DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42129#0071
PALAZZO FARNESE (ALLA LUNGARA,)
CALLED LA FARNESINA. 1510—1524.
BALTHAZAR PERUZZI, RAPHAEL, GIULIO ROMANO, G. A. RAZZI, AND OTHERS.
PLATES 16—18.
This beautiful structure was the abode of the rich Sienese banker,
Agostino Ghigi, the accomplished friend of all who were great in genius
and art. He intrusted the work to his countryman, Balthazar Peruzzi,
after having selected for its situation the plain between Monte Gianiculo
and the Tiber, then the most fashionable part of Rome. This elegant
palace arose in all the beauty of its proportions amidst the most
luxuriant gardens, which still excite admiration by their tasteful
arrangement, their fountains, shaded walks, and their abundance of
southern fruits. How brilliant must this scene have been when the
now closed arcades presented their treasures of art ; when the tasteful
chiaroscuri (of which the river-side alone preserves some exquisite
traces) were in all their freshness; and when the splendid court of
Leo X. was to be found collected within its precincts !1 Subordinate
buildings—as, for instance, the stables, the architecture of which is
attributed to Raphael, and the pavilion, which sprung up in one night,
as if by the rod of a magician—are either partly in ruins, or have
been altogether destroyed.
The perfect propriety of the architecture of this palace has ever
pointed it out as a model for buildings of the kind, while the interior,
painted by the greatest artists, has rendered it the admired type for
the higher class of internal decorations. Raphael’s history of Psyche is
1 Fanucci Opere pie di Roma, lib. II. cap. 21.
CALLED LA FARNESINA. 1510—1524.
BALTHAZAR PERUZZI, RAPHAEL, GIULIO ROMANO, G. A. RAZZI, AND OTHERS.
PLATES 16—18.
This beautiful structure was the abode of the rich Sienese banker,
Agostino Ghigi, the accomplished friend of all who were great in genius
and art. He intrusted the work to his countryman, Balthazar Peruzzi,
after having selected for its situation the plain between Monte Gianiculo
and the Tiber, then the most fashionable part of Rome. This elegant
palace arose in all the beauty of its proportions amidst the most
luxuriant gardens, which still excite admiration by their tasteful
arrangement, their fountains, shaded walks, and their abundance of
southern fruits. How brilliant must this scene have been when the
now closed arcades presented their treasures of art ; when the tasteful
chiaroscuri (of which the river-side alone preserves some exquisite
traces) were in all their freshness; and when the splendid court of
Leo X. was to be found collected within its precincts !1 Subordinate
buildings—as, for instance, the stables, the architecture of which is
attributed to Raphael, and the pavilion, which sprung up in one night,
as if by the rod of a magician—are either partly in ruins, or have
been altogether destroyed.
The perfect propriety of the architecture of this palace has ever
pointed it out as a model for buildings of the kind, while the interior,
painted by the greatest artists, has rendered it the admired type for
the higher class of internal decorations. Raphael’s history of Psyche is
1 Fanucci Opere pie di Roma, lib. II. cap. 21.