michelangelo
"The
subtle poem of loneliness, the flavor of the very private intimacy, an isolation
even excruciating" (Federico Zeri)
VAULT
"The recognition
of Gualtieri Count of Antwerp" by Giuseppe Cades (1750/99)
surrounded by oval and monochrome
figures
by Tadeusz Kuntze aka Taddeo il Polacco (the Polish) (1732/93)
"Basilica
of Maxentius" about 1740/50 and "Colosseum" about 1740/50 by
Giovanni Antonio Canal aka Canaletto (1697/1768)
"A
dance" by Nicolas Lancret (1690/1743)
"Probably
the work is just a 'romance' or 'poetry', or a painting representing more a
state of mind than a genre scene, like several other known examples in the
paintings of the early sixteenth century, including Giorgione and Titian"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Self
Portrait" 1806 and "Portrait of
Antonio Canova (1757/1822)" 1806 by Gaspare Landi
(1756/1830)
"Gaspare
Landi from Piacenza, a former pupil of Batoni, worked in Rome for a long time and
for many decorative firms – Palazzo Venezia, Palazzo Torlonia, Palazzo Taverna etc.
- often alongside Camuccini, Giani and others. His style is soft, his colors delicate
and deep, inspired by Giorgione" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti,
Antonio Giuliano)
"Annunciation" by Corrado
Giaquinto (1703/66)
"In the
definition of the space the artist has combined elements of domestic furniture
- the chair, the four-poster bed, the window with stained glass - with stage
tricks. The two steps to access the floor of the room in which the Annunciation
takes place seem in fact borrowed from the theatrical tradition, as other
painters did, starting from the mid-sixteenth century onwards" (Chiara
Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Virgin Mary and
Child with St. John of Nepomuk" 1729 by Sebastiano
Conca (1680/1764)
"The
particular speed of execution and his very versatile style allowed Conca to
meet various commissions: from the official ones, in which his art is more
conventional and close to the compositional forms typical of Maratta, to those painted
for private clients with smaller works, where the painter, with vivid
expression, through the use of a sketchy technique, 'created extraordinary and
wonderful visions in which the religious character of the subject and the
dramatic tone of the story are diluted in pure lyricism' (Scavizzi)" (Anna
Maria De Strobel)
"Madonna with
Child" about 1770 by Pompeo Batoni (1708/87)
"Madonna with
Child" about 1650 by G.B. Salvi aka Sassoferrato (1609/85)
inspired by the Madonna della Torre
or Mackintosh Madonna by Raphael now
at the National Gallery in London
"Madonna with
Child" by the Florentine artist Carlo Dolci (1616/86)
"The
languid devotion expressed by the half-figures of the Virgin Marys and
Maddalenes by Carlo Dolci, Florentine counterpart of Sassoferrato in Rome,
should be considered the most complete realization of one side of the mentality
of the late Baroque style. These small canvas, painted with the greatest care
in a skilled technique of miniature, enjoyed a great reputation in his day, and
his contemporaries admired what a modern viewer consider as false and even
repugnant mercy" (Rudolf Wittkower)
"Interior with
flutist" about 1660 by the Dutchman Pieter de Hooch (1629/84)
"Drinkers" about 1650 by the Belgian David Teniers the Younger (1610/90)
"The Old Antique
Shop" by Frans Francken the Younger (1581/1642)
"Man with
lamp" about 1645 "Two men in a
study" by Wolfgang Heimbach (about 1615/about
1678)
"Interior of a
tavern" by the Flemish Gillis van Tilborg (about
1625/about 1678)
"Guards" by the Dutchman Pieter Codde (1599/1678)
Two "Bambocciate" about 1640 by Michelangelo Cerquozzi (1602/60)
"The
name usually given to these genre paintings, with episodes from the everyday
life of soldiers, peasants and beggars, is 'bambocciate'. It comes from the nickname of the
Dutch artist Pieter van Laer, called Bamboccio for his deformed looks and
because, from the standpoint of classical aesthetics, the themes he treated had
narrative and anti-rhetorical features, in contrast with the official art of Roman
Baroque style. Pieter van Laer was active from 1625 to 1638 in Rome, where in
1623 was established a veritable colony of Dutch artists" (Chiara Stefani
- Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"The Bath of Diana" 1646 by the Dutchman Abraham van Cuylenborch (before 1610/1658)
VAULT
In the
center of the vault “Giove e Antiope” 1787 by the French Benigne Gagneraux (1756/95)
"Portrait of Marcello Sacchetti" 1629
by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)
The
Sacchetti family was originally from Florence, and it was mentioned by Dante in
his Paradise. It moved to Rome in the seventies of the sixteenth century.
Marcello Sacchetti was a banker and was the patron of Pietro da Cortona
Two paintings:
"Susanna and the
Elders" about 1601/02 and "Lamentation
over the Body of Christ" about 1601/02 by Peter
Paul Rubens (1577/1640)
"In
addition to leaving a decisive mark in the Roman figurative culture of the
first decade of the seventeenth century, Rubens in Italy was able to know the
ancient sculpture and the paintings by Titian, as various details of the canvas
with the Lamentation over the Dead Christ reveal, including the sky in the
background" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Portrait of
Monsignor Clemente Merlini" about 1632 by Andrea
Sacchi (1599/1661)
"The
Visitation" 1638 by the Flemish artist Marten Mandekens (active
from 1630/1649-50)
"Jesus
crucified" by an anonymous artist inspired by Anthony van
Dyck
"The
type of the crucified Jesus seems to be derived from a model of Rubens dating
to 1614, which Anthony van Dyck popularized during his Italian stay (1621/27), executing
several replicas" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"St. John the
Baptist" by Simone Cantarini aka Pesarese (1612/48)
"The
type of the nude - that for the slight twisting of the body is vaguely
reminiscent of the old Belvedere Ajax -, refers in his classicism, to Guido
Reni, of whom Cantarini was a pupil (1635/38). To the lessons of the early
stage of his master, Cantarini joined the influence of the school of the
Carracci’s and Cavedone" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"The Burial of
Christ" by Sisto Badalocchio (1585/1645)
"He
definitively left Rome and went to Parma in 1617, opening his mature period,
almost with no documentation left, but rich in works. Unlike Albani, and the
largest group of classicist painters of the Carracci’s school, Badalocchio
moved a bit like Lanfranco towards the Emilian tradition of sweetness, with
shadows and dramatic movement. He drew at times from Correggio and Schedoni,
and he was more inspired by Ludovico Carracci than Agostino Carracci" (Creighton
Gilbert - Enciclopedia Treccani)
VAULT
Five
paintings in the vault with "Tales of Paris":
"Death of
Paris" at the center, "Love gives
music lessons to Paris" and "The Judgment of
Paris" at the sides 1783 by the Scottish artist Gavin
Hamilton (1723/98)
"Hecuba delivery
Paris child to the shepherd Archelaus" copy by Vincenzo
Camuccini (1771/1844) from the original by Gavin Hamilton
"Paris and the
shepherdess Oinone" copy by Giovanni
Piancastelli (1845/1926) from the original by Gavin Hamilton
Originally
Gavin Hamilton had painted all five paintings but eventually two were replaced
by copies
Four reliefs
in the panels over the doors "Jupiter", "Venus", "Mars" and
"Apollo" about 1784 by Vincenzo Pacetti (1746/1820)
They were
the four gods who took part in the Trojan War which is the theme of the room
Fireplace 1782 by Vincenzo
Pacetti with festoon in gilded bronze by Antonio
De Rossi
Two
paintings "Sybil" about 1617 and "The Hunt of
Diana" about 1617 by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino
(1581/1641)
In order to
acquire the Hunt of Diana, Cardinal Scipione Borghese imprisoned the painter
and asked it to him as a ransom for his freedom
"It
gives a whole literary version of classicism: on canvas the colors are
brighter, but not less measured than those of a fresco, the landscape is a
clear derivation from theater, complete with proscenium and wings on the sides,
figures have the movements of a well-calculated ballet, of course danced with a
slow tempo, an adage, far from being an unbridled ditirambo" (Giulio Carlo
Argan)
"If for
the grace of the figures is inevitable to think of Correggio as a model,
Domenichino also operated a synthesis between the color of the Venetian
tradition and the drawing style of the Roman school and ended up with a stylistically
unparalleled outcome" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Joseph and
Potiphar's Wife" 1615 and "Norandino and
Lucina surprised by the Ogre" 1624 by Giovanni Lanfranco
(1582/1647)
Norandino
and Lucina are two characters of the poem Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.
Lucina had been imprisoned for four months in the cave of a blind ogre despite
attempts of her husband to free her, including trying to camouflage her as a
sheep
The ogre chained
Lucina naked to a rock until Mandricarco and King Gradasso managed to free her
and reunite her with the desperate husband
"The battle of
Furio Camillo" about 1610/12 by Gaspare Celio (1571/1640)
"Judith with the
Head of Holofernes" 1601 by the Milanese female painter Fede Galizia (about 1578/about 1630)
"The
theme of Judith is a constant feature in the works of Galizia, not for the
ideological implications of the subject as it has been suggested (Caroli -
Spadaro), as much as for the possible combinations of the different clothes of
the heroin. In the four Judiths, refered or connected with her name, Galizia
developed the teachings of her father who was a costume designer and also
showed an overactive imagination for creative clothes or fabrics as well as
jewels: the symptomatic serial setting accentuates the differences in clothes,
in jewelry and in hairstyle; each image 'tests' a different model of tailoring.
The Judith of the Galleria Borghese in Rome dates back to 1601, the second and last
version of this theme definitely attributed to Galizia; signature and date,
affixed to the basin, emerged from a cleaning of the late nineteenth century"
(Maria Elena Massimi - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
"Portrait of Youth" 1606 by Lavinia
Fontana (1552/1614)
"Head of a Youth
Laughing" by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)
Two
paintings "Aeneas Escaping
from Troy" 1598 and "St. Jerome" 1590/1600 by Federico Fiori aka Barocci (1535/1612)
"The chromatic
concert by Barocci - the artist himself liked to compare the color effects to
music - has polyphonic and harmonized instrumental qualities hitherto
unimagined. However it does not have the forceful orchestral sound typical of
the Venetian painters or of Correggio, but it captivates for the beauty and
softness of the modeling, the delicacy and elegance of execution, features that
only the artists of the rococo style would be able to appreciate and perfect.
Barocci special skills are his iridescent or pearly tones that gently fade in
bright and clear colors" (Hermann Voss)
"Ecstasy of St.
Catherine" by Agostino Carracci (1557/1602) older
brother of Annibale Carracci
"Jupiter and
Juno" about 1602 by Antonio Carracci (1589/1618)
son of Annibale Carracci
"Head of satyr
crowned with vine leaves" by Pietro Paolo Bonzi aka
Gobbo dei Carracci (about 1576/1636)
"Sybil" by Giovanni
Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona
"Holy
Family with St. John the Baptist" by Simone
Cantarini aka Pesarese (1612/48)
"Pair of
amphoras with handles and knotted snakes" about 1638 by Silvio Calci da Velletri (active in Rome in the first half
the seventeenth century) from an original by Alessandro Algardi
"Marble bust of
Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi" about 1630 by Giuliano
Finelli (1602/53)
"Bust of Felice
Zacchia Rondanini" maybe by Domenico
Guidi (1625/1701)
"Statue black
and white of young girl with child and dog" maybe by Nicolas Cordier
(1567/1612)
VAULT
In the center
"Psyche received
om Mount Olympus" and four round panels with "Stories of
Psyche" 1781 by Pietro Antonio Novelli (1729/1804)
Geometrical decorations of the vault by G.B. Marchetti (1730/1800)
Fireplace 1782 by Agostino
Penna with bronze reliefs by Antonio De Rossi
In this
room there are paintings of artists from the Veneto region, operating between
late 1500s and mid-1600s
"Adam" and "Eve" about 1507 maybe by the Venetian Marco Basaiti (about 1470-75/after 1530)
"Christ as a
youth" 1495 by Bartolomeo Montagna (about
1450/1523)
"The
look absorbed and lost in the void gives to the face an air of adolescent melancholy,
perhaps influenced by Giovanni Bellini, the teachings of whom probably Bartolomeo
Montagna followed while he was in Venice" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria
Borghese T.C.I.)
Four
paintings: "St. Dominic" 1565, "Christ Scourged" about 1570, "Venus Blindfolding
Love" about 1565 and "Sacred Love and
Profane Love" about 1514 by Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) (about
1490/1576)
Sacred Love
and Profane Love was painted for Niccolò Aurelio a Venetian patrician and
secretary of the Council of Ten on the occasion of his marriage to the Paduan lady
Laura Bagarotto
"Among
the many interpretations for Sacred and Profane Love the most famously
interesting one is that of Erwin Panofsky: it would be a manifesto of the neo-Platonic
conception of love. The two women would be two kind of Venus representing two
different degrees of love about which Marsilio Ficino and Pietro Bembo (friend
of Niccolò Aurelio) wrote on the basis of the Platonic dialogues (especially
the Symposium): the dressed up Venus would be the earthly Venus (or vulgar Venus)
generative force of nature, the naked one is the celestial Venus, or the
metaphysical principle of universal and eternal beauty. Both are in the
foreground but the celestial Venus seems more important in pointing the way:
her nakedness is not a symbol of lewdness but of philosophical truth. The third
degree of love, according to the Neo-Platonic thought is the purely passionate
one, the negative one, represented in the relief of the sarcophagus" (Carlo
Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
"Erwin
Panofsky thought that Venus Blindfolding Love was a painting for a wedding,
characterized by the opposition – to the presence of Venus Verticordia -
between Eros, or the blindfold Cupid, and Anteros, the one with eyes open: the
two nymphs, in this context, would be an allegory of marital affection and
chastity. If the woman between the two cupids would instead be intended as
Pulchritudo, it would then be accompanied by her sisters, Voluptas and Castitas.
Edgar Wind subsequently identified goddess Diana in the figure with a bow,
believing that the painting would represent a moment of initiation of love,
personified by Venus and represented in the two aspects of chaste love and of
passion in fact blind, as indicated by the blindfolded cupid " (Chiara
Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
Two
paintings: "The Preaching
of St. John the Baptist" about 1562 and "The Sermon of
St. Anthony of Padua" by Paolo Caliari aka Veronese
(1528/88)
"Female
Portrait" about 1494 maybe by Vittore Carpaccio (1460-65/1525-26)
"Passionate
Singer" and "Singer with
Flute" maybe by Giorgio Zorzi or Giorgio da Castelfranco aka Giorgione (1477-78 / 1510)
"Various
scholars place the two paintings - two of the most controversial in the history
of art - in the stylistic current known as ‘neogiorgionism’ of the early
seventeenth century. For its realism this figure of singer, slightly larger than
real, already seems to herald certain creations by Caravaggio and Velasquez"
(Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Madonna and
Child" 1510 by Giovanni Bellini (about
1432/1516)
"The
subject and the pose are present in other two paintings by Bellini, one of
which proposes also the tent as separation between the mundane and the sacred
space of the intimate dialogue between mother and son. This painting, however,
is marked by greater lyricism, which is also revealed in the open landscape to
the right, already updated, now at the end of a long career, with his knowledge
of the latest painting by Giorgione" (Chiara Stefani - Galleria Borghese T.C.I.)
"Portrait of a
Youth" about 1500/10 by Jacopo Negretti aka Palma the
Elder (about 1480/1528)
"Lucretia" about 1510/14 and "Sacred
Conversation with Sts. Barbara and Justina and two devotees" maybe by Jacopo Negretti aka Palma the Elder
"Madonna and
Child with Sts. Ignatius of Antioch and Onuphrius" 1508 by Lorenzo
Lotto (about 1480/1556)
"The
art of Lotto from the outset neglects the new tone of Venetian painting in
order to reconnect to the figurative tradition, also Venetian, which dates back
to Alvise Vivarini, Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina: this tradition
offers him linguistic ideas antithetical to the painting style with no drawing
of Giorgione, and useful to express the characteristic point of view of the
painter toward a penetrating investigation of reality" (Carlo Bertelli,
Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
"Judith" about 1516/20 maybe by Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis aka Pordenone (c.
1484/1539)
Extraordinary
"Portrait of a
Man" about 1475 by Antonello da Messina (about
1430/79) the only painting in Rome by this great artist
"It was
one of the greatest portraitists of our 1400s: a meticulous photographer of
facial features and of the character of his subjects. The matrix of these
portraits is Nordic, but Antonello avoided that too a superficial realism would
preclude interior analysis or expression of the whole, as sometimes happens in
the works of Flemish painters" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio
Giuliano)
Ancient
bronze statue "Child" about 196 maybe Caracalla according
to comparisons with coins and with a portrait kept in Berlin
"Venus"
by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536)
"Christ
Carrying the Cross" by Sebastiano Luciani aka Sebastiano
del Piombo (1485/1547)
"Holy
Family" by Scipione Pulzone (about 1550/98)
a work which inspired the fundamental book by Federico Zeri, L’Arte senza tempo (The Timeless Art)
"A
point of arrival for the definition of a new devoted and anti-manneristic painting
style, which began with Giuseppe Valeriano, is represented by the works of
Scipione Pulzone. In the Holy Family are found, in an archaic and simplified key,
the models of classicism. The realism of the image is accentuated and results
in a visual representation without emotional involvement, functional to meditation,
detached from history and time (Federico Zeri called it "The Timeless Art"),
impervious to changes in taste and fashion” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti,
Antonio Giuliano)
"St.
Francis" by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)
"The
Beggar" by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652)
"Susanna
and the Elders" by Gerrit Van Honthorst aka
Gherardo Delle Notti (1590/1656)
