Page 389 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

ROME  387

i Santa Maria del notorious work is a sculpture by
Popolo Canova of Pauline Borghese as
Piazza del Popolo 12. Tel 06-361 08 36. Venus Victrix (1805), in which the
q Flaminio. @ 95, 117, 119, 120, semi-naked Pauline reclines on
150, 491. Open daily. a chaise longue.
The Galleria Borghese, on the
Santa Maria del Popolo was upper floor, houses some fine
commissioned by Sixtus IV in Renaissance and Baroque
1472. After his death in 1484, the paintings. These include
pope’s family chapel, the Della Raphael’s Deposition, along with
Rovere Chapel (first on the right), works by Pinturicchio, Correggio,
was frescoed by Pinturicchio. Caravaggio, Rubens, and Titian.
In 1503, Sixtus IV’s nephew Within the Villa Borghese park
Giuliano became Pope Julius II are other museums and
and had Bramante build a new galleries, foreign academies, a
apse. Pinturicchio was called in zoo, schools of archaeology, an
again to paint its vaults with artificial lake, and an array of
Sibyls and Apostles framed by Detail from Bernini’s Rape of Proserpine in fountains and follies.
freakish beasts. the Museo Borghese
In 1513, Raphael created the p Villa Giulia
Chigi Chapel (second on the nephew of Pope Paul V. The park
left) – a Renaissance fusion of was the first of its kind in Rome. Piazzale di Villa Giulia 9. Tel 06-322 65
the sacred and profane – for It was laid out with 400 pine 71. @ 52, 88, 95, 490, 495 926,. v 3,
the banker Agostino Chigi. trees, sculpture by Bernini, 19. Open Tue–Sun. Closed Jan 1, May
Bernini later added the statues and dramatic water features. 1, Dec 25. & 8 audio. 7
of Daniel and Habakkuk. In The villa was used for
the Cerasi Chapel, left of the entertaining and displaying Villa Giulia was built as a
altar, are two Caravaggios: the cardinal’s impressive country retreat for Pope Julius
The Crucifixion of St Peter and collection of paintings and III. Today, it houses a world-
The Conversion of St Paul. sculpture. Unfortunately, famous collection of Etruscan
between 1801 and 1809, Prince and other pre-Roman remains.
Camillo Borghese, husband to There are fascinating pieces
Napoleon’s sister Pauline, sold of jewelry, bronzes, mirrors,
many of these to his brother- and a marvelous terracotta
in-law, and swapped 200 of sarcophagus of a husband
Scipione’s Classical statues for and wife from Cerveteri.
an estate in Piedmont. The The delightful villa was the
statues are still in the Louvre. work of architects Vasari and
However, some Classical treasures Vignola, and the sculptor
remain, including fragments Ammannati. Michelangelo
of a 3rd-century AD mosaic of also contributed. At the center
gladiators fighting wild animals. of the garden is a nympheum –
The highlights of the a sunken courtyard decorated
remaining collection are the with mosaics, statues, and
sculptures by the young Bernini. fountains, built in imitation
Apollo and Daphne (1624), of ancient Roman models.
shows the nymph Daphne
being transformed into a laurel
The Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, tree to escape being abducted
designed by Raphael by Apollo. Other striking works
are The Rape of Proserpine and a
o Museo e Galleria David, whose face is said to be a
Borghese self-portrait of Bernini. The most
Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5. Tel
06-328 10 (reservations). @ 52, 53,
910. v 3, 19. Open Tue–Sun
(reservations obligatory). Closed Jan
1, May 1, Dec 25. & ∑ galleria
borghese.beniculturali.it

The Villa Borghese and its park
were designed in 1605 for The cheerful figures of an Etruscan married couple on their
Cardinal Scipione Borghese, sarcophagus, Villa Giulia

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