The Villa Ludovisi was a suburban villa in Rome , built in the 17th century on the area once occupied by the Gardens of Sallust ( Horti Sallustiani ) near the Porta Salaria . On an assemblage of vineyards purchased from Giovanni Antonio Orsini, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte and others, Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi erected in the 1620s the main villa building to designs by Domenichino ; it was completed within thirty months, in part to house his collection of Roman antiquities , additions to which were unearthed during construction at the site, which had figured among the great patrician pleasure grounds of Roman times. Modern works, most famously Gian Lorenzo Bernini 's Pluto and Persephone , were also represented. The engraving of the grounds by Giovanni Battista Falda (1683) shows a short access avenue from a tree-lined exedra in via di Porta Pinciana and cypress-lined avenues centered on each of the facades of the main villa, laid out through open fields, the main approaches to both the villa and the Casino dell'Aurora converging on gates in the Aurelian Walls , which formed the northern bounds of the park; symmetrical parterres of conventional form including bosquets peopled with statuary flanked the main avenue of the Casina, and there was an isolated sunken parterre, though these features were not integrated in a unified overall plan. The overgrown avenues contrasting with the dramatic Roman walls inspired Stendhal to declare in 1828 that the Villa Ludovisi's gardens were among the most beautiful in the world.
17-553: Frescoes in the villa were carried out by Domenichino, Guercino , Giovambattista Viola, and others. A casina was added, largely to house the Cardinal's growing collection of Roman sculptures and inscriptions, which Alessandro Algardi treated to sometimes extensive restoration. The villa passed to the ownership of the Boncompagni Ludovisi family, which in 1872 rented it to King Victor Emmanuel II . The King used
34-541: The Archiginnasio of Bologna in 1968 provided the most complete panorama of Guercino's work to date, including paintings from the later parts of his career after the death of Pope Gregory XV, which had previously attracted relatively little attention. For the fourth centenary of the artist's birth in 1991, an expanded exhibition was organized by the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna in conjunction with
51-588: The Aurora myth (1621, Villa Aurora , Rome, Italy), painted for the pope's nephew, Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi . challenges the more measured representation of the same subject painted by Guido Reni at Palazzo Rospigliosi on behalf of a Ludovisi family rival and makes a statement of political triumph. Some of his later works are closer to the style of Reni, and are painted with much greater luminosity and clarity than his early works with their prominent use of chiaroscuro. Guercino continued to paint and teach until
68-780: The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and the National Gallery of Art, Washington . Both these exhibitions were curated by Guercino's biggest modern champion, Denis Mahon , who was responsible for their catalogues. In 2011–2012, a large exhibition was displayed at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, dedicated to the memory of Mahon, who had recently died. An exhibition displayed at the National Museum in Warsaw in 2013–2014 offered another extensive presentation of
85-953: The Madonna and Child (now in Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art , Kansas City). The Corsini also paid him 300 ducats for the Flagellation of Christ painted in 1657. Guercino was remarkable for the extreme rapidity of his executions: he completed no fewer than 106 large altarpieces for churches, and his other paintings amount to about 144. He was also a prolific draftsman. His production includes many drawings, usually in ink, washed ink, or red chalk. Most of them were made as preparatory studies for his paintings, but he also drew landscapes, genre subjects , and caricatures for his own enjoyment. Guercino's drawings are known for their fluent style in which "rapid, calligraphic pen strokes combined with dots, dashes, and parallel hatching lines describe
102-764: The Vatican (now in the Museo Capitolini ). Following the death of Gregory XV in 1623, Guercino returned to his hometown of Cento. In 1626, he began his frescoes in the Duomo of Piacenza . The details of his career after 1629 are well documented in the account book, the Libro dei Conti di Casa Barbieri , that Guercino and his brother Paolo Antonio Barbieri , a notable painter of still lifes , kept updated, and which has been preserved. Between 1618 and 1631, Giovanni Battista Pasqualini produced 67 engravings that document
119-478: The early production of Guercino, which is not included in the Libro dei Conti . In 1642, following the death of his commercial rival Guido Reni , Guercino moved his busy workshop to Bologna, where he was now able to take over Reni's role as the city's leading painter of sacred subjects. In 1655, the Franciscan Order of Reggio paid him 300 ducats for the altarpiece of Saint Luke Displaying a Painting of
136-661: The end of his life, amassing a notable fortune. He died on December 22, 1666, in Bologna. As he never married, his estate passed to his nephews and pupils, Benedetto Gennari II and Cesare Gennari . Other pupils include Giulio Coralli , Giuseppe Bonati of Ferrara, Cristoforo Serra of Cesena, Father Cesare Pronti of Ferrara, Sebastiano Ghezzi , Sebastiano Bombelli , Lorenzo Bergonzoni of Bologna, Francesco Paglia of Brescia., Benedetto Zallone of Cento, Bartolomeo Caravoglia , Giuseppe Maria Galeppini of Forli, and Matteo Loves . A groundbreaking exhibition held at
153-424: The forms". Despite presumably having monocular vision due to a 'lazy' right eye, Guercino showed remarkable facility to imply depth in his works, perhaps assisted by an enhanced perception of light and shade thanks to compensation by the healthy eye. Other artists with different types of strabismus include Rembrandt , Dürer , Degas , Picasso and (possibly) Leonardo da Vinci . His lively treatment of
170-711: The nickname by which he is universally known, Guercino (a diminutive of the Italian noun guercio , meaning 'squinter'). Mainly self-taught, at the age of 16, he worked as apprentice in the shop of Benedetto Gennari , a painter of the Bolognese School . An early commission was for the decoration with frescos (1615–1616 ) of Casa Pannini in Cento, where the naturalism of his landscapes already reveals considerable artistic independence, as do his landscapes on canvas Moonlit Landscape and Country Concert from
187-721: The only one to remain being the Casino dell'Aurora . The Via Veneto was driven through the former grounds, part of which are occupied by the American Embassy in Palazzo Margherita , and the Rione Ludovisi took shape, borrowing its name from the cardinal and his villa. Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666), better known as ( il ) Guercino ( Italian pronunciation: [ɡwerˈtʃiːno] ),
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#1732772357757204-526: The same era. In Bologna, he was winning the praise of Ludovico Carracci . He always acknowledged that his early style had been influenced by study of a Madonna painted by Ludovico Carracci for the Capuchin church in Cento, affectionately known as "La Carraccina". St William Receiving the Monastic Habit (1620, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna , Italy), painted for St Gregory Church in Bologna,
221-451: The same pair of shepherds ) is typical of Guercino's early works, which are often tumultuous in conception. He painted two large canvases, Samson Seized by Philistines (1619) and Elijah Fed by Ravens (1620), for Cardinal Serra, a Papal Legate to Ferrara. Painted at a time when it is unlikely that Guercino could have seen Caravaggio 's work in Rome, these works nevertheless display a starkly naturalistic Caravaggesque style. Guercino
238-540: The villa as residence for his lover, Rosa Vercellana . İn 1885, despite great protests among the intellectuals, its last owner, Don Rodolfo Boncompagni Ludovisi, the Prince of Piombino , faced serious financial troubles and decided to sell the property to the Società Generale Immobiliare. The Villa was divided into building lots. The sculptures were dispersed, and most of the buildings destroyed,
255-605: Was Guercino's largest ecclesiastical commission at the time and is considered a high point of his early career. His painting Et in Arcadia ego from around 1618–1622 contains the first known usage anywhere of the Latin motto, later taken up by Poussin and others, signifying that death lurks even in the most idyllic setting . The dramatic composition of this canvas (related to his Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo (1617–1618 ) created for The Grand Duke of Tuscany , which shares
272-706: Was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna . The vigorous naturalism of his early manner contrasts with the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri was born into a family of peasant farmers in Cento , a town in the Po Valley mid-way between Bologna and Ferrara . Being cross-eyed , at an early age he acquired
289-742: Was recommended by Marchese Enzo Bentivoglio to the newly elected Bolognese Ludovisi Pope, Pope Gregory XV in 1621. The years he spent in Rome, 1621–23, were very productive. From this period are his frescoes Aurora at the casino of the Villa Ludovisi , the ceiling in San Crisogono (1622) of San Chrysogonus in Glory , the portrait of Pope Gregory XV (now in the Getty Museum ), and the St. Petronilla Altarpiece for St. Peter's Basilica in
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