Borromini in Rome

When you are walking in Rome on Via del Governo Vecchio you may look up and see this delightful clock tower

by Francesco Borromini: a genius of the Roman Baroque.

The clock tower is around the back of this building, called the Oratorio. The scalloped front is very Borromini -- he didn't do flat walls, as you will see.

Closer look at the central front door of the Oratorio. Notice there is lots of play between elements coming forward and elements dropping back. The details are beautiful.

Across town and up the Quirinal Hill is Borromini's San Carlo alla Quattro Fontane (called affectionately: San Carlino): same play of volumes and beautiful details.

San Carlino: door to the sacristy. The subtlety of the decorations is great fun.

Borromini liked to show off his command of geometry.

Notice San Carlino lacks flat walls. Instead it has pillars and cornices. Borromini did not like to be bored.

Inside San Carlino, looking toward the entrance.

Even the hallways in San Carlino are memorable.

Now the sacristy, this room, with its beautiful ceiling used to be the dining room for the monks.

Across town again, to Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza (St Ivo of Wisdom): Borromini's masterpiece. This is the view of the courtyard from the street. 

The walls culminate in a dazzling dome,

from a six sided floor plan. It is a good place to spend Sunday morning in Rome.

Find St Ivo midway between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. The hours are literally carved in stone outside: Sundays: open 9 a.m. to 12. Mass at 10 a.m.

One last masterpiece. Do you remember the square staircase Bernini designed for Palazzo Barberini? Borromini designed this staircase at the other end of the building.

A miracle of talent and perfect taste. Bill and I became very interested in Borromini on this trip. We look forward to visiting all his sites again soon.

Borghese Gallery

When Bill and I stepped into the Borghese Gallery Domenichino's The Hunt of Diana, 1616, caught our eye.

Bill got this detail of the famous nymphs.

Is that a Bellini? It is a Bellini: circa 1510. Don't you always feel happier when there is a Bellini in the room?

In an adjacent room we found a staff person lecturing a small group about a rather magnificent, colourful, painting.

When the crowd moved on I saw that it was a Deposition by Raffael. Raffael's figures and groups and his colours have a quality all their own We must see more Raphael.

We have become interested in Piero di Cosimo. Here is a lovely Adoration of the Child, after 1510.

Look closely at the right, there is a pair of hermits coming over a ridge at 3 o'clock. Can you make out the dark skinned figure behind them in the river?

Here's a closer look at the celestial Christ child.

Raffael, Lady with a Unicorn, painted about 1506.

Fall in love.

The rooms with the Bernini sculptures are very large and very grand. Rape of Persephone, 1622.

I was thrilled to find the room with the Caravaggios. His St Jerome, 1606, is one of my favourite paintings.

Caravaggio's Madonna and Child with St. Anne, also 1606. I was surprised by how big these paintings are.

Guido Reni: Paul Rebukes the Repentant Peter, with tourist. What a room!

Be sure to look up. You will no doubt see the apotheosis of someone or other. Who is being lifted into heaven now?

Bill waited while I had a quick look in the bookstore. We exit on the right.

We had our own apotheosis walking through the pines of the Borghese Gardens: we proceeded down the Via Veneto and into the heavenly City Centre for lunch.

Bernini in Rome

Bill and I did not go looking for Bernini on this trip to Rome but Bernini came to us. Having said that, we did look for him at the Borghese Gallery.

There we found three early masterpieces: the horrific Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius Fleeing Troy, 1619,

the arresting Rape of Persephone, 1622,

and the wholly successful David, 1624 -- all done when Bernini was in his early 20s.

In Palazzo Barberini we walked up a staircase designed by Bernini in 1630. (Don't miss the Borromini spiral staircase at the other end of the building.)

Bernini finished his show-stopping public masterpiece, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, in 1651 when he was 53.

The centrepiece of Piazza Navona, it is probably the best known and deservedly the most popular sculpture in Rome.

Bernini had help realizing his works. Giovani Antonio Mari executed the standing figure of a "Moor," at the south end of Piazza Navona, after a model by Bernini, in 1655.

The Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei was designed by the architect Giacomo della Porta in 1581. 

Bernini added the turtles in 1658. Everybody loved them. We've called it the Turtle Fountain (Fontana delle Tartarughe) ever since.

That same year Bernini built the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale on the Quirinal Hill. An unforgettable example of Roman Baroque.

Here is a glance at the interior rotunda.

Down the hill and across the centre to the Piazza della Minerva brings us to this charming elephant, unveiled in 1667 when Bernini was 69.

In 1671 he designed ten angels for the famous Bridge of Angels. Bernini carved the "Angel with the Superscription I.N.R.I." himself. He was 73 years old.

H. P. Morton said: "Even on the stillest of mornings, when there is not a breath of wind [...], these angels stand in some terrific seventeenth century gale."

Basilica of San Clemente

Ten minutes from the Colosseum, the Basilica of San Clemente, is one of the miracles of Rome:

 a twelfth-century church built over a fourth century church built over a Roman house.

The twelfth-century entrance leads into a courtyard from the same period.

The church is prized for it's twelfth-century mosaics and cosmatesque floor.

They are difficult to see because you can't get past the gate.

But the ticket office has dozens of postcards with magnificent details of the art.

 The ticket office also has the stairs that lead to the excavations of the fourth-century church below.

Cleared of rubble in the 1800s the fourth-century church displays fragments of sculpture,

fragments of inscriptions, and fragments of frescos.

A wall-text describes The Miracle of the Sea of Azov: "..once a year the tide was said to recede to reveal the tomb of St Clement. On one occasion, a child was caught by the tide but was recovered safe and sound the following year".

Christ is ascending into heaven at the top of this ninth-century fresco while the apostles look on from below.

Detail of the apostles with Pope Leo IV (left).

Scenes from the life of St Alexis.

Wall text: "in 1859, a fresco of the Madonna and Child was discovered in a niche"

1861 brought us scenes from the life of St Clement.

A further flight of steps takes back another 400 years. At the time of classical Rome this area was at street level.

One last treasure of San Clemente: the remains of a third-century Mithraic temple, with a central altar.