The lodge, in
required at the Administration of the Prince Boncompagni
Ludovisi, fax 06 42010745, price € 5,16 visitable in
appointment Friday 11.00 am and 12.00 am is situated
along Via Lombardia, 46 is - together with the palace
the present home of the Embassy of the United States of
America the only remaining part of the splendid Ludovisi
Villa, built by cardinal Ludovico on the Horti
Sallustiani in the first half of the 1600's and
completely destroyed atthe end of the last century. The
16th century building is in the form of a cross;
projections were added to each wing in 1858. The Lodge
is also called dell'Aurora from the masterpiece by
Guercino who also painted the Allegories of day and
night, in tempera on the wall. The rooms also have
splendid decorations done by Agostino Tassi, Paul Brill
and Domenichino.
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According to old information by
Bellori, biographer of many 17th century artists, Caravaggio
painted the gods Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, sons of Chronos,
Lord of the Universe in oil on the wall, here, in the small
vault of the lavatory of the Alchemy laboratory. |
The work has been dated to the
end of the last decade of the 1500's, when the lodge was
owned by cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, a very
influential person and interested in, among other things,
Alchemy. The sun is in the centre and above it is Jupiter
with an eagle. To the sides, below, are the foreshortened
figures of Neptune with trident and sea-horse with webbed
feet and Pluto with Cerberus. |
