Borghese Gallery - The most beautiful museum in the world

Rome

Credit photo: popcinema.org

Click Here Italian Version

Historically, the Borghese family dates before the 13th century in Siena. A noble dynasty with notable ancestors such as Counts of the Holy Roman Empire, scholars, philosophers, senators, Napoleonic generals and a pope: Paul V. They were related to European aristocratic families, including the Bonaparte family, when Napoleon's sister, Pauline, married Camillo Borghese.

Villa Pinciana was begun in 1606 by Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli-Borghese, nephew of Paul V. The cardinal dedicated his life to managing the villa and, above all, to increasing his fabulous artistic collection.

Villa Pinciana is the most beautiful museum in the world. His astonishing structure mixes with the extraordinary artwork contained inside.

Its pleasantness also depends on its dimensions. Perfect for a careful visit to each hall. It does not have themammoth and boundless vastness of generalist museums such as the Vatican, the Uffizi and the Louvre. The Borghese Gallery has the right extension to be enjoyed, appreciated, photographed calmly, without being physically destroyed and with cognitive abilities eliminated.

In the halls, the audience admires Raphael, Caravaggio, but it is the context of the frescoes, the ceilings of the walls, the vibrant statues that accompany the visitors.

AENEAS, ANCHISES AND ASCANIUS

Date 1619

BERNINI GIAN LORENZO

(Naples 1598 - Rome 1680)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was nineteen years old when he created the marble composition of the mythological Aeneas' escape from Troy. Aeneas is with his father Anchises (elderly and paralysed) and his son Ascanius. The three generations of the family are trying to save their history and their future.

The sculpture has a spiral representation. All men have attractive, athletic bodies. Even elderly Anchises is still powerful, with his arm muscles stretched to the maximum, in the exertion of holding the statuette of the Penates in his hand. Little Ascanius is behind his father but he too will be a vigorous adult. Aeneas' face is seraphic despite the tremendous effort caused by his father's weight. Enea, with her strong hands, hooked his father's leg with energy, marking them with his fingers. It is the Bernini characteristic of the soft marble of him.

LAST SUPPER

Date 1546 - 1547

DA PONTE JACOPO CALLED JACOPO BASSANO

(Bassano del Grappa 1510 – 1592)

A construction of exasperating expressiveness. A block painting with the impetuous muscular tension of the characters. There is no choreography as in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, but confusion and nervous agitation. The gestures are heavy, as are the colours. The tablecloth is occupied by the elbows, the hands of the apostles and disturbing leftovers of food, bread, wine, fruit and, above all, a head.

Even the cat appears alarmed and ready to go wild. Just a few characters are calm. Jesus, placidly, looks over the canvas. Saint John is completely detached. He sleeps. His eyes are closed, although the posture of his arms is difficult. He is in the centre of the table. He has a purifying rest, a demonstration of his innocence. He does not need to participate in the hunt for the traitor. Likewise, under the table, a dog sleeps as peacefully as the saint above him. An exciting but vital last dinner full of realism.

PAOLINA BORGHESE BONAPARTE AS VENUS VICTRIX

Date 1804-1808

CANOVA ANTONIO

(Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822)

Pauline Bonaparte was Napoleon's sister. She is a widow and remarried Camillo Borghese, becoming the matron of Villa Borghese. Napoleon loved the aristocracy and, with this marriage, united the historic Italian nobility with the ambitious members of his family. Antonio Canova narrates her by focusing on her famous beauty and charm. She has a relaxing position, exposing her qualities of harmony and gracefulness. Pauline is the winner, so the artist characterises her as a Venus Victrix. There is plasticity in her posture, in the mattress folds. She is well-groomed, with bracelets on her wrist and an apple in her hand.

SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE

Date 1515-1516

VECELLIO TITIAN

(Pieve di Cadore 1488-90 - Venice 1576)

Titian was young when he painted this masterpiece.

The two women represent a duality, a comparison, not necessarily a contrast. It is just a different way of interpreting life. Among them, there is a Cupid with one hand in the water to test the temperature.

The vision is ideal, complete. One woman is slightly inclined to proportionally delimit the surface, assigning ideality to the scene.

DEPOSITION

SANZIO, RAPHAEL

(Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520)

Raphael painted the “sublime” for Deposition in Perugia for the Baglioni family.

“Sublime” is the word used by Vasari to describe Deposition in his The Lives of the Artists:

“This sublime painting contains the figure of a dead Christ being carried to His burial, executed with such freshness and mature love that it appears only just now to have been painted.” (1)

The splendour of Raphael's Deposition provoked the envy of the Borghese Family, and, in an adventurous manner, they took it from the church of San Francesco in Perugia.

The painting has a light semicircle momentum, with the characters straining to support the body of Jesus. They are Nicodemus, Saint John, Joseph of Arimathea, Magdalene.

Furthermore, a handsome boy holds Jesus' corpse and, with his powerful physiognomy, he divides the canvas. Behind him, there is a group of women who are comforting Madonna's pain.

Dignified pain is the strength and symbol of humanity in front of death:

“Raphael imagined the pain felt by the closest and dearest relatives as they lay to rest the body of some loved one on whom the happiness, honour, and profit of the entire family depend ...” (1)

Vasari described Saint John for his gentle and compassionate gestures:

“ … particularly that of Saint John, who, with his hands clasped, bows his head in a way that would move the hardest heart to pity.” (1)

Saint John is in the background, hiding between Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. The expression on his face is sad. He stares at the face of Jesus. He dominates the scene. Although hidden, it delicately emphasises an anguish impossible to erase.

The artwork is choral. There is total movement in the effort, to honourably lift the lifeless Jesus.

The red robe of Saint John reflects the red of his clothes and shoes:

“And to tell the truth, anyone who considers the care, love, skill, and grace in this painting, has good reason to be amazed, for it would astonish anyone looking at it because of the expression of its figures, the beauty of its garments, and, in short, the utmost excellence of all its elements.” (1)

Saint John is the narration of sensitivity in his heartbreaking behaviour. However, Joseph of Arimathea condemns those who committed that sacrilege with his gaze. His head is turned but his eyes, although one is not entirely visible, are fixed, threatening and aggressive towards someone off-screen, perhaps the murderers of Christ.

1. Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Bibliography:

A cura di Kristina Herrmann Fiore, Guida alla Galleria Borghese, ottobre 2000

Daniel Pinton, Bernini. I percorsi dell'arte, ATS Italia

Wilhelm Rath, La deposizione. Saggio in ritmi sul dipinto di Raffaello a Roma, Cambiamenti, 2009

Giuseppe Sgarzini, Raffaello, ATS Italia

Aldo De Rinaldis, La R. Galleria Borghese a Roma, La Libreria dello Stato, Roma, III edizione

Sitography

https://www.collezionegalleriaborghese.it