- Borghese Collection
The Borghese Collection was a collection of
Roman sculpture s,old master s and modern art collected by the RomanBorghese family from the 17th century on. It includes major collections of Caravaggio,Raphael , andTitian , and ofancient Roman art . He also bought widely from leading painters and sculptors of his day, and his commissions include two portrait busts byGian Lorenzo Bernini [http://www.thais.it/scultura/image/sch00345.htm] [http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bernini/borghese.jpg.html] . Most of the collection remains intact and on display at theGalleria Borghese , although a significant sale of classical sculpture was made to theLouvre in 1807.Formation of the collection
cipione 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 byScipione Francucci . In 1607, the Pope gave the Cardinal 107 paintings which had been confiscated from the studio of the painterCavalier D'Arpino . In the following year, Raphael's "Deposition" was secretely removed from the Baglioni Chapel in the church of San Francesco inPerugia and transported to Rome to be given to the Cardinal Scipione through a papal motu proprio, though it later had to be returned.Later additions
In 1682, part of
Olimpia Aldobrandini 's inheritance entered the Borghese collection; it included works from the collections of CardinalSalviati and Lucretia d'Este.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 Borghese , to house his collection. He also used theVilla Mondragone for this purpose. In 1775, in homage to his Borghese ancestors, PrinceMarcantonio IV Borghese and the architect Antonio Asprucci embarked upon renovations toVilla Borghese , which had always been a semi-public museum since the 17th century. Integrating the sculptures of the Borghese collection and existing vastBaroque ceiling decors, they created a spectacular monument to the Borghese family (Paul 2000).At the Villa Borghese
The Villa still houses a major part of the collection, as the
Galleria Borghese . Many of the sculptures there are displayed in the spaces they were intended for, including early works byGian Lorenzo Bernini .Caravaggio paintings*"Boy with a Basket of Fruit"
*"St. Jerome"
*"Sick Bacchus"
*"Madonna of the Palafrenieri"
*"David with the Head of Goliath"Other notable paintings
*"
Sacred and Profane Love " byTitian
*"Deposition" byRaphael
*"
*"Portrait of a Man" byAntonello da Messina (See also )
*"
*"Venus and Cupid" by Cranach
*"
*"The Deposition " by Rubens
*"
*"
*"The Last Supper " byJacopo Bassano
* Various works byFederico Barocci
*"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 "
Goat Amalthea with Infant Jupiter and a 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" (1622–25) [http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1620/apollo_d.html] and "David" (1623), [http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1620/david.html] considered seminal works ofbaroque sculpture. In addition, the gallery contains three busts, two ofPope Paul V (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, less successful, somewhat mannerist, but masterful works such as "Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius " (1618–19) [http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bernini/gianlore/sculptur/1610/aeneas.html] and theGiambologna -emulating Pluto's "Rape of Prosperpine" (1621–22), [http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/eproserp.htm] and also a personal, somewhat emotionally muddled allegory of "Truth Unveiled by Time " (1646–52). [http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/everita.htm]At the Louvre
In 1807, due to financial difficulties and under pressure from his new brother-in-law
Napoleon Bonaparte ,Camillo Filippo Ludovico Borghese sold 344antiquities (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 theLouvre Museum , include:
*sculptures recently excavated atGabii
*the "Antinous Mondragone "
*the "Borghese Gladiator "
*the "Borghese Hermaphroditus "
*the "Borghese Vase "He replaced them in the Villa with other pieces from excavations on Borghese property (eg the
Gladiator Mosaic , found in 1834) and paintings from his residences' stores and cellars, so that already by the 1830s these gaps seem to have been filled the collection was despite the losses still reckoned as one of the world's finest. [cite book |last=Majanlahti |first=Anthony |title=The Families Who Made Rome |year=2005 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=London |isbn=0701176873 , page 180] Camillo even boughtCorreggio 's celebrated "" in Paris in 1827.Notes
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