1.
Spanish Steps
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The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The stairway was designed by architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi, following a competition in 1717 the steps were designed by the little-known Francesco de Sanctis, though Alessandro Specchi was long thought to have produced the winning entry. Generations of heated discussion over how the steep slope to the church on a shoulder of the Pincio should be urbanised preceded the final execution, archival drawings from the 1580s show that Pope Gregory XIII was interested in constructing a stair to the recently completed façade of the French church. Gaspar van Wittels view of the slope in 1683, before the Scalinata was built, is conserved in the Galleria Nazionale. Mazarin died in 1661, the pope in 1667, and Gueffiers will was contested by a nephew who claimed half. The Bourbon fleur-de-lys and Innocent XIIIs eagle and crown are carefully balanced in the sculptural details, the solution is a gigantic inflation of some conventions of terraced garden stairs. The Spanish Steps, which Joseph de Lalande and Charles de Brosses noted were already in poor condition, have restored several times. A new renovation commenced on May 30,2016 and the steps reopened on September 21,2016, the elder Bernini had been the popes architect for the Acqua Vergine, since 1623. According to a legend, Pope Urban VIII had the fountain installed after he had been impressed by a boat brought here by a flood of the Tiber river, at the top the stairway ramp up the Pincio which is the Pincian Hill. From the top of the steps the Villa Medici can be reached, during Christmas time a 19th-century criba manger is displayed on the first landing of the staircase. During Springtime, just before the anniversary of the foundation of Rome, April 21st, part of the steps are covered by pots of azaleas, in modern times the Spanish Steps have included a small cut-flower market. The steps are not a place for eating lunch, being forbidden by Roman urban regulations, the 1953 film Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, made the Spanish Steps famous to an American audience. The apartment that was the setting for The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is halfway up on the right, bernardo Bertoluccis Besieged is also set in a house next to the Steps. The Steps were featured prominently in the version of The Talented Mr. Ripley starring Matt Damon in the title role. Norwegian singer/songwriter Morten Harket, from A-ha, released a song called Spanish Steps on his album Wild Seed in 1995. Marc Cohns song Walk Through the World, released in 1993 on the album The Rainy Season, includes the lyric From the Spanish Steps to the Liberty Bell, I know the angels have seen us. The title song from Guy Clarks Dublin Blues album contains the lyric, north American & Japanese versions of the Mindfields album released in 1999 by American rock band Toto include the song Spanish Steps of Rome as a bonus track. The song describes a femme fatale romance that takes place on, in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond which aired on October 2,2000, Ray, Debra, Frank, and Marie climb the Spanish Steps during a family vacation in Rome
2.
Giorgio de Chirico
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Giorgio de Chirico was an Italian artist and writer. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, after 1919, he became interested in traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work. De Chirico was born in Volos, Greece, to a Genoan mother and he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he studied under Max Klinger and read the writings of the philosophers Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer and Otto Weininger. There, he studied the works of Arnold Böcklin. He returned to Italy in the summer of 1909 and spent six months in Milan and he also painted The Enigma of the Oracle while in Florence. In July 1911 he spent a few days in Turin on his way to Paris, De Chirico was profoundly moved by what he called the metaphysical aspect of Turin, especially the architecture of its archways and piazzas. De Chirico moved to Paris in July 1911, where he joined his brother Andrea. Through his brother he met Pierre Laprade, a member of the jury at the Salon dAutomne, where he exhibited three of his works, Enigma of the Oracle, Enigma of an Afternoon and Self-Portrait. During 1913 he exhibited paintings at the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d’Automne, his work was noticed by Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, in 1914, through Apollinaire, he met the art dealer Paul Guillaume, with whom he signed a contract for his artistic output. At the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Italy, upon his arrival in May 1915, he enlisted in the army, but he was considered unfit for work and assigned to the hospital at Ferrara. Here he met with Carlo Carrà and together founded the pittura metafisica movement. He continued to paint, and in 1918, he transferred to Rome, starting from 1918, his work was exhibited extensively in Europe. De Chirico is best known for the paintings he produced between 1909 and 1919, his period, which are characterized by haunted, brooding moods evoked by their images. In autumn,1919, De Chirico published an article in Valori Plastici entitled The Return of Craftsmanship, in which he advocated a return to traditional methods and iconography. In the early 1920s, the Surrealist writer André Breton discovered one of De Chiricos metaphysical paintings on display in Guillaumes Paris gallery, numerous young artists who were similarly affected by De Chiricos imagery became the core of the Paris Surrealist group centered around Breton. In 1924 De Chirico visited Paris and was accepted into the group, De Chirico met and married his first wife, the Russian ballerina Raissa Gurievich in 1925, and together they moved to Paris. His relationship with the Surrealists grew increasingly contentious, as they publicly disparaged his new work, by 1926 he had come to them as cretinous. They soon parted ways in acrimony, in 1928 he held his first exhibition in New York City and shortly afterwards, London
3.
Galleria Borghese
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The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the building was integrated with its gardens. The Galleria Borghese houses a part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The Villa was built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, other paintings of note include Titians Sacred and Profane Love, Raphaels Entombment of Christ and works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci. The Casina Borghese lies on the outskirts of seventeenth-century Rome, by 1644, John Evelyn described it as an Elysium of delight with Fountains of sundry inventions, Groves and small Rivulets of Water. Evelyn also described the Vivarium that housed ostriches, peacocks, swans and cranes, in 1808, Prince Camillo Borghese, Napoleons brother-in-law, was forced to sell the Borghese Roman sculptures and antiquities to the Emperor. The result is that the Borghese Gladiator, renowned since the 1620s as the most admired single sculpture in Villa Borghese, the Borghese Hermaphroditus is also now in the Louvre. The Borghese villa was modified and extended down the years, eventually being sold to the Italian government in 1902, along with the entire Borghese estate and surrounding gardens, the Galleria Borghese includes twenty rooms across two floors. The main floor is devoted to classical antiquities of the 1st–3rd centuries AD. In addition, several portrait busts are included in the gallery, including one of Pope Paul V, the second Scipione Borghese portrait was produced after a large crack was discovered in the marble of the first version during its creation. Official website Amor sacro e amor profano Description of the painting, Roman Map of the area with related services
4.
Galleria Spada
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The Galleria Spada is a museum in Rome, which is housed in the Palazzo Spada of the same name, located in the Piazza Capo di Ferro. The palazzo is also famous for its façade and for the forced perspective gallery by Francesco Borromini, the gallery exhibits paintings from the 16th and 17th century. A State Museum, the Galleria Spadas run by the Polo Museale del Lazio, the Museum hours of operation are as follows, Tuesday - Saturday,9,00 a. m. to 7,00 p. m. Sundays and holidays from 9,00 a. m. to 1,00 p. m and it was originally built in 1540 for Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro. Bartolomeo Baronino, of Casale Monferrato, was the architect, while Giulio Mazzoni, the palazzo was purchased by Cardinal Spada in 1632. Borromini was aided in his perspective trick by a mathematician, the building was purchased in November 1926 by the Italian State to house the gallery and the State Council. The Galleria was opened in 1927 in the Palazzo Spada and it closed during the 1940s, but reopened in 1951 thanks to the efforts of the Conservator of the Galleries of Rome, Anchille Bertini Calosso and the Director, Frederico Zeri. Most of the artwork comes predominantly from the private collection of Bernardino Spada. The museum is located on the first floor of Palazzo Spada, the Cardinal had built the museum over the historical remains of his familys former home that had been established in 1548. Room I The room is called the Room of the Popes because of its fifty inscriptions describing the lives of select pontiffs, as commissioned by Cardinal Bernardino. It is also known as the Room with the Azure Ceiling because the ceiling is covered with a turquoise canvas divided into many little compartments marked camerini da verno, the ceiling coffers decorations date back to 1777. Room II This room was created along with Room III, the upper part of the walls were decorated with friezes in tempera on canvas by Perino del Vaga. The other parts of the walls that were painted with paneling are now missing. Room III It is called the Gallery of the Cardinal and it was designed by Paolo Maruscelli in 1636 and 1637 along with Room II to house the art collection of Bernardino Spada. The ceiling is beamed and French windows lead into one of which has an iron railing overlooking the big garden. Room IV This final room was built over a gallery overlooking the big garden. The Room houses paintings by Caravaggisti, list of museums in Italy Palazzo Spada
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MAXXI
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The museum is managed by a foundation created by the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali, the Italian ministry of cultural heritage. It was designed as a space by Zaha Hadid and committed to experimentation and innovation in the arts. The project was first announced in 2000 and took over 10 years to complete, the design of Zaha Hadid was the winner of an international design competition. The site of the new museum was that of a military compound. The competition proposal by Zaha Hadid envisaged the construction of five new structures, the art installation and the opening of MAXXI, in 2010, were photographed by Simone Cecchetti, who was chosen from national photography competition. The Royal Institute of British Architect’s 2010 Stirling Prize for architecture has been awarded to MAXXI, the building is a composition of bending oblong tubes, overlapping, intersecting and piling over each other, resembling a piece of massive transport infrastructure. The MAXXI consists of two museums, MAXXI art and MAXXI architecture, the large public square designed in front of the museum is planned to host art works and live events. The MAXXI has been acclaimed by The Guardian as Hadids finest built work to date, the outdoor courtyard surrounding the museum provides a venue for large-scale works of art. The permanent collections of two museums grow through direct acquisitions, as well as through commissions, thematic competitions, awards for young artists, donations. Media related to MAXXI at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Palazzo Barberini
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The Palazzo Barberini is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. It houses the Galleria Nazionale dArte Antica, the sloping site had formerly been occupied by a garden-vineyard of the Sforza family, in which a palazzetto had been built in 1549. The sloping site passed from one cardinal to another during the sixteenth century, when Cardinal Alessandro Sforza met financial hardships, the still semi-urban site was purchased in 1625 by Maffeo Barberini, of the Barberini family, who became Pope Urban VIII. Three great architects worked to create the Palazzo, each contributing his own style, Maderno began in 1627, assisted by his nephew Francesco Borromini. When Maderno died in 1629, Borromini was passed over and the commission was awarded to Bernini, Borromini stayed on regardless and the two architects worked together, albeit briefly, on this project and at the Palazzo Spada. Works were completed by Bernini in 1633, after the Wars of Castro and the death of Urban VIII, the palace was confiscated by Pamphili Pope Innocent X and was only returned to the Barberini in 1653. The palazzo is disposed around a forecourt centered on Berninis grand two-storey hall backed by an oval salone, with an extended wing dominating the piazza, which lies on a lower level. At the rear, a long wing protected the garden from the piazza below, the main block presents three tiers of great arch-headed windows, like glazed arcades, a formula that was more Venetian than Roman. On the uppermost floor, Borrominis windows are set in a perspective that suggests extra depth. Flanking the hall, two sets of stairs lead to the piano nobile, a large squared staircase by Bernini to the left, the salon ceiling is graced by Pietro da Cortonas masterpiece, the Baroque fresco of the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power. Also in the palace is a masterpiece by Andrea Sacchi, a critic of the Cortona style. The garden is known as a giardino segreto, for its concealment from an outsiders view and it houses a monument to Bertel Thorwaldsen, who had a studio in the nearby Teatro delle Quattro Fontane in 1822-1834. Today, Palazzo Barberini houses the Galleria Nazionale dArte Antica, one of the most important painting collections in Italy and it includes Raphaels portrait La fornarina, Caravaggios Judith Beheading Holofernes and a Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII. The palace also houses the Italian Institute of Numismatics, the European Convention on Human Rights, which created the European Court of Human Rights, was signed here on 4 November 1950, a milestone in the protection of human rights. Hidden in the cellars of the part of the building. Blunt, Anthony, The Palazzo Barberini, Journal of the Warburg, il palazzo Barberini, official site Rome Art-Lover, Palazzo Barberini Palazzo Barberini and Veneto Rome guide Italian army ends museum stand-off, BBC News, Friday,13 October 2006 Google Maps. The complex constituting the Palazzo Barberini is in the center, set back from the road on all sides, on the lower side of the image are the start of the Quirinal Palace gardens. Below, and in the first corner on the right, is the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, diagonally opposite and above is the triangular Piazza Barberini with the Triton Fountain
7.
National Roman Museum
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The National Roman Museum is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. Founded in 1889 and inaugurated in 1890, the museums first aim was to collect, the collection was appropriated by the state in 1874, after the suppression of the Society of Jesus. Renamed initially as the Royal Museum, the collection was intended to be moved to a Museo Tiberino, in 1901 the State granted the National Roman Museum the recently acquired Collection Ludovisi as well as the important national collection of Ancient Sculpture. Findings during the renewal of the late 19th century added to the collections. The palace was built on the site occupied by the Villa Montalto-Peretti, named after Pope Sixtus V. The present building was commissioned by Prince Massimiliano Massimo, so as to give a seat to the Jesuit Collegio Romano, originally within the convent of the church of SantIgnazio. In 1871, the Collegio had been ousted from the convent by the State which converted it into the Liceo Visconti, erected between 1883 and 1887 by the architect Camillo Pistrucci in a neo-cinquecentesco style, it was one of the most prestigious schools of Rome until 1960. During World War II, it was used as a military hospital, but it then returned to scholastic functions until the 60s. In 1981, lying in a state of neglect, the Italian State acquired it for 19 billion lire, the museum houses the Ancient Art as well as the Numismatic Collection, housed in the Medagliere, i. e. the Coin Cabinet. One room is devoted to the mummy that was found in 1964 on the Via Cassia, inside a richly decorated sarcophagus with several artefacts in amber. It begins with the triclinium of Livias Villa “ad Gallinas Albas”. The frescoes, discovered in 1863 and dating back to the 1st century BC, show a garden with ornamental plants. The Museums numismatic collection is the largest in Italy, among the coins on exhibit are Theodoric’s medallion, the four ducats of Pope Paul II with the navicella of St Peter, and the silver piastre of the Pontifical State with views of the city of Rome. The Palazzo Altemps is located in the modern rione Ponte, part of the Campus Martius, in the ancient Rome, this site was only 160 meters from the Ponte Elio, and was one of the two main marble ports on the Tiber River in Rome. The other was located in what is now Testaccio, in 1891, during the construction works to build the embankments that now hold back the Tiber River, the remains of this dock were uncovered. A few of these ancient shops bear signs of hasty abandonment after the time of the emperor Trajan, tools, there was also likely a temple to Apollo located in this area, over which has been built the church of SantApollinare. The division was abandoned after the Great Schism in the 15th century. The building was designed in the 15th century by Melozzo da Forlì for Girolamo Riario, when the Soderini family fell on hard times, he in turn sold it in 1568 to the Austrian-born cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps, the son of the sister of Pope Pius IV
8.
Baths of Diocletian
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The Baths of Diocletian were public baths in Rome, in what is now Italy. Named after emperor Diocletians Baths and built from 298 to in 306, the project was originally commissioned by Maximian upon his return to Rome in the autumn of 298 and was continued after his and Diocletians abdication under Constantius, father of Constantine. The Baths occupy the high-ground on the northeast summit of the Viminal and they served as a bath for the people residing in the Viminal, Quirinal, and Esquiline quarters of the city. The Quadrigae Pisonis, a 2nd-century monument with various reliefs, some homes. The water supply was provided by the Aqua Marcia, an aqueduct that had served the city of Rome since the early 2nd century. To properly supply the baths, the supply of water to the city was increased under the order of Diocletian, the baths may have also been supplied by the Aqua Antoniniana, which was originally positioned to supply Caracallas baths in the early 3rd century. The Baths were commissioned by Maximian in honor of co-Emperor Diocletian in 298, evidence of this can be found in bricks from the main area of the baths, which distinctly show stamps of the Diocletianic period. These, according to the ancient guidebook Mirabilia Urbis Romae, were known as Palatium Diocletiani and this evidence shows the effect of the massive project on the brick industry in that all work by them was redirected and under control of the emperor. Building took place between the year it was first commissioned and was finished sometime between the abdication of Diocletian in 305 c. e. and the death of Constantius in July 306 AD. The Baths remained in use until the siege of Rome in 537 when the Ostrogothic king Vitiges cut off the aqueducts. ”The bath complex took up 120,000 square metres or 30 acres of the district, about the same size as the Baths of Caracalla. The central block of the baths was 280 by 160 meters or 10.85 acres, however, the capacity of the Baths of Diocletian was said to be much greater than the Baths of Caracalla. This could be because the entrance and rooms were larger than its predecessor in block size. According to Olympiodorus, the baths were able to hold up to 3,000 people at one time, however, this claim is disputed because Olympiodorus never mentioned how he came about this figure in the first place. The word frigidarium originates from the Latin word frigeo, which means to be cold, the prominence of the room and its conjoining rooms showed the increase in popularity cold baths had during the early 4th century compared to the hot baths. This also could have been a result of the depletion of the surrounding forests, the frigidarium, or Cella frigidaria consisted of a pool and a host of smaller baths connected to the main room. Water entering the room would come from a pipe or cistern, the water from the pool was thought to have been reused to flush latrines within the complex. The frigidarium was used mainly as a pool or a cold-water bath. Normally, one would continue on to the frigidarium after using the baths or after exercising in the palaestra
9.
Capitoline Museums
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The Capitoline Museums are a single museum containing a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The history of the museums can be traced to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of important ancient bronzes to the people of Rome, the museums are owned and operated by the municipality of Rome. The statue of a rider in the centre of the piazza is of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is a copy, the original being housed on-site in the Capitoline museum. Open to the public in 1734 under Clement XII, the Capitoline Museums are considered the first museum in the world, understood as a place where art could be enjoyed by all and this section contains collections sorted by building, and brief information on the buildings themselves. For the history of their design and construction, see Capitoline Hill#Michelangelo, the Capitoline Museums are composed of three main buildings surrounding the Piazza del Campidoglio and interlinked by an underground gallery beneath the piazza. In addition, the 16th century Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino, located off the adjacent to the Palazzo dei Conservatori, was added to the museum complex in the early 20th century. The collections here are ancient sculpture, mostly Roman but also Greek, the Conservators Apartment is distinguished by elaborate interior decorations, including frescoes, stuccos, tapestries, and carved ceilings and doors. The third floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori houses the Capitoline Art Gallery, housing the museums painting, the Capitoline Coin Cabinet, containing collections of coins, medals, jewels, and jewelry, is located in the attached Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino. Statues, inscriptions, sarcophagi, busts, mosaics, and other ancient Roman artifacts occupy two floors of the Palazzo Nuovo, in the Hall of the Galatian can also be appreciated the marble statue of the Dying Gaul also called “Capitoline Gaul” and the statue of Cupid and Psyche. The gallery was constructed in the 1930s and it contains in situ 2nd century ruins of ancient Roman dwellings, and also houses the Galleria Lapidaria, which displays the Museums collection of epigraphs. The new great glass covered hall — the Sala Marco Aurelio — created by covering the Giardino Romano is similar to the one used for the Sala Ottagonale, the design is by the architect Carlo Aymonino. Its volume recalls that of the oval space designed by Michelangelo for the piazza and its centerpiece is the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was once in the centre of Piazza del Campidoglio and has been kept indoors ever since its modern restoration. Moving these statues out of the palazzo allows those sculptures temporarily moved to the Centrale Montemartini to be brought back. The Centrale Montemartini is a power station of Acea in southern Rome. Its permanent collection comprises 400 ancient statues, moved here during the reorganisation of the Capitoline Museums in 1997, along with tombs, busts, many of them were excavated in the ancient Roman horti between the 1890s and 1930s, a fruitful period for Roman archaeology. They are displayed there along the lines of Tate Modern, except that the machinery has not been moved out, Capitoline Brutus Capitoline Museums official website
10.
Museum of the Ara Pacis
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The Museum of the Ara Pacis belongs to the Sistema dei Musei in Comune of Rome, it houses the Ara Pacis of Augustus, an ancient monument that was initially inaugurated on January 30,9 B. C. It is a structure with a nature, clearly alluding to the style of imperial Rome. Wide glazed surfaces allow the viewer to admire the Ara Pacis with uniform lighting conditions, the challenging design of Meier wants to assert itself in the very hearth of the town, becoming a nerve and transit centre. The complex was intended to include a crosswalk with an underpass linking the museum to the Tiber river, the building, designed by architect Richard Meier, was inaugurated and opened to the public after seven years of works, on April 21,2006. On the night between May 31 and June 1,2009, unknown men stained the white wall with green and red paint. On December 12,2009, a group of activists of Earth First, during the Copenhagen Summit, colored the water of the fountain green and affixed on the side facing Via Tomacelli a banner saying Earth First. The officers and the employees of the museum intervened immediately removing the banner, the building has collected conflicting viewpoints. Nonetheless, the ruling was not unanimous at all and, for instance, in November 2013 a leaky roof led to unwanted water in the new museum building during heavy rain. Staff members had to use buckets to remove water from the top of the altar, during one of his first declarations after being elected Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno announced his purpose to remove Meiers case, that the Roman right wing always disapproved. However, Alemanno himself later pointed out that the removal was not a priority of his administration, war and Peace, Housing the Ara Pacis in the Eternal City. American Journal of Archaeology 113.2 Official website Musei in Comune official website Photographic documentation about the Museum of the Ara Pacis
11.
Ara Pacis
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The Ara Pacis Augustae is an altar in Rome dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace. The monument was commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4,13 BC to honor the return of Augustus to Rome after three years in Hispania and Gaul, and consecrated on January 30,9 BC and it was reassembled in its current location in 1938. The altar reflects the Augustan vision of Roman civil religion, within the enclosing precinct walls, the altar itself was carved with images illustrating the lex aria, the law governing the ritual performed at the altar. What remains of the altar is otherwise fragmentary, but it appears to have been largely functional with less emphasis on art, the interior of the precinct walls are carved with bucrania, ox skulls, from which carved garlands hang. The garlands bear fruits from various types of plants, all displayed on a garland as allegorical representations of plenty. The bucrania in turn evoke the idea of sacrificial piety, appropriate motifs for the interior of the altar precinct. The upper register of the northern and southern walls depict scenes of the emperor, his family, various togate figures are shown with their heads covered, signifying their role as both priests and sacrificiants. Other figures wear laurel crowns, traditional Roman symbols of victory, members of individual priestly colleges are depicted in traditional garb appropriate to their office, while lictors can be identified by their iconographic fasces. The western and eastern walls are pierced by entryways to the altar, although the interior would only have been accessed by a stairway on the western side. The entryways were flanked by panels depicting allegorical or mythological scenes evocative of peace, piety, the identity of these various figures has been a point of some controversy over the years, relying heavily on interpretation of fragmentary remains, discussed below. The sculpture of the Ara Pacis is primarily symbolic rather than decorative, peter Holliday suggested that the Altars imagery of the Golden Age, usually discussed as mere poetic allusion, appealed to a significant component of the Roman populace. The East and West walls each contain two panels, one well preserved and one represented only in fragments and this scene has been reconstructed, based on coins that depict such a seated Roma. When the monument was being reconstructed at its present site, Edmund Buchner and other scholars sketched what the panel may have looked like and this interpretation, although widely accepted, can not be proved correct, as so little of the original panel survives. The other panel is more controversial in its subject, but far better preserved, a goddess sits amid a scene of fertility and prosperity with twins on her lap. Scholars have variously suggested that the goddess is Italia, Tellus, Venus, due to the widespread depiction around the sculpture of scenes of peace, and because the Altar is named for peace, the favoured conclusion is that the goddess is Pax. The West Wall also contains two panels, the fragmentary Lupercal Panel apparently preserves the moment when Romulus and Remus were discovered by Faustulus the shepherd, while Mars looks on. Again this panel is a drawing without much evidence. Marble fragments of the tree and the head and shoulder of Mars and part of a second individual survive, but the addition of the she-wolf, Romulus, the better preserved scene depicts the sacrifice of a pig by an old priest and two attendants
12.
Doria Pamphilj Gallery
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The Doria Pamphilj Gallery is a large art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, Italy. It is situated between the Via del Corso and Via della Gatta, the principal entrance is on the Via del Corso. The palace facade on the Via del Corso is adjacent to the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata, like the palace, it is still privately owned by the princely Roman family Doria Pamphilj. The collection includes paintings and furnishings from Innocent Xs Palazzo Pamphilj, the Palazzo has grown over the centuries, it is likely the largest in Rome still in private ownership. The main collection is displayed in state rooms, including the chapel, however, the bulk is displayed in a series of four gilded and painted galleries surrounding a courtyard. An extensive suite of rooms have now been converted to permanent well-lit galleries, containing the more medieval. Work was carried out under the supervision of Francesco Nicoletti, an architect from Trapani, velazquezs portrait of Innocent X, who rose to papacy as cardinal Giovan Battista Pamphilj in 1644, is considered the collections masterpiece. The portrait painted to commemorate the Holy Year was commissioned by his hedonistic sister-in-law Olimpia Maidalchini who was his confidante and adviser. Since 1927, Velázquezs portrait was placed in a specially designated small room along with a sculptured bust of the pope by Bernini. Olimpia Maidalchinis son Camillo Pamphilj, defying his mother, renounced the Cardinalship conferred on him by his uncle the Pope. Born an Aldobrandini it was she who brought the palazzo, then known as the Palazzo Aldobrandini, the architect in charge of this lengthy project was Antonio Del Grande. The façade facing the Via del Corso, however, is by Gabriele Valvassori, following Camillos death in 1666, building continued under the auspices of his two sons Giovanni Battista and Benedetto. In 1763 Principe Andrea IV combined his Genoese and Roman names to the present Doria-Pamphilj-Landi, in 1767 the ceilings of the state rooms were frescoed by late-baroque artists such as Crescenzio Onofri, Aureliano Milani, and Stefano Pozzi. The collection was first opened to the public by the three-quarters English Princess Orietta Pogson Doria Pamphilj and her own father, Prince Filippo Andrea VI, was half English. The ivory crucifix was carved by Ercole Ferrata, Saletta Gialla and Rossa contain Gobelins tapestries, including those on Zodiac signs by Claude Audran. Sala del Poussin, Landscapes by Claude Lorraine, birth of Adonis and the Rape of Adonis by Poussin and Giacomo Eremiti. In the main painting galleries are, 1st Gallery, Mary Magdalene by Carracci, Christ in the house of the Pharisee by Cigoli, St. Roch and angel by Saraceni, and Herminia and Tancred by Guercino. 2nd Gallery, Velazquez and Bernini portraits, antique Roman statues, Saletta del Seicento, Caravaggios Penitent Magdalene and The Rest on the Flight into Egypt Saletta del Cinquecento, Double portrait by Raphael, Salome with the head of St John the Baptist by Titian
