of interest borne by the luoghi di monte, which they purchased with the money thus acquired. In many other parts of the ecclesiastical states, the Borghese also seated themselves, the pope facilitating their doing so by the grant of peculiar privileges. In some places, for example, they received the right of restoring exiles; in others, that of holding a market, or certain exemptions were granted to those who became their vassals. They were freed from various imposts, and even obtained a bull, by virtue of which their possessions were never to be confiscated."-Ranke, Hist. of the Popes. "Si l'on peut reprocher à Paul, avec Muratori, ses libéralités envers ses neveux, envers le cardinal Scipion, envers le duc de Sulmone, il est juste d'ajouter que la plupart des membres de cette noble famille rivalisèrent avec le pape de magnificence et de générosité. Or, chaque année, Paul V. distribuait un million d'écus d'or aux pélerins pauvres et un million et demi aux autres nécessiteux. C'est à lui que remonte la fondation de la banque du Saint-Esprit, dont les riches immeubles servirent d'hypothèques aux dépôts qui lui furent confiés. Mais ce fut surtout dans les constructions qu'il entreprit, que Paul V. déploya une royale magnificence."-Gournerie. "The Palazzo Borghese is an immense edifice standing round the four sides of a quadrangle; and though the suite of rooms, comprising the picture-gallery, forms an almost interminable vista, they occupy only a part of the ground-floor of one side. We enter from the street into a large court surrounded with a corridor, the arches of which support a second series of arches above. The picture-rooms open from one into another, and have many points of magnificence, being large and lofty, with vaulted cielings and beautiful frescoes, generally of mythological subjects, in the flat central parts of the vault. The cornices are gilded; the deep embrasures of the windows are panelled with wood-work; the doorways are of polished and variegated marble, or covered with a composition as hard, and seemingly as durable. The whole has a kind of splendid shabbiness thrown over it, like a slight coating of rust; the furniture, at least the damask chairs, being a good deal worn; though there are marble and mosaic tables which may serve to adorn another palace, when this has crumbled away with age."-Hawthorne. The Borghese Picture Gallery is the best private collection in Rome, and is open to the public daily from 9 to 2, except on Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery is entered from the side of the palace towards the Piazza Borghese. It contains several gems, which are here marked with an asterisk; noticeable pictures are: 1st Room. -Schools of Milan and Perugia. 1. Holy Family: Sandro Botticelli. 2. Holy Family: Lorenzo di Credi. 3. Holy Family: Paris Alfani Perugino. 4. Portrait: Lorenzo di Credi. 5. Vanity School of Leonardo da Vinci. 27, 28. Petrarch and Laura. 32. St. Agatha : School of Leonardo. 33. The Young Christ. School of Leonardo. 35. Raphael as a boy : Raphael? 48. St. Sebastian: Perugino. 49, 57. History of Joseph: Pinturicchio. 59. Presepio: Sketch attributed to Raphael when 61. St. Antonio. Francesco Francia. 66. Presepio: Mazzolino. 67. Adoration of the Child Jesus: Ortolano. 69. Holy Family: Pollajuolo. young. 2nd Room.-Chiefly of the school of Garofalo. 6. Madonna with St. Joseph and St. Michael: Garofalo. * 26. Portrait of Cæsar Borgia: Bronzino, attributed to Raphael.*+ 28. Portrait of a (naked) woman: Bronzino. 36. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto. 38. Entombment: Raphael.* This picture was the last work of Raphael before he went to Rome. It was ordered by Atalanta Baglioni for a chapel in S. Francesco de' Conventuali at Perugia. Paul V. bought it for the Borghese. The + All authorities agree that this beautiful portrait is not the work of Raphael. Kugler also denies that it is the likeness of Cæsar Borgia. 'Faith, Hope, and Charity' at the Vatican, formed a predella for this picture. 66 Raphael's picture of 'Bearing the Body of Christ to the Sepulchre,' though meriting all its fame in respect of drawing, expression, and knowledge, has lost all signs of reverential feeling in the persons of the bearers. The reduced size of the winding-sheet is to blame for this, by bringing them rudely in contact with their precious burden. Nothing can be finer than their figures, or more satisfactory than their labour, if we forget what it is they are carrying; but it is the weight of the burden only, and not the character of it, which the painter has kept in view, and we feel that the result would have been the same had these figures been carrying a sack of sand. Here, from the youth of the figure, the bearer at the feet appears to be St. John."-Lady Eastlake. 40. Holy Family: Fra Bartolomeo. 43. Madonna: Fr. Francia. 44. Madonna: Sodoma. 51. St. Stephen: Francesco Francia. 59. Adoration of the Magi: Mazzolino. 60. Presepio Garofalo. 65. The Fornarina: Copy of Raphael, Giulio Romano? 69. St. John Baptist in the Wilderness: Giulio Romano. 3rd Room.-Chiefly of the school of Andrea del Sarto. (The works of this painter are often confounded with those of his disciple, Domenico Puligo.) 1. Christ bearing the Cross: Andrea Solario. 2. Portrait: Parmigianino. 5. Noli me tangere': Bronzino? 11. The Sorceress Circe: Dosso Dossi. 13. Mater Dolorosa: Solario? 22. Holy Family: School of Raphael. 24. Madonna and Child with three children: A. del Sarto. 28. Madonna, Child, and St. John: A. del Sarto. 29. Madonna, Child, St. John, and St. Elizabeth. Vaga. 33. Holy Family: Pierino del Vaga. 35. Venus and Cupids: A. del Sarto. 40. Danae: Correggio. Pierino del In the corner of this picture are the celebrated Cupids sharpening an arrow. 42. Cosmo de' Medici: Bronzino. 46. The Reading Magdalene: School of Correggio. 47. Holy Family: Pomarancio. 48. The Flagellation: Sebastian del Piombo.* 49. St. M. Magdalene: A. del Sarto. 4th Room. Bolognese school. I. Entombment: Ann. Carracci. 2. Cumaan Sibyl: Domenichino.* 18. St. Francis: Cigoli. 20. St. Joseph: Guido Reni. 23. St. Francis: Ann. Carracci. 36. Madonna: Carlo Dolce. 37. Mater Dolorosa: Carlo Dolce. 38, 41. Two heads for an Annunciation: Furino. 42. Head of Christ: Carlo Dolce. 43. Madonna: Sassoferrato. 5th Room. 11, 12, 13, 14. The Four Seasons: Fr. Albani. "The Seasons, by Francesco Albani, were, beyond all others, my favourite pieces; the beautiful, joyous, angel-children the Loves, were as if creations of my own dreams. How deliciously they were staggering about in the picture of Spring! A crowd of them were sharpening arrows, whilst one of them turned round the great grindstone, and two others, floating above, poured water upon it. In Summer, they flew about among the tree-branches, which were loaded with fruit, which they plucked; they swam in the fresh water, and played with it. Autumn brought the pleasures of the chase. Cupid sits, with a torch in his hand, in his little chariot, which two of his companions draw; while Love beckons to the brisk hunter, and shows him the place where they can rest themselves side by side. Winter has lulled all the little ones to sleep; soundly and fast they lie slumbering around. The Nymphs steal their quivers and arrows, which they throw on the fire, that there may be an end of the dangerous weapons."-Andersen, in The Improvisatore. 15. La Caccia di Diana: Domenichino. 25. The Deposition, with Angels: F. Zuccari. 6th Room. 5. Return of the Prodigal Son: Guercino. 10. St. Stanislaus with the Child Jesus: Ribera. 12. Joseph Interpreting the Dreams in Prison: Valentin. 13. The Three Ages of Man. Copy from Titian by Sassoferrato.† 18. Madonna: Sassoferrato. 22. Flight of Æneas from Troy: Baroccio. 7th Room.-Richly decorated with mirrors, painted with Cupids by Girofiri, and wreaths of flowers by Mario di Fiori. 8th Room.-Contains nothing of importance, except a mosaic portrait of Paul V. by Marcello Provenzali. 9th Room.-Containing several interesting frescoes. 1. The Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana. 2. The Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona. 3. 'Il Bersaglio dei Dei.' These three frescoes were brought hither from the Casino of Raphael, in the Villa Borghese (destroyed in the siege of Rome in 1849), and are supposed to have been painted by some of Raphael's pupils from his designs. The other frescoes in this room are by Giulio Romano, and were removed from the Villa Lante, when it was turned into a convent. 10th Room. 2. Cupid blindfolded by Venus: Titian. 4. Judith: School of Titian. 9. Portrait: Pordenone. 13. David with the head of Goliath: Giorgione.* 14. St. John the Baptist preaching (unfinished): Paul Veronese. 16. St. Domenic: Titian. 19. Portrait: Giac. Bassano. 21. 'Sacred and Profane Love': Titian.* "Out of Venice there is nothing of Titian's to compare to his Sacred and Profane Love. It represents two figures: one, a heavenly and youthful form, unclothed, except with a light drapery; the other, a lovely female, dressed in the most splendid attire; both are sitting on the brink of a well, into which a little winged Love is groping, apparently to find his lost dart. . . . Description can give no idea of the consummate beauty of this composition. It has all Titian's matchless warmth of colouring, with a correctness of design no other painter + See Kugler, ii. 449. |