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Roman villa with world's only Caravaggio mural up for sale
A sprawling villa in Rome containing the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian master Caravaggio is being put up for sale for almost €500m (£422m).
The 2.75-metre wide painting Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in the 16th century to adorn the ceiling in his alchemy laboratory at Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora.
Villa Aurora, surrounded by high walls close to Via Veneto in central Rome, is all that remains of a retreat established by the cardinal.
“Del Monte bought property there, which he restructured before commissioning Caravaggio to paint the mural in his lab, which was only a very small room,” said Alessandro Zuccari, a history professor at Sapienza University in Rome who oversaw the valuation of the mural. “It’s an extraordinary work which was difficult to put a price on, seeing as it was the only mural ever done by Caravaggio and so we had nothing to compare it to.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/25/roman-villa-with-worlds-only-caravaggio-mural-up-for-sale
The 2.75-metre wide painting Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in the 16th century to adorn the ceiling in his alchemy laboratory at Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora.
Villa Aurora, surrounded by high walls close to Via Veneto in central Rome, is all that remains of a retreat established by the cardinal.
“Del Monte bought property there, which he restructured before commissioning Caravaggio to paint the mural in his lab, which was only a very small room,” said Alessandro Zuccari, a history professor at Sapienza University in Rome who oversaw the valuation of the mural. “It’s an extraordinary work which was difficult to put a price on, seeing as it was the only mural ever done by Caravaggio and so we had nothing to compare it to.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/25/roman-villa-with-worlds-only-caravaggio-mural-up-for-sale
Pics via: http://www.minorsights.com/2016/08/italy-villa-aurora-ludovisi.html
The pedigree of the garden is outstanding: in Roman times this were the private gardens of one Julius Caesar, and they were later known as the Gardens of Sallust. When Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi started work on his Villa, a substantial number of Roman remains were unearthed, some of which still feature as garden ornaments today.
Lastly, for a final name-drop, the garden houses a statue by Michelangelo of the god Pan, who seems positively excited to see you.
13 replies
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Also, look at the faces of the gods.
Visits to the villa have been in high demand this year, with Italy marking the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s death. In 1597, the villa’s second owner, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, commissioned Caravaggio to paint the ceiling of his small second-floor alchemy lab.
The oil-on-plaster work, “Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune,” depicts the three gods, with Jupiter moving a translucent orb stamped with signs of the zodiac. The earth and the sun are visible beneath. The work is believed to be a reference to the then-heretical theory that the sun, rather than the earth, was the center of the universe, the princess said.
The ceiling — the only one Caravaggio is known to have painted — was eventually covered over and then rediscovered in 1968, when chips in the paint revealed a face strikingly similar to Caravaggio’s own. In fact, the Baroque master had painted his own dark features on the faces of the three gods.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/greathomesanddestinations/16iht-rerome.html
The oil-on-plaster work, “Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune,” depicts the three gods, with Jupiter moving a translucent orb stamped with signs of the zodiac. The earth and the sun are visible beneath. The work is believed to be a reference to the then-heretical theory that the sun, rather than the earth, was the center of the universe, the princess said.
The ceiling — the only one Caravaggio is known to have painted — was eventually covered over and then rediscovered in 1968, when chips in the paint revealed a face strikingly similar to Caravaggio’s own. In fact, the Baroque master had painted his own dark features on the faces of the three gods.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/greathomesanddestinations/16iht-rerome.html
The creature’s legs don’t seem to end with hooves. It baffles me 