The Gallery Of Borghese Galleria Photos

I was tempted to break these into multiple posts by artists, but that temptation has passed.

The Borghese Gallery in, naturally, the

Borghese Gardens, a large hilly park.

Close-up of Pluto, King of the

Underworld, from the sculpture

below.

Bernini's "The Rape of

Proserpina"

Ceiling art in the room with

the first Bernini statue.

Cerberus, Pluto's three-headed dog.

Guardian of the gates of hell.

Proserpina is the daughter

of the earth goddess Ceres.

Quite the gallery.

Bernini's "Aeneas, Anchises, 

and Ascanius."  Representing

the sack of Troy, and Aeneas

escapes with his father

Anchises on his shoulder,

his baby boy Ascanius by

his leg, and the Eternal

 Flame (carried by his son.)

(Editor: You would think if Aeneas were entrusted with the Eternal Flame he would know how to stop his house from burning down.  Writer: And you call ME the art heathen.)

Aeneas also fled carrying his household

gods, which didn't really do him much

good.  He eventually comes to Rome

and houses the flame in the Temple

of Vesta.

Roman Art: "Satyr

on a Dolphin."

Roman fresco.

Caravaggio's "Boy

with a Fruit Basket."

Caravaggio's "David and

Goliath."  The artist had to

flee Rome in 1606 after

killing a man ("just to

watch him die") so he

painted Goliath as himself. 

Caravaggio's "The Madonna

of Palafrenieri."  This was

forbidden to be shown in

St. Peter's because Jesus is

naked, and the Madonna's

likeness is based on Rome's

best-known prostitute back

in the day.  (You'll be happy

to know I have no idea what

Alexandria, Virginia's

best-known prostitute

looks like.)

Caravaggio's "St. Jerome."

Caravaggio's "St. John the

Baptist."  Nice to see him

with his head on.

Caravaggio: "Self-Portrait

As Bacchus."

Bernini's "David."  Obviously

not as famous as Michelangelo's

David.

Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne." Alas I

did not get a great photo of this

masterpiece.

Even here the lighting isn't

the best.  Apollo pursues

Daphne, who was turned off

by the "arrow of disgust" 

(Now I've got an excuse

for why the girls turned me

down at the junior high

dances).  Daphne asks her

father to save her, and

she magically turns

into a tree.