The masterpiececof the borghese gallery. Documentary (4K)

Mar 1, 2023 ROMA
The Borghese Gallery Museum houses and exhibits a collection of ancient sculptures, bas-reliefs, and mosaics, as well as paintings and sculptures from the 15th to the 19th century. Among the masterpieces of the collection, the first and most important of which dates back to the collection of Cardinal Scipione (1579-1633), nephew of Pope Paul V, are works by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Antonello da Messina, Giovanni Bellini, and sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Canova.
The works are displayed in the 20 frescoed rooms which, along with the portico and the entrance hall, constitute the areas of the museum open to the public. Over 260 paintings are kept in the Borghese Gallery's storage rooms, located above the Pinacoteca level and arranged like a picture gallery.
The Scipione Borghese Collection
With the accession to the papacy of Paul V Borghese (1605-1621), his nephew Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese (1577-1633) embarked on an intense architectural commission, simultaneously initiating a systematic acquisition of works of art, which would make his collection one of the largest of the era.
In 1607, through the seizure of paintings from the studio of Cavalier d'Arpino, he acquired approximately 100 paintings, including some early works by Caravaggio. In the same year, it acquired the collection of the Patriarch of Aquileia, while in 1608, 71 extraordinary paintings belonging to Cardinal Sfondrato were purchased, including, it is believed, Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, the Portrait of Julius II (London, National Gallery), and Raphael's Madonna del Velo (Chantilly, Musée Condé).
The cardinal nephew's extreme unscrupulousness in securing works of art and indulging his passion as a modern collector is evidenced by numerous events, such as the 1605 purchase of Caravaggio's Madonna dei Palafrenieri, rejected by the Confraternity shortly before its display in the chapel in St. Peter's—perhaps at the request of the pontiff himself—or the daring theft of Raphael's Deposition Baglioni, taken at the behest of Scipione from the Perugian convent of San Francesco a Prato, lowered from the city walls on the night between March 18 and 19, 1608, and later declared "the cardinal's private possession" by Paul V.
Other works by Raphael were present in the Borghese collection, clear evidence of his undisputed excellence: the Three Graces (Chantilly, Musée Condé), the Knight's Dream, and Saint Catherine (London, National Gallery), sold by the family during the years of the French Revolution.
The collection of ancient sculptures, another fundamental element capable of lending an aura of ideal universality to art collections, had also been steadily enriched: first with the purchase of the Della Porta and Ceuli collections in 1607; to these, thanks to extraordinary occasional discoveries, were added the celebrated Gladiator, now in the Louvre, found near Anzio, and the Hermaphrodite, discovered during excavations near the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria.
The splendor of the archaeological marbles was echoed by the extraordinary innovation of "modern" statuary, constantly competing with classical models: from 1615 to 1623, the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini created for the cardinal the celebrated sculptural groups still preserved in the Museum today: the Goat Amalthea, Aeneas and Anchises, the Rape of Proserpina, David, and Apollo and Daphne.
A fairly reliable picture of Scipione Borghese's art collection, in the absence of a precise reference inventory, is provided by Giacomo Manilli's description of the Villa Pinciana published in 1650, which also illustrates the villa's exterior and its gardens. By the cardinal's will, upon his death, all movable and immovable property was subject to a very strict trusteeship, a legal institution that preserved the integrity of the collection until the 18th century.
By the end of the 17th century, the Borghese family boasted a collection of approximately 800 paintings and one of the most celebrated collections of antiquities in Rome, as well as an enormous real estate portfolio. It was precisely the archaeological collection that aroused the interest of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose sister Paolina (1780-1825) had married Prince Camillo Borghese (1775-1832). Following the forced sale imposed by the emperor, the sculptures were dismantled from their original location between late 1807 and 1808 and transported to the Louvre Museum, where they now form a key part of the archaeological collection.
Video by Grego; Descriptions: Official Website of the Borghese Gallery www.galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it
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