(ITALIAN SECULAR) Villa Borghese

• Flaminio Ponzio (finished posthumously by his pupil Giovanni Vasanzio), Villa Borghese, 1607-1613
• Description


  The Villa Borghese houses the gallery building and originally integrated the gardens. The villa houses the galleria Borghese (a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V who reigned 1605–1621).
• The Villa was built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself. Borghese used the building as a country villa on the edge of Rome to entertain guests. The Italian Ponzio was Pope Paul V’s staple architect and his style was more Mannerist than Baroque
• Composition


  Highly symmetrical façade with projecting lateral wings, regular fenestration, topped with projecting lintels. The U-shaped plan had two projecting side wings, a central portico surmounted by a terrace and a facade decorated with antique sculptures in the Mannerist style. Light coloured stone unifies the whole and lends elegance. The U-shaped plan is based on the model of the sixteenth century Villa Farnesina, Rome.
• Below left: The piano terra (ground floor) houses the sculpture; above right: first floor (piano

  (principle) primo/nobile) houses the paintings.

  
• Architectural features:

  • The building is surmounted by a Classically Italianate flat roof with projecting cornice and dentil detailing.
  • Tall round-arched windows are framed by smooth Doric pilasters which support a Doric frieze with plain metope and alternating triglyphs.
  • The corners of the building are emphasised with rusticated quoins.
  • Originally the entire façade was teeming with Mannerist-style decoration: bas-relief sculptures and statues, elaborate urns decorating the rising balustrade on the entrance staircase.
  • Cartouche detail (ornate frame).
• Function:


  To house Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s private collection of Roman, Renaissance, and Baroque art (exemplary works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Caravaggio) and demonstrate the power of the patron. Scipione wanted to recreate a villa similar to those of the ancient Romans. For the Villa Borghese gardens, the cardinal commissioned the landscape designer Domenico Savino da Montepulciano.
• Style:


  Mannerist/High Baroque
• Status:

  • Monumental scale suggests importance • Extensive use of finely cut stone indicate expense
  • Complexity of decoration suggests wealth, taste and power
  • Extent and variety of decoration shows fine craftsmanship and skill
  • Ostentatious use of glass and tall windows wealth and importance of the owner – number of windows and their scale suggests exhibition space with high ceilings.
  • Classical syntax suggests ancient and noble past and cultural sophistication of Scipione.
  • Balustrades surrounding the entrance and the elevated position, reached by steps, suggest grandeur.
• The Villa Borghese was surrounded by large gardens, which are

  still populated by eagles and dragons, the heraldic symbols of the

  Borghese family today.

  
• The main building of the villa lost most of the stucco decoration which framed ancient statues and reliefs. In 1807 Prince Camillo Borghese sold to Napoleon Bonaparte, his brother-in-law, the collection of antiquities which decorated the interior and the exterior of the building. Eventually the design of the façade was simplified and the empty frames were removed.
• Historical context


  The Borghese family were an Italian noble and papal family that originated in Siena and moved to Rome in the 16th century. They were both wealthy and well connected to the Roman Catholic Church. When Camillo Borghese was elected Pope Paul V in 1605, he inherited enormous power and exercised his papal nepotism when he named his nephew Scipione Borghese a Cardinal. Scipione headed the Vatican government and accumulated his own sizeable wealth through papal fees and taxes. Scipione became an important patron of the arts, much of which is housed in the Galleria Borghese.
• Cultural context


  The cultural climate was such that talented artists like Caravaggio and Bernini were recognised for enhancing the status of powerful men like Scipione and supporting the Catholic art during the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
• The villa, away from the city, was a must have for wealthy patrons and were even thought to offer restorative properties – otium – an expression of an idyllic setting for rest and relaxation.
• The Villa Borghese represented several trends predominant in Cardinal Scipione’s time, in particular the concept of villaggiatura, which has to do with the practice of collecting artwork, and patronage. Noble families adopted the idea of the villa from the ancient Romans, who distinguished “the society, affairs, and politics of the city (negotium)” from the “quiet and healthy moderation of the country (otium)." Villas were meant to be an escape from the distractions and worries of urban life. The villa had three primary functions: relaxation, entertainment, and exhibition.
• The Villa Borghese boasts clean lines and harmonious proportions. Its typically U-shaped plan, integrated gardens and loggia-style façade signals the villa type. The pale stone creates a harmonious and elegant aesthetic. The original sculptural detail adorning the façade would have created a more richly decorated effect. Its materials and appearance was similar to the villa types which preceded it.
• Influence


  Baldassare Peruzzi and Giuliano da Sangallo, The Villa Farnesina, begun 1506, a Renaissance suburban villa, Rome. The Villa Farnesina truly embodied its purpose of entertainment.