The Borghese Gallery Housed in an elegant suburban villa built for the Cardinal Scipione Borghese at the beginning of the 16th century, is one of Europe finest art collections.This gallery is sure to impress you, with paintings of the masters. Many of its ceilings have some perfectly preserved, most remarkable frescoes from the late 1700’s. Caravaggio, a controversial yet ingenious and innovative 17th century painter with his unique use of “chiaroscuro” (darkness and light) and profound subjects such as his David With The Head of Goliath.Raphael with his touching Deposition from the cross, and Titian’s masterpiece in true venetian style of the Sacred and Profound Love.
Scipione was an important patron of the arts and sought to acquire ancient sculptures, to be admired inside the Villa, and Most importantly,he, being the first patron of the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the genius of the Baroque and mastered the ability to successfully defy gravity.Experience the courage strength and shear emotion of Bernini’s David, feel the fear of young Prosperina in the Rape of Prosperina. Sense the complete desperation of the Apollo and Daphne, when Daphne trapped in the moment when her flesh transforms into a tree while escaping from Apollo’s grasp. Our tour concludes with a tribute to the smooth grace of the marble used in the sculpture of Paolina Borghese by Antonio Canova; a tasteful done nude work of Napoleon’s sister commissioned for her husband, a member of the Borghese family.