The Villa was built
for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V.
It was conceived as a centre of entertainment and
cultural enjoyment by the architect Flaminio Ponzio at
the beginning of the 17th century. Later decorated by
Giovanni Vasanzio, the interior was completely
re-arranged by Antonio Asprucci in 1770.
The decorations of the saloons belonging to that period
were completely restored during the course of the last
work of preservation completed in 1997. The villa holds
the splendid family collection started by Scipione
Borghese, connoisseur of both classic and modern art.
The Borghese Gallery enjoys the record of having the
most number of Caravaggio's works.
No other museum in the world holds six canvasses by the
famous Lombard Maestro and up to the Napoleonic period
there were double the number of which, what is more,
demonstrated a whole life dedicated to painting: from a
young age up to the last stage of his stormy life.
The Young Girl with basket of fruit and The Sick Bacchus
are the works of a young man. They come from the seizure
of the Cavalier d'Arpino's collection. The latter was a
well-established painter but had the misfortune to come
up against the greedy Scipione Borghese.
|
|
In 1607, the painter from
Arpino was imprisoned for reasons that are still not clear.
Cardinal Borghese, with the excuse of a collection of
arquebuses owned by the unfortunate artist, blackmailed him
in order to gain possession of his outstanding collection of
paintings.
Cavalier d'Arpino was, in fact, released after having left
the collection at the Apostolic Chamber from which,it.
seems, it passed as a pa pal donation to Scipione
Borghese. The Young Girl with basket of fruit, dated between
1593 and 1595, interpreted, in a new way,
Lombard, Venetian, Tuscan and Flemish ideas. There are many
naturalistic details that attract the observer to the minute
detail of the fruit in the basket held by the girl with a
masculine face.In the Sick Bacchus, painted between 1593 and
1595, Caravaggio, only a short while before leaving the
Hospital of the Con
solazione - where he had been admitted after being kicked by
a horse - wanted to portray a votive offering, through the
livid lips and the pallid flesh, for having escaped death. |
The Madonna dei Palafrenieri,
painted between November 1605 and March 1606, was
commissioned by the ArchConfraternity of Papal Grooms for
their altar in the Basilica of St. Peter's. It was refused
by the first clients because of the lack of decorum and of
the crude realism of the figures of the Virgin, of the Child
and of St. Anne, or perhaps, on the suggestion of Paolo V
Borghese, who thus allowed his nephew a quick acquisition of
the painting. The altar-piece shows the theme of the
Immaculate Conception.
The St. Jerome was probably done directly for cardinal
Scipione Borghese between 1605 and 1606 as a mark of
gratitude of the artist who had been helped out of trouble
with the Law. It could well be the first 1 painting by
Caravaggio to enter the Borghese collection.
Caravaggio painted David with the head of Goliath between
1609 and 1610, during his second stay in Naples, and
probably sent it to cardinal Scipione Borghese to obtain
favour in view of a return to Rome, the city he had run away
from after a serious episode with the Law. Caravaggio
depicted the cut off head of Goliath, that is, of the sinner;
the painter admitted his guilt and asked for grace.
The event with the San Giovannino is perhaps tied to the
last hours of life of the artist. It mustn't be forgotten
that the painting was aboard the ship on which Caravaggio
left Naples to return to Rome, taking with him the work to
give to the cardinal. The Baptist was one of Caravaggio's
favourite subjects.
|
