8. Rome - Renaissance and Baroque Palazzi (and 14 Caravaggios)

The Renaissance palaces (palazzi) of Rome give the city much of its character. Quite a few of them these days are galleries, some state owned, others privately owned. Many still retain apartments which sometimes the original families still live in. On this trip I visited several of the palazzi, including one which I don't have photos of - the Palazzo Colonna. That was for a reception for the conference we were attending.

Palazzo Barberini
Maffei Barbeini became Pope Urban VIII in 1623 and built his family a grand palace. Architect Carlo Maderno built it like a rural villa, with wongs extending into the gardens. Maderno died in 1629 and Bernini took over, assisted by Borromini (Maderno's nephew).
It is part of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, and I went there to see the Caravaggios - St Francis in Meditation (1606); Judith and Holofernes (1598) and Narcissus (1599) - see entry on Caravaggio. I also enjoyed seeing Hans Holbein's portrait of Hebry VIII, dressed for his wedding to Anne of Cleves, and Raffaelo's La Fornarina (the Female Baker)


Piazza Barberini, with Bernini's Triton Fountain was named after the nearby palazzo in 1625.


Below: Judith Beheading Holofernes c 1598

Below: Narcissus c 1598 -99
Below: St Francis c 1606

The Quirinal Palace
Official home of the Italian President. It was built in 1573 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. It was also used as the location for papal conclaves in 1823,1829,1831, and 1846. It served as a papal residence and housed the central offices responsible for the civil government of the Papal States until the Unification of Italy in 1870. It became the official residence of the King, and then in 1947, the President.

Palazzo Venezia
Built 1455-65 for the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II. It has also served as the Ventian Embassy before passing in to French hands 1n 1797. Since 1916 it has belonged to the Italian state. Mussolini used it as his headquarters and made speeches from the central balcony.

Below: Palazzo Venezia on the right. The construction work in the middle of the piazza (PIazza Venezia) is for the third Metro line, due to open in 2018.

Below: Piazza Venezia, with the Palazzo Venezia on the left, looking up the Corso. Taken from the steps of the Vittorio Emmanuele II monument.

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj (formerly Palazzo Aldobrandini)
Another stop on the Caravaggio trail. While the marvellous Rest on the Flight Into Egypt, and a John The Baptist (with the ram nuzzling St John), the Penitent Magdalen was on loan to an exhibition in Forli in northern Italy. Never mind, another reason to return to Rome!
The palazzo is enormous, probably the largest still privately owned in Rome. It is still inhabited by members of the family, and the gallery audo guide narration is done by the current scion, Prince Jonathan, the adopted English-born son of the three-quarters English Princess Orietta Pogson Doria Pamphilj and her husband Frank Pogson. Orietta was the daughter of Prince Filippo Andrea VI. The family story is interesting. Obituary of Princess Orietta.

Below: Palazzo Doria Pamphilij on the left.

Below: Courtyard inside the Via del Corso entrance of the Galleria Doria Pamphilj

Below: Taken from a window of the galleria Doria Pamphilj - a wonderful example of Roman hand language. Italian Hand Gestures - Youtube

Below: Penintent Magdalen 1596-97. On loan elsewhere.
Below: Rest on the Flight Into Egypt 1596-97
Below: St John The Baptist c 1600. Almost identical to the one in the Capitoline museum

Palazzo Spada
Built around 1550 for Cardinal Capo do Ferro. In 1652 Borromini built a trompe l'oeil colonnaded gallery featuring false perspective. It appears four times longer than it really is - about 37 metres instead of 8. The gallery has two works by Artemisia Gentileschi. I didin't get inside this time - but it's on the list for next time.

Below: The trompe l'oeil gallery at Palazzo Spada

Palazzo Farnese
Currently the home of the French Embassy. This palazzo is one of the grandest in Rome. Construction began in 1515, commissioned by Alessandro Farnese, who had been appointed as a Cardinal in 1493 at age 25 (thanks to his sister, who was Pope Alexander VI Borgia's official mistress). He became Pope Paul III in 1534 and employed Michelangelo to complete the third story with its deep cornice and to revise the courtyard, as an emblematic "power house" suitable to the Farnese family.

Below: No, not Palazzo Farnese, but another building in the piazza which the palazzo faces.

Galleria Borghese (formerly Villa Borghese Pinciano)
The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, which was begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621). Borghese used it as a "villa suburbana", a party villa at the edge of Rome. Scipione Borghese was an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio.

We visited mainly in order to see the Caravaggios - Boy With a Basket of Fruit; David With the Head of Goliath; John the Baptist; Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri); Young Sick Bacchus; St Jerome Writing.

Below: Picnic lunch in the Villa Borgese garden

Below: Sick Bacchus c 1593. Reputed to be a self portrait

Below: St Jerome c 1606
Below: Still Life With Flowers and Fruit 1590s
Below: Boy Peeling Fruit c 1593

Below: Boy With Basket of Fruit c 1593
Below: David With Head of Goliath c 1609 -10. Another self-portrait
Below: St John the Baptist c 1609
Below: Madonna With Serpent c 1606