Herm of Bacchus – Valadier 1773

Recorded as being on the ground floor of the Villa Borghese in the first half of the 19th century, this work, executed in 1773, was greatly admired by the archaeologist Antonio Nibby. Although he believed it to be antique — without, however, specifying the period — later studies have shown it was executed in the 18th century by an exponent of Roman Neoclassicism, Luigi Valadier. The son of Andrea Valadier, he directed the latter’s workshop from 1759, when he began to work […]

Truth unveiled (1647 A.D.)

Unlike most of Bernini’s sculptural groups in the Galleria Borghese, Truth Unveiled was not executed by the artist as the result of a commission, it was de¬scribed in a letter that the duke of Brac- ciano — Paolo Giordano II Orsini —- sent to Cardinal Mazzarino on 6 July 1647, which is the terminus ante quem for the sculpture. The artist had, in fact, been working on it for about six months, after he had completed Pope Urban VIIPs tomb, which was displayed to […]

MARCUS CURTIUS THROWING HIMSELF INTO A CHASM – Pietro Bernini 1617

The imposing sculptural group is the result of successive reworkings of an ancient archeological find, a horse carved in Pentelic marble that was restored by the sculptor Pietro Bernini, Gian Lorenzo’s father, in 1617. At the same time he added the figure of the rider to turn it into a representation of the legendary episode of Roman history in which Marcus Curtius throws himself into the chasm. In Livy’s version of the story, a chasm had opened […]

AENEAS AND ANCHISES – Bernini 1619

The work, whose historicized title is Enea and Anchise, was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese and is considered the first modern sculpture exhibited in the Borghese Gallery. According to Domenico Bernini (son of Gian Lorenzo) it was dated to 1613 and so the historian Filippo Baldinucci wrote, but thanks to some archival finds, today we know that the dating is to be postponed around 1619 when Bernini was in his early twenties. Moreover, thanks also to a payment note for his pedestal, the […]

RAPE OF PERSEPHONE – Bernini 1621

It is almost unbelievable to think that Gian Lorenzo Bernini, when he was going to make one of his most celebrated masterpieces, the Ratto di Proserpina, was only twenty-three years old: yet, despite his very young age, he was already an established sculptor, and he had already had a chance to work for the powerful patron who had commissioned him from the very famous Borghese Gallery group. The task was given to him by Cardinal Scipione Borghese (Rome, 1577 – 1633), one […]