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

Room XXVIII - Painting in Rome in the Early 1700s

“S. Pius V Ghislieri (1566/72) blesses in St. Peter's Square a relic of the soil of Rome before sending it to the King of Poland” by Benedetto Luti (1666/1724)

“Luti painted scenes of great miracles, as was then customary, but he underlined the nicely narrative tone, almost a historical document. The monumentality of the scene is scaled down by the soft and clear paint, typical of the rococo grace” (Official Web Site Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

Four paintings “Allegory of the four parts of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa and America“ about 1709

Models for the mosaics in the spandrels of the vestibule of the Baptistry Chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter eventually executed only in the years 1724/26

The presence in the Baptistry Chapel of the representation of the four continents known at the time is symbolic of the desire on the part of the Catholic Church to spread throughout the world the saving power of the Sacrament of Baptism

“Portrait of Cardinal Ottoboni” about 1700/05

“The Venetian Pietro Ottoboni (1667/1740) was a patron of artists, musicians and writers. (...) Despite the wealth of his office, his munificence was such to find himself burdened with debts incurred for his patronage. (...) He was also the chief patron and client of Trevisani, so much so that in 1698 he gave him accommodation in the Palace of the Chancellery and appointed him as his Primo Pittore (First Painter)” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

Beautiful and sensual “Mary Magdalene” about 1725, represented here with almost theatrical flamboyance by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746) from Istria

“Strong charge of monumentality, enhanced by the quite unusual framing, almost three quarters, which sheds light on both the face and the nude and sensual body of the saint, emerging from the shadows of the rocky background. (...) Pathetic yearning of theatrical taste, much appreciated by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, Trevisani patron and protector of the Arcadia” (Anna Lo Bianco)

“Portrait of the Quarantotti family” 1756

“The large portrait of the Quarantotti family, signed and dated 1756 on the pillar on the left, celebrated their son preacher in distant lands, surrounded by family members dressed in exotic way, in an atmosphere eccentric and suspended. The picture, in addition to expressing the spreading of passion for the Orient, is a polished piece of realism, anticipating Goya. But it's good to know that it was Goya himself, in his sojourn in Rome in 1770, to copy a Benefial work in his notebook, the Expulsion from Garden of Eden - shown here - clearly aware of the innovative power of the paintings by this artist” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Expulsion from Paradise”, “Original Sin”, “Hercules and Omphale”, “Pyramus and Thisbe”

“The stories of Hercules and Omphale and of Pyramus and Thisbe are united by a reference to love as a passion that goes beyond human reason. They depict, in fact, Hercules ranking as a maid and giving his club, a symbol of virility, to the queen Omphale of Lydia, enslaved by love, and Thisbe who kills herself in front of the body of the beloved Pyramus, who, in turn, committed suicide believing that she had been torn by a wild beast” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

Sketch for “St. Margaret of Cortona finds the corpse of her lover” in the Church of S. Maria in Aracoeli, all works by the great Roman painter Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

“The freshness of the sketch summarizes in a more immediate way than the finished painting the scene of the discovery (...) with the contrast between the pathetic attitude of the saint, the humorous note of the dog and the raw description of the corpse, boldly foreshortened and placed in foreground, featuring a detailed study of the nude, which in the final canvas will be hidden by the branches and not so obvious. The figures placed in relief with the use of light testify, among the numerous sources used by Benefial, even a study of the Caravaggio's followers” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

“Miracle of St. Joseph of Copertino” by Placido Costanzi (1702/59)

In this curious scene the patron saint of test takers, accustomed to levitate during his ecstasies, heals the young nobleman Baldassarre Rossi who had gone crazy all of a sudden, grabbing him by the hair and lifting him off the ground with him

The philological accuracy in representing the clothes of the previous century is remarkable

Sketch of “Madonna and Child with S. Filippo Neri (known as St. Philip Neri in English)” by Francesco Mancini (1679/1758)

“The sketch shows a remarkable fluidity and virtuosity of touch as evidence of a development process of the finished work, leading Mancini to give precedence to formal discipline over the urgency of pictorial expression, in a work of mental construction of the work that is to be found in other cases, of which the most famous is Canova, in the proto-neoclassical and neoclassical culture” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

“Madonna reading” by the Frenchman Pierre Subleyras (1699/1749)

“Intimately engaged in the widespread movement of return to nature and antiquity, his noble but lively classicism was undoubtedly the most worthy of that label. Alien to the exaggerated gestures of Baroque characters, or to the excessive affectation of late Maratta taste, he was all aimed at a balanced composition and a conciseness of volumes, favoring the opposition of masses of color, always based on a few essential tones, with a predominance of large and picturesque expanses of white” (Giancarlo Sestieri)

“Prophet Jeremiah with an Angel” and “Prophet Jeremiah with a Cherub” by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

Sketches for the oval commissioned by Pope Clement XI Albani (1700/21) in 1718 for the central nave of the Basilica of St. John Lateran

He commissioned eleven more ovals, all with prophets, to the leading painters in Rome at that time. Sebastiano Conca chose the version with the angel points to the cross

“Portrait of Sir Robert Clive, Baron of Plassey” 1766 by Anton von Maron (1733/1808)

“It wants to be a celebration of the high position of the English nobleman, governor of Bengal from 1757 to 1760, and is set in the tradition of the courtly portrait, but it also becomes a representation, of outstanding effect and unique in its kind, of British power in the colonies. The subjugation of the indigenous with turban, caught while the Governor is issuing rules, wants to allude to the civilizing role of the colonial power, while the curtains in the background hint at the military role of the governor. (...) He had a bitter fate: after his return to England he was subjected to a parliamentary inquiry into his conduct in the colonies. He managed to be acquitted of the charge of corruption, but he took his own life in 1774 for a depression caused by his opium's vice” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)

“Portrait of Count Niccolò Soderini” by the great Pompeo Batoni from Lucca (1708/87)

Count Soderini was the Tuscan consul in Rome and the dedicated patron of the Roman painter Marco Benefial

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

Room XXVI - Baroque in Rome from Bernini to Maratta

“Transfiguration” and “Crucifixion” by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

“Loth and his daughters” by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

“The Guardian Angel” 1656 and “Portrait of a man” by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

“Portrait of Maria Maddalena Rospigliosi” and large painting with full figure “St. John Evangelist” by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

“David with the Head of Goliath” about 1625 and “Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44)” about 1632 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

“Bernini's paintings have tones far removed from those of officialdom: the liveliness of the gaze of the pontiff and the familiar tone of the portrait reveal the intimate relationship of confidence between the two great personalities. The David, inspired by the great sculpture of the Galleria Borghese, is considered to be a youthful self-portrait of the artist” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Pietà” 1667, “Portrait of Pope Clement IX Rospigliosi (1667/69)” and “Portrait of Gian Lorenzo Bernini” about 1673 by G.B. Gaulli said Baciccio (1639/1709)

“The three Marys: Blessed Mary Magdalene of Japan, Mary Magdalene and Mary Magdalene of the Pazzi family” and “St. Francis marrying poverty” by Andrea Sacchi (1599/1661)

Room XXVII - Plurality of languages between 1600s and 1700s: Tuscan, Genoese and Venetian painters

“Allegory of Fortune” about 1665 by Bernardino Mei (1612/76) from Siena

“Allegory of Fortune” 1664 by Giacinto Gimignani (1606/81)

“It alludes to the unequal fortune enjoyed by the ignorant, represented by the girl embraced the donkey, which refers to the culture Hercules, the symbol of virtue, restrained Envy, his head crowned with serpents” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Charity of St. Lawrence” about 1617 by the Genoese Bernardo Strozzi (1581/1644)

“Portrait of Tommaso Raggi and his son Ferdinando” by the Flemish artist Jan Roos aka Giovanni Rosa (1591/1638)

He moved to Genoa when he was twenty-three and remained there for the rest of his short life

“Portrait of Monsignor Ottaviano Prati” about 1650 by G.B. Salvi aka Sassoferrato (1609/85) from the Marche region

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

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

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

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

The busts in the upper part are of uncertain identification

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

SECOND FLOOR

Room XXV - Painters in Naples from Ribera to Luca Giordano

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

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

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

“Pietà” by Massimo Stanzione (1585/1656)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (twentieth part)

Pietro da Cortona Hall

Vault: “Triumph of Divine Providence” and the fulfillment of its purposes under Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) 1632/39 (seven years!) masterpiece by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

Originally the Cardinal Taddeo Barberini nephew of the pope had entrusted the job to Andrea Camassei, but it was Urban VIII who wanted Pietro da Cortona to translate in painting a poem by the court poet Francesco Bracciolini

Pietro da Cortona was assisted by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, Pietro Paolo Ubaldini (about 1614/about 1684) and Raffaele Bottalla although the homogeneity of the decoration is amazing

“The illusion of depth and dynamism of the scene represented, accentuated by contrast with the static architecture which is superimposed on the layout, contribute to arouse in the spectator a sense of breakthrough of the architecture, which results in the intuition of 'spatial infinity'. But the markedly illusionistic character of the whole (architecture is also painted) causes the intuition to remain anchored in the imaginative dimension, thus excluding any intention of realistic representation. Reality and fantasy coexist and communicate a vital joy that interprets nature, not as eternal and revealed form of creation, but as a show constantly evolving, exalting the infinite vastness of the universe” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The cult of infinity, of remoteness, of relativity of space, unifies (...) many achievements (...) of the great enemies who live together under the label 'Roman Baroque'. (...) But only with Pietro da Cortona, in the vault of Palazzo Barberini, the problem of inducing in the perception of the work the concrete experience of limitless space, produces a new way of painting. The transparent architectural framing, permeable to space, clashes with the groups of figures that overlap it and hide it, using it as a close-up that accentuates the illusion of depth” (Paolo Portoghesi)

Hall of Marbles

Extraordinary marble statue “Vestal Tuccia” 1743 by the Venetian Antonio Corradini (1668/1752)

He was also the sculptor of the amazing “Veiled Truth” in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, carved with technique similar to the Vestal Tuccia

“Bust of Pius VI Braschi (1775/1799) by Ferdinando Lisandroni (1735/1811)

“Madonna and Child with Sts. John the Evangelist and Petronius” about 1629 by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (nineteenth part)

Room XXIV - Painters from the Emilia Region

“Triptych” with, on the front, “Pietà with Sts. Ermenegildo and Cecilia” and, on the back, “Michael the Archangel and Guardian Angel” about 1604 for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, and, perhaps, “Portrait of a Young Man” about 1592 by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)

“In contact with the work of Raphael and ancient art, Carracci developed the great compositions with classic simplicity and inventive freedom, pursuing a harmonious blend of the natural empirical world and classical tradition. (...) It was too firmly emphasized the contrast between the eclectic classicism of Annibale and rigorous anticlassicism of Caravaggio: in reality both are flatly opposed to the Mannerist style, the first proposing to restore the sixteenth century classicism, the second aiming at a total renewal of the contents and forms of art. Huge was his influence in Italy and outside” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Cupid Asleep” about 162 and “Magdalene” about 1632 by Guido Reni (1575/1642) to whom is tentatively attributed also the portrait of “Beatrice Cenci”

The Cupid Asleep was painted by Guido Reni on a wall of the palace in the presence of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, to show his skills

“Guido helped to create to a very considerable extent that second form of classicism that, once exhausted the direct impulse of Raphael, was looking for a new 'perfect form', the Ideal in which incarnate” (Maria Antonietta De Angelis)

“Beatrice Cenci, daughter of the rich and powerful Francesco Cenci, violent and dissolute man, suffered the tortures of the father and was confined, along with her stepmother, in the fortress of Petrella Salto, near Rieti. Exasperated by constant ill-treatment and in accordance with the stepmother and two brothers, also victims of their bullying father, she meditated her father's murder which took place in 1598. Found out, after a trial followed by the entire citizenry, she was sentenced to death by order of Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605), who perhaps longed to seize the assets confiscated from the family. Beatrice was decapitated on the square of Ponte Sant'Angelo in September 1599 in the presence of a huge crowd of Romans and she immediately became a symbol of oppressed innocence” (Rossella Vodret)

“Mary Magdalene” about 1625 and “Allegory of Peace” maybe by Simon Vouet (1590/1649)

“The interpretation that he develops from his famous models met during his Italian stay (Caravaggio and the great masters from Emilia) had the consent of Louis XIII, of whom he became the official painter. At the head of a large group of artists, Vouet executed many decorative projects in the residences of the French nobility, with great success between the third and fourth decade of 1600” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“St. Ursula with the Virgin Martyrs” about 1623 and “Venus plays the harp (Music)” about 1632 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

He was a pupil of Agostino and Annibale Carracci and affirmed his genius in Rome with a spectacular and daring painting style

Among the Emilia painters he was the most at odds with the current classical painting and championed freedom, becoming the most representative painter of the Roman Baroque

“Penitent Mary Magdalene” by Guido Cagnacci (1601/63) pupil of Guido Reni, but influenced by Caravaggio

Among the many Mary Magdalene in this museum this is undoubtedly the most blatantly erotic

“Painting and Sculpture”, “St. Jerome sealing a letter” 1617, “Saul against David” and “Flagellation” about 1658 by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

“The stor of the evolution of Guercino's style (...) is somewhat troubled. The works of the early period (1615/20) are carried out with a bold, dramatic pictorially ('prima maniera gagliarda', early assertive style, it was later described by the artist himself in a letter) and place him in the forefront among those artists who in the second and third decades of the century were exploring possibilities and defining the character of the style now known as 'baroque'. On the other hand the experiences of his stay in Rome - especially the classical influence of Domenichino and Guido Reni and his friendship with the influential art theorist monsignore Agucchi, secretary of Gregory XV - prompted in Guercino's style a definite deviation in the classical direction. The vigorous dynamism of forms in space of his 'first manner' left room to a more planimetric organization. The constant and independent movement of light on the forms is converted into a gradation of warmer light that defines them” (Dwight C. Miller - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

“Self Portrait” about 1615 by Orazio Borgianni (1578/1616)

“St. John the Baptist points to Christ” and “Portrait of a Woman” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

“Portrait of a Woman” by Ludovico Carracci (1555/1619)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (eighteenth part)

Room XXIII - Caravaggisti

“Christ drives out the merchants from the temple” about 1618, “Judgment of Solomon” about 1620 and “Last Supper” about 1625 by Jean Valentin aka Valentin de Boulogne (about 1591/1632)

“Having settled soon in Rome (where, however, he is only documented from 1620) he was in contact with French and Nordic artists and looked upon the work of Bartolomeo Manfredi. His activity is well documented from 1627, when he began working for Cardinal Francesco Barberini, his protector and patron. Careful interpreter of Caravaggio's lesson, he painted scenes of tavern, concerts and historical and religious paintings, characterized by psychological research and a use of light that creates precious effects of surface and color” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Concerto (Hearing)” 1629 by the Dutchman Hendrick Ter Brugghen (about 1588/1629) among the most innovative Caravaggisti in northern Europe

“Ter Brugghen gave an original interpretation of Caravaggio, in the strong emotional emphasis in religious paintings or in the treatment of some popular subjects, such as the many concerts he painted. His highly personal interpretation of light, both the treatment and the density of the air in the clear luminosity of the background, as well as the importance he gave to color values, were all important parts of the education of the Utrecht school and for training painters like Johannes Vermeer” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Separation of St. Peter and St. Paul led to martyrdom” about 1626 by Giovanni Serodine (about 1600/30)

A surprising and innovative masterpiece

“The touches of light mixed with a clever use of colors anticipate artistically the kind of painting style that would physically and visually employ matter, resulting in almost a distortion of shapes; Serodine accentuated these effects so as to match the results of free brushwork of Velasquez and Rembrandt” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“St. Jerome” and “Crown of Thorns” by Lionello Spada aka Scimmia del Caravaggio (1576/1622)

“Vanity” by the so-called Candlelight Master

“St. Jerome” by Trophime Bigot (about 1579/1649)

“The particular effect of candlelight which cancels the anatomical details and episodes, typical of the works of Bigot, and prominent in St. Jerome, rules out that the painter would be the author of Vanity, which looks very different in the volumetric rendition of the forms highlighted by the use of light. According to a recent suggestion the candle light would display the 'lux intellecti', a metaphor for divine grace derived from St. Augustine” (Rossella Vodret)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (seventeenth part)

Room XXI - Earliest Caravaggisti

“The Holy Family with Angel and Sts. Elizabeth, Anna and John” about 1609 by Orazio Borgianni (1578/1616)

“The compositional structure of the painting depends, as it has been repeatedly pointed out, from Raphael prototypes (...), but the close viewpoint, the source of strong and definitely identified light, the thickening of the shadows and, above all, the extraordinary optical rendition of the basket of clothes in the bottom left corner, defined by Roberto Longhi, the most beautiful still-life of Italian 1600s and one of the most beautiful of the European 1600s, leaves no doubt on the exact Borgianni's adhesion to the naturalistic style” (Rossella Vodret)

“Madonna and Child with St. Anne” 1610 and “St. Cecilia and the Angel” about 1610 by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620)

In the Madonna and Child with St. Anna the dove and the pillow have an accuracy that could be described as photographic. A true virtuosity

The painting was originally the altarpiece of the chapel of the Lancellotti family in the church of S. Simeon Prophet in Via dei Coronari, now no longer existing

“The Madonna and Child with St. Anne is the meeting point between the Venetian color choice, especially the dark green awning that recalls the prototypes of the first period of the sixteenth century, the perfect colors, and the composition inspired by Caravaggio with only three figures focused in a dialogue with gestures and theological meanings in the figure of St. Anne, with garments resembling those of the prophetess of the same name who attends the Presentation of the Lord in the Gospel” (Maria Giulia Aurigemma)

“In St. Cecilia and the Angel, the brilliant idea of the enormous wings of the divine messenger dominates the composition. The representation of St. Cecilia as patron saint of music is enjoying renewed success in 1599 after the body of this Roman martyr was found. Saraceni proved adept at combining the sacred theme of the patron saint of music with the most profane theme of the concert very common in genre painting among the followers of Caravaggio” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“The good fortune” about 1618 by Simon Vouet (1590/1649)

The gypsy on the left distracts the traveler by reading his hand while the gypsy on the right robs him as she makes a gesture of scorn with her right hand

Room XXII - Devout Paintings between 1500s and 1600s

“Christ and Mary Magdalene” by the Florentine Agostino Ciampelli (1565/1630)

“Washing of the Feet” by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643) study for the lost altarpiece for the Gregorian Chapel of the Basilica of St. Peter, the one that was derided by Caravaggio

“Madonna and Child with Sts. Mary Magdalene, Dominic and Francis” 1633 by Pietro Paolini (1603/81) from Lucca

“St. Francis in prayer” by Ludovico Cardi aka Cigoli (1559/1613)

“Cigoli was praised in his century as the great reformer who led the artists to abandon the exaggerated imitation of Michelangelo to adopt a more realistic style based on the tradition of fine Tuscan design (...). Modern criticism has focused its attention on Cigoli's stylistic sources, especially noting the prevalence of influences from Northern Italy or Tuscany and its contribution to the Florentine Baroque” (Miles Chappell - Biographical Dictionary of Italian Treccani)

“St. Francis in Prayer” about 1620 maybe by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620) and assistants

“This St. Francis of Assisi in prayer, with bleak emphases, (original, according to Roberto Longhi, 1943, but, according to Alfred Moir, copy of a lost painting) was submitted for the exhibition of 2013 at Palazzo Venezia, to diagnostic tests that have highlighted the signs of repentance of a typical original painting, and therefore Rossella Vodret is now inclined to regard it as begun by the master, but completed by the assistants in the second decade of the seventeenth century” (Maria Giulia Aurigemma)

“Christ and the Samaritan woman” by G.B. Crespi aka Cerano (1567/1632)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (sixteenth part)

Room XX - Caravaggio

Volta: “Apollo's Chariot” about 1585/87 by Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628) for Paolo I Sforza

“Judith cutting off Holofernes' head” about 1599/1600

“Judith and Holofernes is the beginning of a long series of violent themes treated by the painter Caravaggio in which he would explore the dominant thoughts, the meaning of life and the tragic conflict between persecutors and victims. With the central assumption another theme is interwoven, the opposition between the beautiful, victorious Judith and the horrible assistant alluding to the contrast between youth and old age” (Mina Gregori)

“He adhered perfectly, except for the presence of the assistant, to the story of the book of Judith from the Old Testament accepted by Orthodox and Roman Catholics but not by Jews and Protestants who rate it as an apocryphal texts. Another reason, this, to think that the choice of the subject also has a powerful anti-Lutheran meaning. He chooses as always to represent the climax of the action: the most terrible and tragic moment of the beheading of Holofernes here hanging between life and death in a scene where the use of light is the protagonist, lighting with skillful chiaroscuro quite a surreal scene” (Rossella Vodret)

“Narcissus” about 1598 and “St. Francis in Meditation” about 1605 three masterpieces of outstanding beauty by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610)

In the sacristy of S. Maria della Concezione (St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception) there is a copy of S. Francis in Meditation maybe painted by Bartolomeo Manfredi, from the original of Carpineto Romano found in 1968 and now here at Palazzo Barberini

Some scholars even claim that neither is the original by Caravaggio

“With the exception of Michelangelo, no other Italian painter exercised so great an influence on later painters” (Bernard Berenson)

“Sacred Love and Profane Love” about 1602 by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)

The face of the demon at the bottom is the portrait of Caravaggio hated by Baglione who denounced him for libel in 1603 together with Onorio Longhi with whom Caravaggio had written a series of scurrilous poems

Caravaggio was sentenced to nearly a month in jail and then, through the intercession of the French ambassador, he was released. He still had to undergo house arrest. Eventually the trial was eventually covered up without further criminal consequences

Baglione was deeply influenced by the stratospheric genius of Caravaggio even though he hated him and he was one of his biographer in his book about the lives of artists contemporary to him

“St. Francis and the Angel” about 1612/13 by Orazio Lomi aka Orazio Gentileschi (1563/1639)

“Unlike others, Gentileschi was not subjugated by the strong personality of Caravaggio, but he selected the stimuli accurately showing preference for the clear and transparent light of the first works of the master, and, as demonstrated by this St. Francis, assembling immediately, without hesitation, a resounding summary with what was his basic cultural component: the reformed paintings by Santi di Tito and Andrea Commodi, combined with a particular sensitivity inherent in Tuscan colors, but sharpened by his long experience in the papal construction sites” (Rossella Vodret)

“Bacchus and a Drinker” about 1610 by Bartolomeo Manfredi (1587/about 1620)

“Among the first members of the so called Caravaggio's 'school', rather than an interpreter he was an imitator, who drew the patterns of composition and lighting by Roman works of the master, so much so that many of his works were considered by the hand of Caravaggio himself” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“St. Gregory the Great” by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652) to whom it was recently attributed based on documentary evidence

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (fifteenth part)

Room XVIII - From Mannerism to Nature

Vault: Spectacular “The chariot of the sun” 1693 by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727) for the wedding of Urbano Barberini and Felice Ventimiglia Pignatelli

“He participates intimately in the early Roman Rococo, of which however he cannot be counted among the protagonists; on the other hand, his action, later extended by Agostino Masucci, spans a bridge between Carlo Maratta and Anton Raphael Mengs, who, for his frescoes, followed on the style of Chiari considered a 'classic' in such decorative genre” (Giancarlo Sestieri)

“Butcher” and “Fishmonger” by Bartolomeo Passerotti (1529/92)

“In the Butcher, the scene is rendered with brutal accuracy, emphasizing the strong characters' features behind whom is painted a bird, a symbol and signature of Bartolomeo Passerotti. In the Fishmonger the fish world is presented in all its varieties with descriptive detail and with humor as with the sparrow-signature threatened by a hungry cat. On the left an old commoner hears the words of the veiled woman holding a fish-ball. The presence of this curious animal, an element required in the eclectic late-sixteenth-century collections, refers to the passion of Bartolomeo Passerotti for scientific museums of curiosities” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Madonna and Child, St. Joseph and St. Catherine of Alexandria” by the Flemish Denis Calvaert (1540/1619) who lived in Rome and in Bologna, where in 1572 founded a school of painting in which transited giants such as Guido Reni, Domenichino or Francesco Albani

The subjects of his paintings were mostly religious and his style, rich of various influences, was very eclectic

“Family Portrait” by Jacopo da Ponte aka Jacopo Bassano (about 1510/92)

This is probably the artist's family represented realistically and vividly

Room XIX - Landscapes and Figures

Formerly winter garden of the Princess Anna Colonna

Above the doors “Sacrifice of Juno” to evoke the female fertility and “Ceculo founder of Praeneste incited with a lightning bolt by Vulcan” to celebrate the rule of the Barberini family in Palestrina by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669) and assistants

“View of Villa Sacchetti in Castelfusano” about 1632/1639 by Pietro da Cortona

“Et in Arcadia Ego” about 1620 by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

Two feuds belonging to the Mattei family: “Castel S. Pietro” and “Giove” 1601 by Paul Brill (1554/1626)

“They are part of a series of five paintings commissioned by the Marquis Mattei in 1601 to document the possessions of the family. They have a perspective from the bottom up that is just typical of the Flemish art that Brill would help to spread in Rome. The views are captured at different times of the day: in the manor of Giove the dawn light illuminates the start of daily activities, in the other hues of the sunset invite to return from work” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

Two “Bacchanalian of putti” about 1626 and “Landscape with Hagar and the Angel” about 1660 by the great French painter Nicolas Poussin (1594/1665)