RICCI PALACE

PALAZZO RICCI
Via Monserrato/Piazza de' Ricci

Early sixteenth century for the Calcagni family

Mistakenly attributed to Giovanni Lippi aka Nanni di Baccio Bigio (about 1513/68)

The property of the palace passed in 1577 to the Ricci family and they still own it

It was expanded in 1634 with the FAÇADE ON VIA GIULIA

On the FAÇADE ON PIAZZA DE’ RICCI there are traces of frescoes by Polidoro Caldara aka Polidoro da Caravaggio (about 1495/1543) and Maturino da Firenze (?/1528)

It is the only palace, with Palazzo Milesi, where there are remains of the many frescoes that used to adorn the façades of many buildings of Rome at the beginning of the sixteenth century

“Polidoro was an original summoner of the ancient times who proposed a modern interpretation of the spirit of classical Rome and gave rise to a large repertoire of ideas and motifs that had inexhaustible fortune throughout the course of 1500s and found their self-definition as 'martial manner' of painting” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

The frescoes were restored at the end of 1800 by Luigi Fontana (1827/1908) who repainted them copying from seventeenth-century engravings (the added sections were recently removed) and painted second and third floors completely new

In a room on the first floor frescoes “Virtue” of the end of 1500s

The Roman art collector Mario Praz (1896/1982) lived in this palace from 1934 to 1969

S. Giovanni in Ayno

St. John in Ayno

Adjacent to Palazzo Ricci with a SMALL RENAISSANCE FAÇADE

It was first mentioned by sources on 1186 as Sancto Johanni in Aginae

There is mystery about the origin of the name, perhaps a reference to the lamb (agnello) that St. John the Baptist is commonly associated with

It was deconsecrated in 1895 and used as a warehouse for building materials

Since 1996 it is owned and seat of the services company Ayno Videoconferencing

MILESI PALACE

PALAZZO MILESI

Via della Maschera d'Oro 7

Beginning of 1500s for Giovanni Antonio Milesi an academic from Bergamo

FAÇADE

Painted with very damaged mythological and historical scenes: “The Story of Niobe”, “Cato the Younger”, “Rape of the Sabine Women” and “Laws of Numa Pompilius” by Polidoro Caldara aka Polidoro da Caravaggio (about 1495/1543) and Maturino da Firenze (?/1528)

It is the only palace with Palazzo Ricci where there are remains of the many frescoes that used to adorn the façades of many buildings of Rome at the beginning of the sixteenth century

“His preference for reliefs let us make a comparison with Perin del Vaga: (...) Polidoro's figures emerge from the darkness of the background in an even more assertive way, with even more illusionism. The figures themselves are more dynamic, more compressed; compositions are more concentrated, simpler and closer to the ideal of the ancient reliefs than Perino's. The numerous secondary elements show knowledge of antiquity more precise than the ones the whimsical Florentine artist had” (Hermann Voss)

In 1576 Cherubino Alberti (1553/1615) painted in the center of the façade a golden mask (maschera d'oro) that gave the name to the street

In 1615 it was bought by the Baccani family

On the façade of the adjacent PALACE ON VIA DELLA MASCHERA D'ORO No.9 monochrome etchings on the plaster by Jacopo Ripanda (about 1465/1516)

Inserted in the corner there is a big ANCIENT SPIRAL COLUMN

Columns of this kind were often inserted in the corners of the buildings for decorative and for static functions, and also to serve as a “bumper” for the wagons that used to pass near buildings in the narrow streets of Rome

Both buildings now belong to the Lancellotti family who have their own main building a few meters away

ALTEMPS PALACE - NATIONAL ROMAN MUSEUM (fifth part)

Other Rooms on the First Floor

ROOM OF THE SMALL LUDOVISI SARCOPHAGUS

“Small Ludovisi Sarcophagus” 170/180 with the representation of a Roman victory

Compared to the Large Ludovisi Sarcophagus images are more adherent to the Hellenistic tradition

The dating is due to similarity with reliefs of the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The hole in the left side was done when the sarcophagus was used as a basin for a fountain

“Two reliefs”

“Base with inscription” or Julia Heuresis' Altar

“Man with toga sitting” is perhaps the poet Menander

It is signed by Zenon son of Attinas from Aphrodisias in the region of southwestern Turkey known as Caria. The head is ancient but not relevant

“Relief Salio Knight” second century AD

“Trophy with captives” about 195

ROOM OF THE OBELISKS

Muse “Urania” first century AD and “Calliope” 117/138, respectively, muse of astronomy and epic poetry, maybe from original of the second century BC by Philiskos of Rhodes

“Pan and Daphnis” first century AD from an original of about 100 BC by Heliodoros of Rhodes

The heads were carved during the eighteenth century restoration. The satyr Pan taught to play the syringe to the young shepherd Daphnis

“Satyr and Nymph” end of the second century BC

The face of the satyr was attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the comparison with Dionysian work of his at the Metropolitan Museum in New York

“Dadophorus” restored by Alessandro Algardi

ROOM OF THE DUCHESS

Private living room of the Duchess Isabella Lante Altemps, who married the Duke Pietro in 1636

Frieze “Mythological episodes, including Galatea on chariot pulled by dolphins” 1654 by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

“Crouching Aphrodite” Hadrian's period from the original by Doidalsas

“Eros and Psyche” pastiche by Alessandro Algardi who combined two statues of two different periods

“Putto with a towel”

“Female Bust”

ANTECHAMBER OF THE DUCHESS

Remains of the frieze by Polidoro Caldara aka Polidoro da Caravaggio (about 1495/1543) and Maturino da Firenze (?/1528) detached from one of the external façades of the palace

“Shortly after Polidoro's departure from Rome because of the Sack of Rome in 1527, Maturino die for the plague. Notwithstanding the early ending of the Roman activity of the two artists, their influence on the younger generations, even on masters active long afterwards such as Pietro da Cortona, didn't die down. The fact itself that their works were visible by everybody and were perhaps the highest note in the image of the new Rome contributed substantially to their popularity: as education tools for young artists their works seemed to be particularly fitting because, better than many others, would show how models derived from antiquity could be useful for modern painting” (Hermann Voss)

“Aphrodite to the bathroom” I sec. B.C. original by Doidalsas

“Child with Goose” Hadrian's period (117/138)

“Spiral column” on “Altar of Cecilius Gorgonius”

ROOM OF BACCHUSES

“Satyr pouring”

“Dionysus”

“Modern Dionysus”

“Bust of archaic Egyptian pharaoh” third century BC

HALL OF THE APIS BULL

“Ox Apis” second century BC also known as Torello Brancaccio

“Statue of Pharaoh” third century BC

Relief from Ariccia with “Isiac procession and Ox Apis”

“Statuette of Isis”

“Headless statue of a priestess”

HALL OF THE SANCTUARY OF JANICULUM HILL

Statue of “Osiris Chronocrator”

“Jupiter enthroned like Hadad”

“Statue of Dionysus”

ROOM OF THE CLERGY OF ISIS

“Two portraits”. “Hairstyle”. “Altar”. “Candelabra”

ROOM OF THE ISEUM SERAPEUM IN CAMPUS MARTIUS

“Relief from Behbeit el-Hagar temple” found in Via S. Caterina da Siena, where the Iseum Campensis (Temple of Isis) once stood

“Lion” and “Sphinx” fragmentary

“Torso of Pharaoh”

“Head of a priest of Isis”

ROOM SO-CALLED D’ANNUNZIO

Only room of the palace with preserved eighteenth-century ambience

The Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio married the last member of the Altemps family

“Statue of Isis” found in Passo Corese and “Head of Isiac priestess”

ROOM OF SERAPIS AND OF THE ROMAN EMPERORS

“Bas-relief with Nero's royal couple as Pharaoh”

“Statue of Serapis seated”

“Two heads of Serapis”

“Head of a priest of Isis”

VESTIBULE ENTRANCE TO THE APARTMENT OF ROBERTO ALTEMPS

“Mattei Herm”

HALL OF PORTRAITS OF THE APARTMENT OF ROBERTO ALTEMPS

“Six Heads” and “Two busts” of emperors, philosophers and heroes

“Funerary reliefs of the Republican period”

“Front of a sarcophagus with scenes of Roma origin” age of Antoninus Pius

“Capital with winged victories and decorations” 306/337 from the Baths of Caracalla

At the center of the dining table with the medals of Victor Emmanuel II