Joyce M . Thierer, Telling History. A Manual for Performers and Presenters of First-Person Narratives

摘要

The Galleria Borghese has spectacularly rich collections which thousands of visitors to Rome continue to enjoy. On the ground floor the rooms include superlative sculptures, predominantly classical, but also including important works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). The paintings on the first floor include works by Italian artists of the stature of Raphael and Titian. In addition the Galleria building, built in the early 17th century and restored in 1997, has some of the most magnificent and lavish museum interiors in the world. The main focus in this comprehensive study is the display of the Borghese collections during the second half of the 18th century. This was the era of the Grand Tour when wealthy and cultured Europeans were flocking to Rome to visit princely collections of antiquities and art of which the Borghese’s was pre-eminent. At this point the Borghese collections were divided between two sites, the urban palace and the villa (later absorbed by the expanding city). The bulk of the paintings were displayed at the Palazzo Borghese in a suite of converted ground floor rooms known as the Galleria Terrena. The sculptures were displayed primarily at the Villa Borghese in the Casino Nobile, the building that houses the Galleria today. Under the patronage of Marcantonio Borghese IV (1730-1800), and the guidance of the architect and designer Antonio Asprucci, first the Palazzo’s Galleria Terrena (1767-1775) was redecorated and then the Casino at the Villa (1775-1790). The lavishly decorated interiors produced under Marcantonio’s patronage dominated the way the sculpture and paintings were viewed and offered a remarkable aesthetic, intellectual and social experience for Grand Tourists.