Villa Borghese a park and palace were designed exclusively for relaxation and entertainment.
A young sculptor Bernini sculpture was commissioned to perform a sculpture task that brought him fame and money.
The villa is a wonderful collection of paintings and sculptures of the Borghese family.
The sculptures:
Massacre of the Innocents - the term for a story described in the Gospel of Matthew - the murder of boys younger than two years in Bethlehem and the vicinity, on the order of Herod the Great. The latter, having learned of the birth in Bethlehem of a new king of the Jews, decided to fight a possible competitor.
Acc. Wikipedia: Matthew has not provided the number of the murdered boys. Subsequent reports sought to exaggerate the number of victims at 14,000 or even 144,000.
Marie-Joseph Lagrange, a French scholar, put forward the hypothesis that the murdered boys were about twenty. Giuseppe Ricciotti estimated the number of murdered infants from 20 to 25. Daniel-Rops thought that there could be more than approx. thirty-five. The greatest number of modern historians gave Eugeniusz Dabrowski, who estimated the number of murdered babies for approx. 80.
Paulina Borgese – Paulina Borghese - Napoleon's sister, the wife of Camillo Borghese – herself modelled for the sculpture of Venus by the sculptor Canovie. Camillo hid the statue and did not allow to show it, even to the author. Later, the statue was being shown for money. What a beauty and artistry to the smallest detail. In marble !!
David – The sculpture represents David at the time of releasing a stone of the sling at Goliath. The statue has the face of the author’s - Bernini. Dynamism of the figure and stubbornness in the facial expressions are particularly impressive.
Apollo and Daphne - The most famous work of Barnini’s shows Daphne running from desiring Apollo. Daphne defends hersef turning into a laurel bush. Take a look at the details, eg. The hair and laurel leaves!
Abduction of Proserpine - One of the finest works by Bernini (1620). The details of anatomical forms of the sculpture show mastery of his skills and extraordinary mastery in marble carving.
