The Villa Farnesina: Palace of Venus in Renaissance Rome

Description

The frescoes of Peruzzi, Raphael and Sodoma still dazzle visitors to the Villa Farnesina, but they survive in a stripped-down environment bereft of its landscape, sealed so it cannot breathe. Turner takes you outside that box, restoring these canonical images to their original context, when each element joined in a productive conversation. He is the first to reconstruct the architect-painter Peruzzi's original, well-proportioned, well-appointed building and to re-visualize his lost façade decoration‒erotic scenes and mythological figures who make it come alive and soar upward. More comprehensively than any previous scholar, he reintegrates painting, sculpture, architecture, garden design, topographical prints and drawings, archaeological discoveries and literature from the brilliant circle around the patron Agostino Chigi, the powerful banker who 'loved all virtuosi' and commissioned his villa-palazzo from the best talents in multiple arts. It can now be understood as a Palace of Venus, celebrating aesthetic, social and erotic pleasure. 03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 04.0_pp_v_viii_Contents 05.0_pp_ix_xi_Acknowledgements 06.0_pp_xii_xiv_Abbreviations_and_Frequently_Cited_Works 07.0_pp_1_21_Introduction Introduction ‘Not built with walls, but truly born’ The Hybrid Estate: Multiple Structures, Multiple Arts Scholars and Critics on the Farnesina Agostino Chigi and his ‘familiares’ 08.0_pp_22_94_Antique_Imagination_and_the_Creation_of_the_Villa-Palazzo 1 ‘Antique’ Imagination and the Creation of the Villa-Palazzo: Origins and Precursors 1 Emulating the Ancient Villa The Villa in Antiquity Home Theatricals Vitruvius, Theory and Practice of Painted Decoration Statius, Vopiscus and the Interpretation of Ancient Sources The Ground Floor and the Main Reception Room: A New Reconstruction 2 Imaginary Palaces The Bolognese Villa of Mino de’ Rossi Palaces by Filarete and Poliziano Niccolò da Correggio 3 Siena and Rome: Chigi Patronage and the Launching of Peruzzi’s Career Peruzzi’s Earliest Commissions Self-fashioning, Marriage and Dynastic Alliance Patronage of Art and Architecture Chigi Town Houses in Siena and Rome The Tiber Site and Its Rival Neighbours 4 The Villa Le Volte and the Conception of the Farnesina The Fabric of the Villa Le Volte The Farnesina: Applying the Lessons of Le Volte The House and the Street 5 Villa Speculatrix: The Rising Structure from Basements to Rooftops Chthonic Architecture Staircases and Internal Circulation Fireplaces and Chimneys at the Structural Core 09.0_pp_95_137_The_Stanza_del_Fregio_and_Peruzzis_First_Architectural_Wall-Painting 2 The Stanza del Fregio and Peruzzi’s First Architectural Wall-Painting 1 Narrative in Architecture: The Stanza del Fregio, Ostia and the Chapel of St Helena The Room and the Painted Frieze Ostia and Rome The Chapel of St Helena Peruzzi’s Autumnal Landscape 2 Sources Ancient and Modern Earlier Renaissance Models The Imperial Villa on Chigi’s Property 3 Hybrid Creatures of Water and Land Water-Creatures The Libreria Piccolomini as Primary Source Lighting and Modelling: The Frieze between Painting and Sculpture 10.0_pp_138_217_The_Lost_Facade-Paintings 3 The Lost Façade-Paintings: ‘Di terretta con storie di man sua, molto belle’ 1 The Extant Spandrel Paintings, the Form of the Façades, the Possibilities of the Medium The Spandrel Paintings Multiple Fields and Irregular Façades Graphic Evidence: The Metropolitan Drawing Reconstructing the Complete Exterior The Meaning of the Terretta Medium Peruzzi’s Other Façades 2 ‘Disegno rather than colorito’: The Drawings related to the Façade The Satyr-Caryatids The Mythological Scenes and the Mezzanine Windows Pasiphaë and Daedalus: The Design Evolves Mars and Venus Captured by Vulcan Stylistic Affinities across Peruzzi’s Oeuvre 3 Adventures Underground: The Imperial Villa Rediscovered Caryatids, Captives and Satyrs Masks, Ancient and Modern Dividers and Supporters Paintings of Erotica 4 Peruzzi’s Design Principles The Building Takes to the Air Peruzzi’s Theory 5 Flights of Fancy: Images from Maiolica and Prints The Story of Pasiphaë Continued Evidence from Prints: An Apollo-Daphne cycle? The Power of Love 11.0_pp_218_323_1512_Overtures 4 1512 Overtures: The Villa, the Landscape Architecture and the Literature of Celebration 1 The New House Rises Approaching the Villa with Egidio Gallo The Culture of Festivity Blosio Palladio’s ‘Suburbanum’ 2 Hypogea and Hipocausta: The Secrets of the Lower Storeys The Summit and the Depths Ancient Materials from the Earth Chigi’s Private Bathing Suite 3 ‘Twin Porticoes … Such as Never Existed in the Entire World’ Drawing the Gaze: Blosio’s Response to the Interior The Painted Vault Sebastiano in the ‘Antico Soggiorno’ The Galatea Loggia: Three Artists at Work Giant Heads Raphael’s Galatea in Conversation 4 Fragrant Gardens, Shady Woods, Deep Meadows and Transparent Floods Reconstructing the Gardens: Poems and Documents ‘The progress of this House’ Egidio Gallo’s Landscape Blosio Palladio’s ‘Topiary’ Entrances and Exits, Gates and Doorways Fountains and the ‘Mastery’ of Water Garden Sculpture Continued: Tiber, Pan, Psyche Reminiscences and Recreations 5 Architecture in the Landscape: The Three Major Buildings Raphael’s Stable/Guesthouse The Main Carriage Gateway Rediscovered The Tiber Pavilion Grotto, Pool and ‘Cave of the Nymphs’ Graphic Traces of Riverbank Structures, and Their Destruction 12.0_pp_324_418_The_Second_Phase_15181519 5 The Second Phase, 1518–1519: The ‘Hall of Perspectives’, the Nuptial Suite and the Loggia di Psiche 1 The Piano Nobile Transformed Reconstructing the North and South Suites Disruption and Expansion 2 The Sala delle Prospettive and its Frieze Columns in Perspective Rus et Urbe: The Painted Vistas The Fictive Architecture Gods and Niches Decorum and Decoration in the Upper Frieze 3 Roxana, Alexander and the Nuptial Bedroom Roxana and Alexander in Double Perspective Vulcan and Companions Looking Up and Looking Back 4 Psyche’s Upward Mobility Psyche Variations Peruzzi’s Structure, Giovanni’s Pergola, Raphael’s Figures Narrative Abandoned ‘Cosa Vituperosa’ or ‘Myriad Pleasures’? 5 Giovanni da Udine’s Biodiversity: ‘Painting and Poetry Truly Most Beautiful’ ‘Fruits and Flowers without End’ Nature as Artefact Vegetable Love Giovanni da Udine’s Aviary All That Is Solid Takes to the Air 13.0_pp_419_490_Notes 14.0_pp_491_493_Photograph_Credits 15.0_pp_494_502_Index Index