Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Treasures of the Museo e Galleria
Borghese
Housed in a lavishly decorated 17th-century palace, the Museo e Galleria Borghese (
Click here
) boasts some of the city's finest art treasures. Chief among them are sensa-
tional sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini but there are also important works by major
Renaissance and baroque artists.
Ratto di Proserpina
One of Bernini's greatest sculptures,
The Rape of Prosperina
portrays Pluto, god of
the underworld, abducting Proserpina (Persephone). A work of supreme virtuosity, it
shows the artist's ability to craft emotion out of cold, hard marble.
Apollo e Dafne
Bernini was only 24 when he started work on this life-size representation of the
nymph Daphne turning into a laurel tree to escape the clutches of Apollo.
Venere Vincitrice
Antonio Canova's depiction of a curvaceous Paolina Bonaparte as the goddess Venus
Victrix (Venus Victorious) is typical of his elegant, mildly erotic neoclassical style.
Ragazzo col Canestro di Frutta
One of Caravaggio's early works,
Boy with a Basket of Fruit
reveals stylistic tech-
niques that became his trademarks: realism and the use of chiaroscuro to focus atten-
tion on the central figures.
Amor Sacro e Amor Profano
Titian's
Sacred and Profane Love
is a celebration of heavenly love (the nude) and
earthly love (the clothed figure).
La Deposizione di Cristo
Raphael's Renaissance masterpiece,
The Deposition
was originally an altarpiece. Its
composition, inspired by ancient Roman tomb reliefs, shows the artist's unsurpassed
ability to paint large groups of people.
