Amazing Rome

Tour

 

Immersed in the green of one of the most picturesque parks of Rome, Galleria Borghese holds authentic artistic treasures. The building was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese, to house his collection of art and antiquities. Therefore it’s considered one of the first buildings to be built as a museum. Scipione Borghese was in fact one of the most important patrons and collectors of the early 1600s. Eclectic and a promoter of the Baroque era, he surrounded himself with masterpieces by Bernini, Tiziano, Caravaggio, and Canova. The Galleria Borghese is therefore a collection of artworks which was intended to be superior to any other contemporary collection. 

 

Sacred and Profane Love by Tiziano is one of the most important works in the collection. An aura of mystery surrounds this painting: its allegorical subject is among the most studied throughout art history and has multiple levels of understanding and interpretation. An enigmatic piece, it is outspoken in its beauty, use of color, and composition: the figures are harmoniously inserted with balance in the environment. 

 

Pauline Bonaparte, a passionate and majestic neoclassical sculpture of the beloved sister of Napoleon, is portrayed as Venus Victrix by Canova. Gently lying on the bed, softly portrayed in the curves of the shoulders and hips, in the rich drapery of the clothes she  becomes a true goddess of the new Olympus Napoleonic. 

The sculptural group of Apollo and Daphne  is Bernini's masterpiece, which later in his life he considered to be his highest creative achievement. The nymph, who escapes the embrace of the god transformed into a laurel tree, becomes an elegant arabesque pattern of flight. It symbolizes an admonition about impossible dreams chased by youth. Dynamic, inventive with the ability of shaping the material, the artist Bernini is a prince of the Roman Baroque. The gallery retains many other works of Bernini, such as the Rape of Proserpine, full of pathos and realism. Bernini masterfully reproduces the kidnapping of the girl by Pluto. 

The Borghese collection  boasts the presence of a number of paintings by Raphael, including the beautiful altarpiece depicting The Deposition, painted in 1507. Like many works, it shares elements of the common subjects of the Deposition of Christ, the Lamentation of Christ, and the Entombment of Christ. Scipione Borghese admired Raphael and he wanted at all costs to have his work as part of his collection. 

 

The Gallery dedicates an entire room to Caravaggio, one of the most prestigious artists of the 1600s and a character  prone to duels and arguments who died prematurely for a violent death. The “cursed painter” Caravaggio began with the allegorical pictures of Young sick Bacchus poses; it's linked to the new naturalism of the time, which influenced music, painting, and poetry. The gallery presents pieces which are both young and mature, allowing visitors to trace the growth of the damned artist, the genius, the lover of truth and light, a contrasting and constant element of his paintings. 

The famous painting David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio is also housed in the gallery. David, depicted as pensive, creates an unusual psychological bond between him and Goliath. This bond is further complicated by the fact that Caravaggio has depicted himself as Goliath. Caravaggio has depicted David not as cruel and indifferent, but as deeply moved by Goliath's death. If the painting was a gift to Cardinal Borghese, the papal official with the power to grant Caravaggio a pardon for murder, it can also be interpreted as a personal plea for mercy.