Description
Palazzo Barberini is the Baroque residence of the family of Pope Urban VIII, on Via delle Quattro Fontane, a few steps from Piazza Barberini. Inside is one of Rome's great picture galleries, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, with masterpieces from Raphael to Caravaggio.
The palace is already a work of art. Carlo Maderno began it in 1625, but from 1629 the project passed to Bernini, with Borromini always at his side. The façade opens in three stories of arches, with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns.
The highlight of the painting is the ceiling of the great hall: the Triumph of Divine Providence, frescoed by Pietro da Cortona between 1632 and 1639. The perspective from below looking up is so powerful that the figures seem to burst out of the vault.
Then there is the museum. Here are Raphael's La Fornarina and Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes, but also works by Filippo Lippi, Titian, El Greco, Holbein, Guido Reni and Guercino.
Look closely at the two staircases: Bernini's square staircase in the north wing, and Borromini's helical one in the south. Two geniuses on the same building site, answering each other across the distance and not resembling each other at all.
The Barberini lived in grand style. The palace had a theater, inaugurated in 1639, where operas were staged with sets and machinery devised by Bernini. The garden, then a true Italian-style park, even housed ostriches and camels.
In 1934 the story took a sad turn. A decree allowed the heirs to sell the collection, about 640 paintings, in exchange for just 16 pictures. Dürer, Caravaggio, Guercino and Poussin left for abroad. The scandal was such that it led to new protection laws.
The State bought the palace in 1949, but a circle of army officers occupied its rooms for decades. Only in 2006 did the gallery have it all: before that it could display barely a fifth of its works.
The gallery was founded in 1895 with works from private collections and from the Monte di Pietà. The palace has a seven-bay façade, and at the street entrance a gate with great telamones sculpted by Adamo Tadolini.
Don't miss
• Pietro da Cortona's ceiling.
• Raphael's La Fornarina.
• Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes.
• The staircases by Bernini and Borromini.
Did you know?
• According to tradition, the Fornarina was Margherita Luti, the daughter of a Trastevere baker, loved by Raphael. But that is far from certain.
• In 1947, in the palace's halls, the Italian Workers' Socialist Party was born.
The palace is already a work of art. Carlo Maderno began it in 1625, but from 1629 the project passed to Bernini, with Borromini always at his side. The façade opens in three stories of arches, with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns.
The highlight of the painting is the ceiling of the great hall: the Triumph of Divine Providence, frescoed by Pietro da Cortona between 1632 and 1639. The perspective from below looking up is so powerful that the figures seem to burst out of the vault.
Then there is the museum. Here are Raphael's La Fornarina and Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes, but also works by Filippo Lippi, Titian, El Greco, Holbein, Guido Reni and Guercino.
Look closely at the two staircases: Bernini's square staircase in the north wing, and Borromini's helical one in the south. Two geniuses on the same building site, answering each other across the distance and not resembling each other at all.
The Barberini lived in grand style. The palace had a theater, inaugurated in 1639, where operas were staged with sets and machinery devised by Bernini. The garden, then a true Italian-style park, even housed ostriches and camels.
In 1934 the story took a sad turn. A decree allowed the heirs to sell the collection, about 640 paintings, in exchange for just 16 pictures. Dürer, Caravaggio, Guercino and Poussin left for abroad. The scandal was such that it led to new protection laws.
The State bought the palace in 1949, but a circle of army officers occupied its rooms for decades. Only in 2006 did the gallery have it all: before that it could display barely a fifth of its works.
The gallery was founded in 1895 with works from private collections and from the Monte di Pietà. The palace has a seven-bay façade, and at the street entrance a gate with great telamones sculpted by Adamo Tadolini.
Don't miss
• Pietro da Cortona's ceiling.
• Raphael's La Fornarina.
• Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes.
• The staircases by Bernini and Borromini.
Did you know?
• According to tradition, the Fornarina was Margherita Luti, the daughter of a Trastevere baker, loved by Raphael. But that is far from certain.
• In 1947, in the palace's halls, the Italian Workers' Socialist Party was born.