Ethereal Beauty at the Borghese Gallery

At the heart of Rome’s most central park, the lush Villa Borghese, is one Rome’s crown jewels as well as of the world’s most stunning art collections; the Borghese Gallery. This beautiful late Renaissance villa hosts a fine collection of paintings and sculptures among the most renowned around the world, bearing the names of masters of the likes of Bernini, Bronzino, Caravaggio, Raphael, Rubens and Titian, only to name a few.

The Borghese family, like the Medici, Chigi, the Aldobrandini, Pamphilj and unlike the older Colonna, Orsini or Massimo are part of that nobility that did not originate in Rome but arrived to Rome sometimes during the Renaissance to expand their business as they often happened to be bankers or merchants of some sort. 

Indeed, the Borghese were merchants who originated in Siena in the 14th century, the family soon created family links with the most important Sienese families, including the Benincasa, of which Saint Catherine of Siena was a notable member. 

In 1541, Marcantonio I Borghese moved to Rome and from then on the family began a quick ascent towards power, it married into some of Rome’s greatest families; in 1605, his son Camillo became Pope Paul V. The Pope made his two brothers Francesco and Giambattista, respectively head of the armed forces and governor of the papal fortress of Castel Sant’Angelo. His sister Ortensia was given into marriage to Francesco Caffarelli, born into one of Rome’s oldest families which allegedly boasted a direct descendance from the Gens Juvenalia. The two had a son, Scipione, which he adopted and once made Pope, made his nephew a cardinal, il cardinal nipote. It is during this time that the family built their massive palazzo in the Campo Marzio off the Via Ripetta - it became known as the Cembalo Borghese, because of its harpsichord-like shape, and one of the four wonders of Baroque Rome.

At the end of the 16th century, the Borghese family acquired a plot of land north of Rome, outside the Pincian Gate, the Porta del Popolo, in order to create a massive park with a country house, as it was customary at the time. 

In 1607, the family commissioned architect Flaminio Ponzio, who had already worked on their palazzo, to design a stately Renaissance country villa. Ponzio died in 1613 and was succeeded by Giovanni Vasanzio, while the gardens were designed by renowned architect Carlo Rainaldi, works were completed around 1620. While Pope Paul V had a special sensitivity to art, it was Scipione, the cardinal nipote, who proved to be the real manager of the estate and philanthropist. By 1613, he started moving his splendid collection into the villa. 

The architectural style of the villa is inspired by that of the Villa Farnesina and the Villa Medici with a portico that embraces the gardens. The exterior was then decorated in the style of the time with 144 bas-reliefs and 70 busts. The casino comes with many windows, the idea was that of procuring the right amount of natural light for each masterpiece. The interior was decorated with frescoes by Ludovico Cigoli, including the story of Love and Psyche. It was restored in its current, slightly more late-Baroque style by Antonio Asprucci in 1770, under commission by Marcantonio IV Borghese. The frescoes represent the history of the family and the accomplishments of Marcus Furious Camillus, a Roman soldier and statesman of the patrician class.

The story of the gallery takes an abrupt change of course, when in 1803, the prince Camillo II Borghese marries with Paolina Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister. That turns out to be a bit of a problem for the family and for the collection. The emperor took back to Paris endless sculptures and paintings from the gallery, most of which were never returned, among them the stunning Borghese Gladiator and Borghese Hermaphroditus.

The gallery has a total of 20 rooms, the grand entrance opens with a collection of Roman busts, a mosaic showing gladiators fighting and a colossal statue of Bacchus. The first room hosts the famous Neo-Classical sculpture of Paolina Bonaparte by Antonio Canova, commissioned to celebrate the wedding of the couple in 1804 - the emperor’s sister is shown as a modern matrona - in her hand, she is holding an apple, as a reference to the judgement of Paris. 

In the following room is the Bernini’s David, a real departure and most dramatic change from the graceful sculptures of the same theme from the Renaissance, here is a strong, dynamic David showing all the drama of Baroque art. On the wall is a fine painting of Samson by Annibale Carracci, the first Baroque master. 

The third room is perhaps one of the most celebrated around the world, here is the breathtaking statue of Apollo and Daphne by Bernini. The statue was the last one to be commissioned to the artist by the cardinal. The story is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphosis: Cupid used to tease Apollo for never actually accomplishing any heroic deed, the god then went on to kill a serpent - Cupid became enraged and cursed an arrow. Apollo found love in Daphne, a nymph, but Cupid struck her with his arrow and she lost any interest, when Apollo tried to grab the nymph, she asked to be turned into a laurel tree, which then became forever sacred to the cursed god. Bernini’s way of representing the scene is truly dramatic and dynamic at the same time, Apollo is left in desperation as he realises he is losing his true love the moment he thought he finally found it - Daphne’s emotions range from terror to relief in that the metamorphosis has already started. The whole scene is moving very swiftly and it truly is filled with pathos, celebrating the genius of the art of the later Bernini.

The following room hosts another dramatic sculpture by Bernini, the rape of Proserpina. This piece has an interesting story, it was commissioned by Scipione, then donated to Prince Ludovisi, and when the Italian state bought the villa at the turn of the 20th century, it was returned here. Bernini’s own son described the scene as an amazing contrast of tenderness and cruelty. In another room is an ancient copy of the original Borghese Hermaphroditus now at the Louvre, and in the next one are two more masterpieces: Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius and Truth Unveiled by Time both by Bernini. In the next room, is a fine Roman mosaic of the 2nd century.

From now on, starts the more pictorial side of the gallery. In the following room are six masterpieces by Caravaggio, there is a beautiful painting of Saint John the Baptist (which was given in exchange for pardon by the cardinal after the artist murdered a man and went into hiding), another of Saint Jerome, both with every single one of their iconographic attributes - there is also a dramatic painting of David holding the head of Goliah. 

Perhaps, the most interesting works by Caravaggio in this room are the Madonna dei Palafrenieri and the Young Sick Bacchus. The first painting dates from Caravaggio’s first years in Rome and it is a self-portrait, it shows the artist when he was ill in Milan, supposedly with anemia or a similar disease. It shows how good the artist was at rendering even the worst conditions a human body can be in in a realistic way. The Madonna painting instead has had a troubled history, it was commissioned by the church of Sant’Anna dei Palafrenieri in the Vatican City but it was deemed too heretical for its time, with an almost Lutheran vision of Mary. Cardinal Scipione loved the painting instead and got it for a bargain. The painting shows Mary holding baby Jesus who is trampling over a serpent representing the original sin, over the scene is Saint Anne, God’s gran, who is shown as an older woman in a true Caravaggio-esque, realistic manner. 

The room of the Caravaggio paintings represents the highest levels art can achieve and it is a true treasure of the city of Rome, one must stand still here in silence and behold those sumptuous lines, those realistic renditions and those magic chiaroscuros. Among his most interesting works in the room are also two self-portraits, one of which showing the artist in his weakest state while he was suffering from anemia, the Young Sick Bacchus.

The ninth room hosts masterpieces by some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Botticelli and Pintoricchio, respectively a round panel with the Madonna and Child from his early phase and a classic Umbrian Crucifixion. There is also a portrait of a Young Woman with Unicorn by Raphael, thought to represent Giulia Farnese, Pope Alexander VI Borgia’s second lover and sister of Pope Paul III, made cardinal by her "intercession" with the Spanish pope. 

The greatest masterpiece in this room is Raphael’s Deposition. This is one of Raphael’s earliest masterpiece from his Umbrian period - it shows the deposition of the body of Christ in a realistic and dramatic manner, the greenish, pale body of the Savior is being taken to his grave, the apostles struggle in a vigorous manner and in a movement that seems to never cease. The theme of this work is particularly important because the painting was commissioned in Perugia by Atalanta Baglioni, mother of Grifonetto, killed by the rival faction to the family, Raphael took this commission very seriously and it represents not only the strife our Lord went through, but also the distress of a stoic and yet human mother.

The gallery continues with further rooms with works collected through the years by the cardinal and his descendants and created by some of the greatest artists of all time. Just to name a few; in the gallery are masterpieces by Piero di Cosimo, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Antonello da Messina for what concerns the Renaissance, Bronzino, Jacopo Zucchi, Giorgio Vasari, Marcello Venusti, Perin del Vaga and others from the School of Raphael for Mannerism, and the likes of Peter Paul Rubens, Guercino, Guido Reni and Pietro da Cortona for the Baroque. These are some of the names which made the history of the unending endeavour of the human race in the hope of imagining and achieving the reproduction of true beauty. A painting of Susanna and the Elders by Rubens brings us heathens, somewhat closer to that struggle. The last room hosts the beautiful Sacred and Profane Love by Titian. 

This is one of the greatest works by this artist, on one side is profane love, fully clothed, while on the other side is sacred love, in the middle is an ancient sarcophagus, at the center is an allegory of a young Cupid stirring the water in the sarcophagus - the scene is set in a bucolic background. Many have tried to find a meaning in this painting, some have suggested it might represents two faces of Venus, the earthly one and the celestial one. Indeed, both characters seem to be shaped around the same figure. Most scholars agree that this painting was made to celebrate a marriage and it is an allegory of the same. It remains one of the most stunning works ever made.