Galleria borghese

1. First created 18 Aug 2011. Version 1.0 - 28 Aug 2011. Jerry Tse. London.
Galleria Borghese
All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners. Available
free for non-commercial and personal use.
Rome

2. Villa Borghese Park
The Galleria Borghese is situated in a park about 2 km from the centre of the city, Rome.

3. The gallery is not big but housed in an opulent palaces. It is the most exclusive gallery in Rome. To see the collection,
visitors have to make a reservation before hand, in one of the 2-hour slots offered by the gallery.
Thegallery
The main entrance

4. The building was built for as the personal home of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, between 1613 and 1615. Scipione
Borghese was also the nephew of the pope Paul V. He was also a patron of Bernini. The gallery underwent an
extensive 14 years restoration in 1983 and reopened in 1997.
TheBuilding
Cardinal Scipione Borghese
Pope Paul V (1605-21)
The Emperor Room

5. The building was built as a showpiece gallery of the cardinal. The gallery is known for its collection of Bernini, Raphael
and Caravaggio masterpieces.
TheBuilding
The Egyptian Room

6. Ancient Greek Sculpture
Artemis. 4C BC. Original
Peplofora. Early 5C BC.
Possibly Greek Original

7. AncientGreekSculpture
The Sleeping Hermaphrodite was a 1C Roman copy of the 150 BC original sculpture by Polycles. The first
Hermaphrodite sculpture belonged to the gallery was sold to the Louvre. This current Hermaphrodite was found in
1781 and reworked by Pacetti.
The Sleeping Hermaphrodite,
original Greek, 150 BC.

8. Dancing Satyr, original
Greek, 4C BC.
Hercules, original
Greek, 4C BC.
Ancient Greek Sculpture

9. In 1807, many pieces of art works were sold to Napoleon and they are now exhibit as the ‘Borghese collection’ in the
Louvre, Paris.
AncientRomanSculpture
Satyr on a Dolphin, original
Greek, 1C BC.
Iris (Egyptian godess),
Roman 2C.

10. Raffaello–womanwithUnicorn
Woman with a Unicorn. 1505-06. Sanzio Raffaello.
Raphael probably did not finish the painting.
Another artist completed the portrait by
changing its pose and the size of the sleeves.
He also added a small dog and the
windowsill. Soon after, the dog was changed
into a unicorn.
In 17C the woman was changed into St
Catherine with addition of her wheel. In the
1935 restoration the 17C changes were
removed .

11. Raffaello–DepositionofChrist
The Deposition of Christ. 1507. Sanzio Raffaello.
The painting was cleaned in
2005 and revealed the
magnificent vivid colours.
The painting was painted
by Raphael before he
moved to Rome. It was
originally placed in the
church of S Francesco al
Prato in Perugia.

12. Titian – Sacred and Profane Love.
Sacred and Profane Love. Titan. 1514.
The nude woman was the goddess of Venus
(sacred love), with her sacred flame in hand.
The clothed woman (profane love) was a
young widow Laura Bagarotto, dressed as a
bride to be of Niccolo Aureli, who
commissioned the painting.
Venus with the help of Cupid who was stirring
a pool of water in a sarcophagus, to assist
Laura Baggrotto for the coming marriage.

13. Titian-VenusBlindfoldingCupid
Venus Blindfolding Cupid. c1565. Titian. This was painted some 50 years after the previous painting, in his
70s, showing his changing style.

14. Cranach-VenusandTwoCupid
Venus and Two Cupids. c1520. Brescianino.

15. Cranach-VenusandCupidwithaHoneycomb
Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb. c1531. Cranach. An unusual
painting in the collection as Cranach was a friend of Martin Luther.

16. DossoDossi–MelissaorCirce
The painting refers to a
romantic epic poem by
Ludovico Ariosto. It told
the story of an
enchantress, Circe, who
imprisoned her lovers
within trees (see miniscule
figures of men on the tree,
top left), rocks and
animals. The lady who sat
in a magic circle was
probably Melissa, who
liberated the victims from
the spell. The empty
armour was a reference to
the trapped knight of
Astolpho.
Melissa or Circe, c1530. by D. Dossi.
Note the fantasy and
opulent use of colours in
the painting and fine
landscape in the
background.

17. Correggio-Danae
Danae. 1531-32. Correggio. He was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16C.

18. Lotto-PortraitofaMan
Portrait of a Man. 1535. Lotto.
Born in Venice, his work is always
crisp and clear. His works show the
influence of the Venetian painters
and the influence of German
painters, in his landscape.

19. Caravaggio–IlBacchinoMalato
Aeneas’ Flight from Troy. 1598. Barocci. Bernini must had seen this before he worked on the
Aeneas and Anchises sculpture.

20. Caravaggio–IlBacchinoMalato
Self-Portrait as the Sick Bacchus.
c1593. Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi is the
most important Baroque painter. His
revolutionary technique used dramatic
dark background, selective
illuminations and strong lighting
contrasts. Many painters were
influenced by his styles, including
Artemisia Gentileschi, Ribera,
Honthorst, Georges de La Tour,
Rembrandt and Velazquez.

21. Caravaggio–BoywithBasketofFruit
Boy with a Basket of Fruit.
c1594. Caravaggio.
Caravaggio’s style is described
as ‘chiaroscuro’. The fruits in
his paintings were often over-
ripe and starting to decay.
The leaves were wilting and
colours were fading.

22. Caravaggio–BoywithBasketofFruit

23. Caravaggio–SaintJerome
St Jerome. 1605-06. Caravaggio. This was painted at the height of his career. Note the light
streams off the bald head of the saint.

24. Caravaggio–MadonnaofthePalafrenieri
Madonna of the Palafrenieri.
1605-06. Caravaggio.
It is a very unusual painting of the
Madonna and child. It was
commissioned as an altarpiece in
the St Peter Basilica.
The painting shows the Virgin, with
the help of her son, trampled on a
snake, the source of the original sin.
This is an allegory of the Catholics
church (represented by the Virgin)
crashing the opposition, on the
dispute between the Catholics and
the Protestants on the original sin.
St Anne (on the right), the mother of
the Virgin was given the rough
treatment by Caravaggio.

25. Caravaggio–DavidwiththeHeadofGoliath
David with the Head of Goliath.
1609-10. Caravaggio.
Self-portrait, the head of
Caravaggio, who was wanted
by the police for murder.
Caravaggio is saying “here is
my head”.

26. St John the Baptist. 1609-10.
Caravaggio.
Caravaggio–DavidwiththeHeadofGoliath
Caravaggio painted St John the Baptist
in his youth. The saint grew up in the
wilderness, that strengthened his spirit
(St Luke).
The painting illustrated Caravaggio’s
approach to saints and apostles. He
saw these people as ordinary men and
women rather than sanitised version of
people in robes or spiritual colossus.

27. Domenichino–TheHuntofDiana
The Hunt of Diana. 1616. Domenichino. The painting was forcefully bought by the Scipione Borghese from the
rebellious artist Domenichino. It depicts a an archery contest, in a festive atmosphere amongst Diana’s nymphs.
The exquisite colour was part of the Veneto school ‘s style.

28. Domenichino–TheHuntofDiana
Sybil. c1616. Domenichino.
A colourful and a youthful Persian Sybil,
with a viola and a music book. In antiquity
sybils sang their prophecies, accompanied
with music. Domenichino was also an
expert in music.

29. Bernini c1623
Bernini c1630-35
Bernini
Bernini
It is impossible for any tourist to visit Rome without coming across
art works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was a very successful artist in
the early 17C. He was the leading sculptor, a painter, play write, a
prominent architect and a stage designer. Several of his
masterpieces are on display in the gallery. Below are some of his
works in Rome.

30. Bernini–AeneasandAnchises
Aeneas fleeing from the burning city of Troy
carrying his elderly father, while his son
carries the sacred fire. Aeneas and Anchises.
1618-1620.

31. Bernini–AeneasandAnchises
Many scholars saw the influence of Bernini’s father on the
sculpture. Some even suggested it was his father’s work.

32. Bernini–RapeofProserpine
Proserpine was carried by Pluto into the
underworld. Rape of Proserpine. 1621-22.

33. Bernini–RapeofProserpine
Marble softened in the hand of Bernini.

34. Bernini–RapeofProserpine

35. Bernini–ApolloandDaphne
Life-size marble sculpture (1622-26) by Bernini. Apollo insulted Cupid, who shot him with the gold arrow of love. Knowing
Apollo was in love with Daphne, Cupid shot her with the lead arrow of hate. The sculpture showed the moment when
Apollo touched her. Sensing Apollo’s touch and the danger she turned herself into a tree to escape from Apollo.

36. The Apollo and Daphne was one of
the four sculptures commissioned by
Cardinal Borghese.
Bernini–ApolloandDaphne

37. Bernini–ApolloandDaphne
Daphne’s foot is turning
into roots.

38. Bernini–David
Bernini’s David is very dynamic and
compared well with previous well-
known examples of sculpture of David.
David. 1623-24. Life-size marble.

39. Bernini–David
Note the biting lips, the
hatred and other emotions
on His face.

40. Bernini–David
Bernini was very skilful in conveying
movements in his David sculpture.
Note the tension on his leg.

41. Madonna and Child.
c1650. Sassoferrato.
Canova-Pauline

42. Pauline was Napoleon’s sister, who married one of the Borghese Princes.
Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix, 1805-1808. Antonio Canova.
Canova-Pauline

43. By portrait Pauline in nude with an apple in her
hand, Canova elevated her to be a goddess. The
apple is a reference to the Judgement of Paris,
about beauty.
Canova-Pauline

44. Galleria Borghese
In 1605, two months after his ascent to the papal throne, Paul V appointed his nephew Scipione Cardinal. Shortly
after he gave him the ‘vineyard’ outside Porta Pinciana, where Scipione fulfilled his artistic dream by building a villa.
Scipione Borghese was an early patron of Bernini and an enthusiastic collector of works by Caravaggio. As a result,
the gallery has a very large collection of Bernini and Caravaggio’s masterpieces. The gallery was re-opened in 1997,
after a 14 years restoration.

45. Music – Roxane’s Veil performed by Vanessa Mae
and composed by Vangelis.
All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners. Available
free for non-commercial and personal use.
The End