Description
The Galleria Borghese is an art museum in the villa of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, inside the Villa Borghese park. It holds sculptures by Bernini and paintings by Caravaggio and Raphael in a handful of rooms: it is one of the places where you best understand the Roman 1600s.
The heart is the sculpture of the very young Bernini: Apollo and Daphne, in which the nymph turns into laurel under the god's fingers, the Rape of Proserpina, with Pluto's fingers sinking into the marble flesh, and the David, of 1623-24. You walk all the way around each one.
In the middle of another room lies Canova's Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's sister stretched out like a victorious Venus. In another, six paintings by Caravaggio: the Boy with a Basket of Fruit, the Sick Bacchus, the Madonna dei Palafrenieri, St. Jerome, St. John the Baptist and David with the Head of Goliath.
Among the paintings, Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael's Baglioni Entombment and Lady with a Unicorn, Correggio's Danaë. By Bernini there are also the busts of Cardinal Scipione, in two versions, and the Goat Amalthea, an early work.
Around you, the frescoed ceilings and mosaic floors are as much a part of the collection as the works: the museum is also the palace that houses them. The windows and rooms were designed to give a good view of the works, and the facade was adorned with 144 bas-reliefs and 70 busts.
How do you put together a collection like this? Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, was not too particular. In 1607 he had 107 paintings confiscated from a painter, the Cavalier d'Arpino, assigned to himself.
The next year Raphael's Entombment was carried off in secret from a church in Perugia and ended up in Rome, assigned to the cardinal by a decree of the pope. Scipione loved ancient sculpture but also wanted new works, and he found Bernini.
His heirs were not always so careful. In 1807 Prince Camillo sold Napoleon hundreds of statues, busts and reliefs: they are the Borghese collection of the Louvre. In 1902 the State bought villa, park and works for 3.6 million lire, after almost ten years of negotiations.
Don't miss
• Apollo and Daphne.
• The Rape of Proserpina.
• Canova's Pauline Borghese.
• The room of the Caravaggios.
• Sacred and Profane Love.
Did you know?
• The villa's windows and rooms were designed on purpose to show the works well.
• The gallery stayed closed for fourteen years of restoration, from 1983 to 1997.
• The oldest work in the collection is a Crucifixion by Pinturicchio, from around 1475.
The heart is the sculpture of the very young Bernini: Apollo and Daphne, in which the nymph turns into laurel under the god's fingers, the Rape of Proserpina, with Pluto's fingers sinking into the marble flesh, and the David, of 1623-24. You walk all the way around each one.
In the middle of another room lies Canova's Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's sister stretched out like a victorious Venus. In another, six paintings by Caravaggio: the Boy with a Basket of Fruit, the Sick Bacchus, the Madonna dei Palafrenieri, St. Jerome, St. John the Baptist and David with the Head of Goliath.
Among the paintings, Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael's Baglioni Entombment and Lady with a Unicorn, Correggio's Danaë. By Bernini there are also the busts of Cardinal Scipione, in two versions, and the Goat Amalthea, an early work.
Around you, the frescoed ceilings and mosaic floors are as much a part of the collection as the works: the museum is also the palace that houses them. The windows and rooms were designed to give a good view of the works, and the facade was adorned with 144 bas-reliefs and 70 busts.
How do you put together a collection like this? Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, was not too particular. In 1607 he had 107 paintings confiscated from a painter, the Cavalier d'Arpino, assigned to himself.
The next year Raphael's Entombment was carried off in secret from a church in Perugia and ended up in Rome, assigned to the cardinal by a decree of the pope. Scipione loved ancient sculpture but also wanted new works, and he found Bernini.
His heirs were not always so careful. In 1807 Prince Camillo sold Napoleon hundreds of statues, busts and reliefs: they are the Borghese collection of the Louvre. In 1902 the State bought villa, park and works for 3.6 million lire, after almost ten years of negotiations.
Don't miss
• Apollo and Daphne.
• The Rape of Proserpina.
• Canova's Pauline Borghese.
• The room of the Caravaggios.
• Sacred and Profane Love.
Did you know?
• The villa's windows and rooms were designed on purpose to show the works well.
• The gallery stayed closed for fourteen years of restoration, from 1983 to 1997.
• The oldest work in the collection is a Crucifixion by Pinturicchio, from around 1475.