Let’s Look at Some Art in Rome

One of the places I was most excited to see in Rome was the Borghese Gallery because it’s the home of some of my favorite sculptures by Bernini. The only way I could get a ticket to the Gallery, though, was through a guided tour. And you guys know how I feel about a guided tour. It’s very mixed! 

The Borghese Gallery requires you to check any bags and it limits the amount of visitors into blocks of time. I chose the early morning block from 9-11. I showed up a little early and waited for my guide. Once we were all gathered, we went inside and began the tour. 

The Galleria Borghese was established by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a nephew of Pope Paul V, to house his incredible art collection. The galleries were made of different contrasting marbles and it was just beautiful to behold. Cardinal Borghese was a patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the foremost sculptors of the Baroque Era. I remember loving his pieces when I studied them long, long ago in my AP Art History class. The first of the major works in the gallery that we saw was the Abduction of Proserpina. 

This work tells the story of Proserpina, who was gathering flowers when she was abruptly abducted by Pluto, the God of the Underworld. Jupiter must negotiate a deal - Pluto can have Proserpina for half of the year and Ceres, her mother, can have her for the other half. I learned two new things about this work from our knowledgeable tour guide. 1) The discolored marble on Pluto’s legs was not an accident. Bernini used it to represent Pluto coming up out of the ground where naturally his feet and legs might be a little dirty. 2) The three-headed dog used to help stabilize Pluto wasn’t necessarily supposed to be literally three-headed. Our guide told us that it was actually Bernini playing with motion. I’m not so sure about that last one because there is the Greek myth of Cerberus who does have three literal heads, but it’s interesting to think about.

What I have always marveled at about this piece is the texture of Proserpina’s soft thigh and Pluto’s imprint into it. How did Bernini make marble look so soft and supple? 

Not only that, but how the cloth is so incredibly thin in places. It looks so real!

It’s one of those pieces you have to slowly walk around and take in all of the details from every angle. But that’s pretty much every sculpture by Bernini. Next, we looked at Bernini’s version of David.

When you picture of a sculpture of David facing Goliath, most people will probably think of Michelangelo’s masterpiece in Florence. Personally, I love this one! It’s more dynamic (in keeping with the Baroque aesthetic), but I also think it has more emotion and depth. Here, David has eschewed any armor and he’s put down his harp to concentrate on the task at hand. Speaking of concentrating, I love how he’s biting on his lip and furrowing his brow as he prepares to launch the stone that defeats Goliath. 

We saw some other works of art that I’ll come back to, but I want to finish with the other major sculpture by Bernini that is at the Galleria Borghese — my very favorite one! 

This sculpture is taken from the story of Daphne, who just wanted to be left alone to wander through forests and enjoy her peace and quiet. Then Apollo saw her beauty and wanted her for his own. He pursued her when she ran. Eventually, she became exhausted and called out to her father to change her body so she would not be desired, and she turned into a laurel tree. Bernini chooses the moment of transformation as her hands turn into leaves and her toes grow roots into the ground. 

The Bernini sculptures were some of the highlights for me at the Galleria Borghese, but there was a lot of other wonderful works of art to see there, including some paintings by Caravaggio. 

One of the things I learned about this second painting, Boy with a Fruit Basket, is that Caravaggio made sure to include pieces of fruit past their prime - some browned grapes and withering leaves - to show things as they really are and avoid idealism.

The Galleria Borghese boasts some paintings by Raphael as well. 

The unicorn in the painting above does not make me want to find a unicorn in real life. It looks sickly. Apparently, at some point, someone had turned this woman into St. Catherine with a wheel and a palm. It wasn’t until some restoration work in the 1930s that they discovered the unicorn (more info here).

I liked Raphael’s painting of the Deposition better. 

I was also excited to learn more about a the famous Titian painting, Sacred and Profane Love.

Something I learned about this painting is that it was painted with the intention to be hung high, so the perspective was changed so that it would look more normal below. The other thing I learned is that scholars really don’t know what to make of this painting still.

We looked at one more sculpture in depth during our tour. This time, though, the sculpture is by Antonio Canova and created over one hundred years later around 1808. The subject? Paolina Borghese, who was also Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister. 

It was quite the scandal for a high-born woman to pose nude, but Paolina was up for the challenge. She apparently already had a reputation of being promiscuous and wayward. Originally, she was going to be sculpted as Diana, but she insisted on Venus and holds in her hand the golden apple that Venus won in history’s first beauty competition.

I love this sculpture! While the ladies of Jane Austen’s era may have understandably thought this was risque, I think it’s so classically beautiful. I love the pose, the couch she’s laying on with the sumptuous pillows, and I wish I could do my hair like that. 

After the tour, we had about 30-45 minutes to wander on our own. It’s a small museum, so I was able to return to some of the works from the tour that I wanted to look at longer and then check out some of the other amazing sculptures. I was just so impressed by the scale of some of the sculptures. Every door I went through had something fascinating to see. 

The Borghese Gallery was a highlight of my week in Rome! I highly recommend it to anyone visiting. It’s the perfect size museum where it doesn’t feel overwhelming. It has a good mix of masterpieces and other art you may not have heard of but that you will come to love.

When my time was up, I walked through the park to another museum.

To be honest, I thought the park was going to be more of an attraction. I’m not sure what I was expecting - maybe more flower beds or hedges or something? But there just didn’t seem like much to see - as evidenced by the fact that I don’t have any photos from it.

My next stop was the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna.

I was excited to see some more modern art (read: 19th Century) because that’s usually my favorite era. I just have to say - this museum was strange! I didn’t understand how they were curating things. There were statues facing the “wrong” direction, and I couldn’t find a pattern behind what paintings were grouped together. It might have been because I was really hungry at this point, but I found the museum really frustrating for some reason. That’s not to say, though, that I didn’t find some art that I fell in love with. Let me share some of them with you. 

I really love the frenetic brushstrokes on this painting and then the details of the peacock feathers.

Hard to go wrong with a Van Gogh, but I love the expression on this woman.

I also haven’t met a Klimt painting that I don’t love. I could stare at this one for hours.

The lighting of my picture drives me crazy, but I loved this painting. I almost expected to see my own reflection in the patent leather shoe. Earlier today, I was looking at an art book my sister-in-law gave me several years ago. Just now, I realized that this painting is on the cover of the book! No wonder I felt a kinship to it in the museum. 

I loved this modern take on Manet’s famous Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe.

So all in all, it was worth the $10 entrance fee, but next time, I would eat lunch before going so that I was in a better mood. 

Rome has so many options for art lovers. This wasn't everything I saw (hello Vatican, a whole world of art unto itself), so it's hard to narrow down what to see. From this experience, I'd say the Galleria Borghese is a must-see in Rome, and the National Gallery of Modern Art is a nice break from all the other Greek, Roman, and Baroque art you'll see everywhere else. 

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