Statue called Truth Unveiled in the Galleria Borghese sculpted by Bernini. Photo from FoxRVTravel Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 

Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery (and mosaics)

3 Comments / / Europe, Italy, Rome

Statues in the Borghese Gallery The Borghese Gallery may have more masterpieces than any other building worldwide. I have included some mosaics at the end of the post we found in the Borghese Gallery. Starting with Roman statues and including masterpieces of both paintings, the Gallery is famous for Renaissance art. More than 300 years ago, the manor house was converted into a public museum. Many original masterpieces are located in locations designed to show them to the public.

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The villa was the private collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Pope Paul V’s nephew. He wielded enormous power as the Pope’s secretary and effectively headed the Vatican government and became very wealthy.

Borghese built a “country home” a few miles from the Vatican and decorated it with the finest art unlimited money could buy. Some of the sculptures were intact originals, and some were reconstructed using expert craftsmen to make the new additions invisible.

Statues in the Borghese Gallery 

Statue of Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius in the Galleria Borghese. The at this angle you can only see two, the third child is hiding in the back. Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Statue of Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius by Bernini. You can only see two adults at this angle; the third child hides in the back. (1598/1680) Bernini is the sculptor of several of the masterpiece statues in the Borghese Gallery.
Statue of Aphrodite the garden of Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Statue of Aphrodite, the garden of Galleria Borghese.
Statue of Dionysus, 117-138 A.D. copy of Praxiteles c. 350 BC, marble n the Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Statue of Dionysus, 117-138 A.D. copy of Praxiteles c. 350 BC, marble is one of the statues in the Borghese Gallery 
Statue of a cloaked woman in the Galleria Borghese (2nd century) From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Statue of a cloaked woman in the Galleria Borghese (2nd century) is one of the oldest statues in the Borghese Gallery.
Statue of the Rape of Proserpine in the Galleria Borghese sculpted by Bernini. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
This statue called the Rape of Proserpine, was sculpted by Bernini and is one of the masterpiece statues in the Borghese Gallery.
Statue of sleeping Hermaphrodite the Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
This statue of the sleeping Hermaphrodite is a copy of the second century AD from the original of the second century BC by Policle. The head was restored by Vincenzo Pacetti, and the mattress is by Andrea Bergondi (both were active in Rome in the eighteenth century). This combination is one of the masterpiece statues in the Borghese Gallery.
Statue "Leda and the Swan" by Timotheus dated about year 4 B.C. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
The statue “Leda and the Swan” by Timotheus, dated about 4 B.C., is one of the oldest major statues in the Borghese Gallery.

The theme of “Leda and the Swan” must have been popular, judging by the more than two dozen Roman marble copies that survive.

Statue of the dancing satyr with castanets in the Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
“Statue of Dancing Satyr”. About 220 A.D., found in 1824 in Monte Calvo in the province of Rieti and restored by the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)  This is another one of the really old statues in the Borghese Gallery.

During the reconstruction of this statue, it was changed from playing a flute to the castanets. I assume the position of the arms changed.

Statue of Bacchus the god of the wine and grapes in the Galleria Borghese. Masterpiece. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Statue of Bacchus the god of the wine and grapes in the Galleria Borghese.
Sculpture of Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious in the Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Sculpture of Paolina Borghese “Bonaparte” as Venus Victorious “Vitrix” in the Galleria Borghese.  1805 masterpiece by Antonio Canova (1757/1822).
Statue of Aphrodite (Venus goddess of love) in the Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Statue of Aphrodite (Venus goddess of love) in the Galleria Borghese. ”first century AD in Pentelic marble, copy of the Venus Louvre-Naples from the 410 BC original by Callimachus”.

Many of these statues were masterpieces before Borghese purchased them—others he commissioned. The same is true for the paintings. However, the frescos that covered nearly every wall were works of art he had commissioned to decorate his villa.

Mosaics in the Borghese Gallery

I included photos of the mosaics after I published the initial copy because they didn’t match the frescos or paintings.

Mosaic scenes with Gladiator battles in the Galleria Borghese.. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Mosaic scenes with Gladiator battles in the Borghese Gallery.
Fragments of mosaic Scenes of hunting, in the Borghese Gallery. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery.
Fragments of mosaic “Scenes of hunting”, in the Borghese Gallery.
Fragment of a mosaic with the representation of March in the Galleria Borghese.. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Fragment of a mosaic with the representation of March in the Borghese Gallery.
Fragment of the mosaic Mask of the Ocean in the Galleria Borghese.. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Fragment of the mosaic Mask of the Ocean in the Borghese Gallery.
Fragment of a Mosaic called the Marine God in the Galleria Borghese. From FoxRVTravel, Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 
Fragment of a Mosaic called the Marine God in the Borghese Gallery.

Links to other articles about the Borghese Gallery

Masterpiece Paintings in the Borghese Gallery

Masterpiece Frescos in the Borghese Gallery

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Statues in the Borghese Gallery

Guide to seeing the Borghese Gallery

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3 thoughts on “Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery (and mosaics)”

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