Browse Items (149 total)

Francesco Borromini commenced his solo architectural career with the challenge of building San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane for the Trinitarian religious order. The church is better known by its colloquial name - San Carlino – which alludes to the…

When Pope Sixtus V was elected to the papacy in 1585, he immediately set out to rebuild the Lateran Palace [1]. Pope Sixtus V consulted with his personal architect, Domenico Fontana, who deemed the Patriarchium Lateranense to be "old buildings” with…

The obelisk was located in Alexandria, Egypt, until 41 C.E. when Emperor Caligula ordered it be transported across the Mediterranean to Rome. It was erected in the Vatican region and remained south of the basilica in front of two ancient cylindrical…

"Plate of Figs" is painted with bodycolor (gouache) on vellum on a 25 x 32.5 cm board. The miniature was created as a part of Garzoni's series "Twenty Small Paintings on Vellum" for Ferdinando II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Each painting in the series…

About two decades after Fontana’s “Holy Family with Saints Margaret and Francis”, Federico Barocci produced a “Nativity”. Both works dealt with the Holy Family as subjects which is the primary impetus for their comparison. On a deeper level, both…

This painting was thought to be commissioned by someone of high stature due to the colors and pigments used. The blue sleeve in the painting was done by using a pure form of Lazurite. This ultramarine color was extremely expensive, and was generally…

Sheila Barker’s essay, “The Universe of Giovanna Garzoni. Art, Mobility, and the Global Turn in the Geographical Imaginary” provides an examination of the influences that shaped Giovanna Garzoni’s life, career, and art. Barker argues that Garzoni’s…

This 1578 oil painting depicting the Holy Family is one of multiple works Fontana created of the Holy Family. Her talent for capturing the female form is prominently on display in this work, as she represents Mary from the knees up. Fontana captures…

During the papacies of Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) and Gregory XIII (1575-1585) it was clear that the current water supply, which was primarily from Acqua Vergine (Rome's oldest functioning aqueduct), was insufficient to support expanding Rome's growing…

Bernini’s “The Rape of Prosperina” marble sculpture portrays the abduction of Proserpina, also known as Persephone, who is seized by the god of the underworld Pluto. The work was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese for his four large-scale…