On Sunday Katy and I traveled to the Palazzo Barberini. The palazzo was originally a palace for the Pope Urban VIII, but now it is a museum for national antique art. At first, when looking at it on the list of Individual visit sites, I misread Barberini as Bernini, and thought that the palazzo would showcase Bernini’s works or house. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the palazzo not only held works from Bernini, but various other artists as well.
The palazzo was easy to find, but hard to enter. We ended up walking the long way around, making almost a complete circle, until we found the entrance. Once we saw it, though, we realized it was hard to miss: there were two large open gates and a sign leading to the main building. Right outside there was a modest fountain, with a simple oval design. Following the signs, we found our way to a small side door that was the main entrance.
The Palazzo houses art from the 13th century to the 18th century. In the first four rooms, there is a heavy focus on Christian imagery. The very first room is filled with old 13th century crosses, ones that would have once adorned the altar of a church. The other three have a steady theme of the Madonna and child, with the occasional saint popping up. Rooms 5 and 6 were closed, so we made our way to rooms 7 through 9 instead. Those rooms contained more religious imagery, though the focus leaned more towards the saints than the mother Mary and baby Jesus.
One image that caught my eye was called Pilgrims at the tomb of Saint Sebastian, and was painted by Josse Lieferinxe. It depicted a bunch of crippled and wounded and sick people all coming to visit Saint Sebastian’s tomb. Since I know nothing of Saint Sebastian, I was intrigued by the image. Was he thought to be able to heal the sick? There are so many people in the painting, I’m surprised they all fit in the canvas.
At the end of the hallway the paintings suddenly come to an abrupt end. Statues and columns and a fountain, with a vision of the sky painted on the ceiling, replace them. This room is called the hall of columns, and it was originally a dining room for the slaves in the palace. Later it became a library, and in the 16th century it was part of the palazzo Sforza. At the front of the room, in the center, sits a fountain. Lining the walls are two statues on either side, and parallel to them, a little further back, are two rows of columns, two columns each. Behind each row of columns sit a vase. The entire room is very symmetrical, and an interesting break from the other work.
To get to the rest of the gallery, Katy and I have to go outside and take the Bernini staircase up to the second floor. As soon as you enter, there is a statue of a grown woman, looking desperate, holding two small children that cling to her with terrified expressions. It is a little unsettling. The staircase was, as the name suggests, created by Bernini, and two statues sit in the wall above every platform. The statues on the first platform are both naked men who appear to be warriors: one holds a giant club, the other a bear mask. They are facing each other as if having a conversation. I felt like that gave them personality.
After the many platforms of statues, we finally reach galleries 10 through 24, though only rooms ten through fifteen turn out to be open. In those five rooms, the tone focuses a little less on Christianity, incorporating Roman myths and occasional portraits. One such portrait is La Fornarina by Rafael. It is supposedly a painting of the woman he loves, and she wears a band around her arm that clearly holds his name, as if she is his possession. I like the paintings on the second floor more, and am upset that many of the rooms are closed. Oh, well, I suppose I’ll have to come back another time!
No comments:
Post a Comment