Borghese collection
Encyclopedia
Roman sculpture
The study of ancient Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies." At one time, this imitation was taken by art...
s, old master
Old Master
"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
s and modern art collected by the Roman Borghese
Borghese
Borghese is the surname of a family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century holding offices under the commune. The head of the family, Marcantonio, moved to Rome in the 16th century and there,...
family, especially Cardinal Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese
Scipione Borghese was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini...
, from the 17th century on. It includes major collections of Caravaggio, Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, and Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, and of ancient Roman art. The Borghese also bought widely from leading painters and sculptors of his day, and Scipione Borghese's commissions include two portrait busts by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
.http://www.thais.it/scultura/image/sch00345.htmhttp://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bernini/borghese.jpg.html Most of the collection remains intact and on display at the Galleria Borghese
Galleria Borghese
The Borghese Gallery is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. It is a building that was from the first integral with its gardens, nowadays considered quite separately by tourists as the Villa Borghese gardens...
, although a significant sale of classical sculpture was made under duress to the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in 1807.
Scipione Borghese
Cardinal Scipione Borghese, an important art collector, was the collection's instigator and collected the majority of the collection. His collection was poetically described as early as 1613 by Scipione Francucci. In 1607, the Pope gave the Cardinal 107 paintings which had been confiscated from the studio of the painter Cavalier D'Arpino. In the following year, Raphael's DepositionDeposition (Raphael)
The Deposition, also known as the , Borghese Deposition or The Entombment, is an oil painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. Signed and dated "Raphael Urbinas MDVII ", the painting is in the Galleria Borghese in Rome...
was removed by force from the Baglioni Chapel in the church of San Francesco in Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
and transported to Rome to be given to the Cardinal Scipione through a papal motu proprio
Motu proprio
A motu proprio is a document issued by the Pope on his own initiative and personally signed by him....
.
Later additions
In 1682, part of Olimpia AldobrandiniOlimpia Aldobrandini
Olimpia Aldobrandini was a member of the Aldobrandini family of Rome, and the sole heiress to the family fortune.-Biography:...
's inheritance entered the Borghese collection; it included works from the collections of Cardinal Salviati
Salviati
Salviati may refer to:Families:* The Salviati, a 15th century Florentine-Roman banking family.** In Galileo's Dialogue, Salviati is the character who speaks for him...
and Lucretia d'Este
Este
The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. It is split into two branches; the elder is known as the House of Welf-Este or House of Welf historically rendered in English, Guelf or Guelph...
.
Housing the collection
Scipione developed a large estate and vineyard on the Pincian hill in Rome into a vast garden and complex of palaces, the Villa BorgheseVilla Borghese
Villa Borghese may refer to:*The Villa Borghese Pinciana , the villa built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio , developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection.**The Galleria...
, to house his collection. He also used the Villa Mondragone
Villa Mondragone
Villa Mondragone is a patrician villa originally in the territory of the Italian commune of Frascati , now in the territory of Monte Porzio Catone...
for this purpose. In 1775, in homage to his Borghese ancestors, Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese
Marcantonio IV Borghese
Marcantonio III Borghese, 5th Prince of Sulmona was the head of the Borghese family of Rome. Pro-Bonaparte in sympathies, he was the father of Camillo Filippo Ludovico Borghese....
and the architect Antonio Asprucci embarked upon renovations to Villa Borghese
Villa Borghese
Villa Borghese may refer to:*The Villa Borghese Pinciana , the villa built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio , developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection.**The Galleria...
, which had always been a semi-public museum since the 17th century. Integrating the sculptures of the Borghese collection and existing vast Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
ceiling decors, they created a spectacular monument to the Borghese family (Paul 2000).
Galleria Borghese
The Villa still houses a major part of the collection, as the Galleria BorgheseGalleria Borghese
The Borghese Gallery is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. It is a building that was from the first integral with its gardens, nowadays considered quite separately by tourists as the Villa Borghese gardens...
. Many of the sculptures there are displayed in the spaces they were intended for, including early works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
.
Caravaggio paintings
- Boy with a Basket of FruitBoy with a Basket of Fruit (Caravaggio)Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c.1593, is a painting generally ascribed to Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, currently in the Galleria Borghese, Rome....
- St. Jerome
- Sick BacchusSick Bacchus (Caravaggio)The Young Sick Bacchus, dated between 1593-1594, is an early self-portrait by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. It is also called Self-portrait as Bacchus and Bacchino Malato...
- Madonna of the PalafrenieriMadonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri) (Caravaggio)The Madonna and Child with St. Anne is one of the mature religious works of the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, painted in 1605-1606, for the altar of Archconfraternity of the Papal Grooms in the Basilica of Saint Peter...
- David with the Head of GoliathDavid with the Head of Goliath (Caravaggio)David with the Head of Goliath is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio. It is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The painting, which was in the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1613, has been dated as early as 1605 and as late as 1609–1610, with more recent scholars...
Other notable paintings
- Sacred and Profane LoveSacred and Profane LoveSacred and Profane Love is an oil painting by Titian, painted around 1513–1514. The painting was commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, a secretary to the Venetian Council of Ten to celebrate his marriage to a young widow, Laura Bagarotto...
by TitianTitianTiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near... - DepositionDeposition (Raphael)The Deposition, also known as the , Borghese Deposition or The Entombment, is an oil painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. Signed and dated "Raphael Urbinas MDVII ", the painting is in the Galleria Borghese in Rome...
by RaphaelRaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur... - DanäeDanaë (Correggio)Danäe is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, executed around 1531 and housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.-History:...
by CorreggioAntonio da CorreggioAntonio Allegri da Correggio , usually known as Correggio, was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16th century... - Portrait of a Man by Antonello da MessinaAntonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...
(See also Image) - Diana by Domenichino
- Venus and Cupid by CranachLucas Cranach the ElderLucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
- Circe by Dosso DossiDosso DossiDosso Dossi , real name Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri, was an Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the Ferrara School of Painting.-Biography:Dossi was born in San Giovanni del Dosso a village in the province of Mantua...
- The Deposition by Rubens
- Tobias and the Angel by Savoldo
- Madonna and Child with Saints by Lorenzo LottoLorenzo LottoLorenzo Lotto was a Northern Italian painter draughtsman and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school. He painted mainly altarpieces, religious subjects and portraits...
- The Last Supper by Jacopo BassanoJacopo BassanoJacopo Bassano , known also as Jacopo dal Ponte, was an Italian painter who was born and died in Bassano del Grappa near Venice, from which he adopted the name.- Life :...
- Various works by Federico BarocciFederico BarocciFederico Barocci was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio, which still in northwestern Italian dialects means a two wheel cart drawn by oxen...
- Leda and the Swan by followers of Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
Bernini collection
The small collection of works by Bernini (whose first patron was Scipione) comprises a large proportion of his lifetime output of secular sculpture; in this collection one can see the sponsored Bernini mature from juvenile, but talented works, such as the The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a FaunThe Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun
The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun is an early sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Produced in 1615, it is now in the Borghese Collection at the Galleria Borghese. It shows Amalthea as a goat, the infant god Jupiter and an infant Faun....
(1615)http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1610/2amalthea.html to his supreme and dynamic Apollo and Daphne
Apollo and Daphne (Bernini)
Apollo and Daphne is a baroque life-sized marble sculpture by Italian Gian Lorenzo Bernini housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.It depicts the climax of the story of Daphne and Phoebus in Ovid's Metamorphoses...
(1622–25)http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1620/apollo_d.html and David
David (Bernini)
David is a life-size marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sculpture was part of a commission to decorate the villa of Bernini's patron Cardinal Scipione Borghese – the Galleria Borghese – where it still resides...
(1623),http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1620/david.html considered seminal works of baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
sculpture. In addition, the gallery contains three busts, two of Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
(1618–20) and one marvelously conversive and stunningly innovative portrait of his patron, Borghese (1632).http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bernini/borghese.jpg.html Finally it has some early, somewhat mannerist, but masterful works such as Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius
Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius
Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius is a sculpture by the Italian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1619. It is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. It depicts Anchises being carried by Aeneas, and Ascanius following them....
(1618–19)http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1610/aeneas.html and the Giambologna
Giambologna
Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, incorrectly known as Giovanni da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculptor, known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.- Biography :...
-emulating Pluto's Rape of Prosperpine
The Rape of Proserpina (Bernini)
The Rape of Proserpina is a large baroque marble sculptural group by Bernini executed between 1621 and 1622. Bernini was only 23 years old at its completion...
(1621–22),http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/eproserp.htm and also a personal allegory of Truth Unveiled by Time
Truth Unveiled by Time (Bernini)
Truth Unveiled by Time is a 1645 sculpture by Bernini. It was intended to show Truth allegorically as a naked young woman being unveiled by a figure of Time above her, but the figure of Time was not executed...
(1646–52).http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/everita.htm
At the Louvre
In 1807, due to financial difficulties and pressure from his new brother-in-law Napoleon Bonaparte, Camillo Filippo Ludovico BorgheseCamillo Filippo Ludovico Borghese
Don Camillo Filippo Ludovico Borghese, Prince of Sulmona and of Rossano, Duke and Prince of Guastalla was a member of the Borghese family, best known for being brother-in-law to Napoleon.- Biography :...
sold 344 antiquities
Antiquities
Antiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
(154 statues - including some major examples - , 160 busts, 170 bas-reliefs, 30 columns and various vases), from the collection to the French state at below their market price. These pieces, which now reside at the Louvre Museum, include:
- sculptures recently excavated at GabiiGabiiGabii was an ancient city of Latium, located due east of Rome along the Via Praenestina, which was in early times known as the Via Gabina....
- the Antinous MondragoneAntinous MondragoneThe Antinous Mondragone is a unique colossal 0.95 m high marble example of the iconographic type of the deified Antinous, of c. AD 130. It can be identified as him from the striated eyebrows, full lips, sombre expression and the head's twist down and to the right , whilst its smooth skin and...
- the Borghese GladiatorBorghese GladiatorThe Borghese Gladiator is a Hellenistic lifesize marble sculpture actually portraying a swordsman, created at Ephesus about 100 BCE. It is signed on the pedestal by Agasias, son of Dositheus, who is otherwise unknown.-Rediscovery:...
- the Borghese HermaphroditusBorghese HermaphroditusThe Borghese Hermaphroditus is a type of marble sculpture depicting Hermaphroditus life size, reclining on a couch, with a form that is partly derived from ancient portrayals of Venus and other female nudes, and partly from contemporaneous feminised Hellenistic portrayals of Dionysus/Bacchus...
- the Borghese VaseBorghese VaseThe Borghese Vase is a monumental bell-shaped krater sculpted in Athens from Pentelic marble in the second half of the 1st century BC as a garden ornament for the Roman market; it is now in the Louvre Museum.-Iconography:...
He replaced them in the Villa with other pieces from excavations on Borghese property (e.g. the Gladiator Mosaic
Gladiator Mosaic
The Gladiator Mosaic is a famous mosaic of gladiators, dated to the first half of the 4th century. It was discovered in 1834 on the Borghese estate at Torrenova, on the Via Casilina outside Rome...
, found in 1834) and paintings from his residences' stores and cellars, so that already by the 1830s these gaps seem to have been filled and despite the losses the collection was still reckoned as one of the world's finest. Camillo even bought Correggio's celebrated Danäe in Paris in 1827.