Apollo and Daphne
A splendid visit of the finest non-royal art collection of the world and a walk through Renaissance and Baroque paintings as well as some of history’s most important sculptures.
Housed in Villa Borghese one of the biggest parks of Rome, it was started by Cardinal Scipione Borghese an art lover and collector who created a unique collection of art.
Being a member of the noble Borghese family, he also used the immense wealth that he acquired as the Nephew of Pope Paul V to put together one of the largest and most impressive art collections in Europe.
Borghese used the villa as a museum for the display of his remarkable collection. It houses now classical statues, Roman mosaics, Bernini's spectacular statues, masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, Domenichino and many others.
Discover with Stefanorometours the villa and its park that stretches over 3 square mile of gardens.
Reopened after 17 years of vast restorations, it can be now visited in a pleasant two or three hours.
Among the many masterpieces you will discover with Stefanorometours, one of the most impressive of the collection is the Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. This magnificent marble statue was carved by Bernini at the age of 24 and it took him only 3 years to finish it.
It depicts the chaste nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree by her father in order to prevent her from being burned by the touch of the god of the sun Apollo, who is pursuing her in vain. This sculpture was supposed to represent frustrated desire and enduring despair and pain, provoked by love.
The presence of this pagan myth was justified in the cardinal’s Villa by the following engraving at the base of the Statue written by Pope Urban VIII:
“Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands”
Stefanorometours knows where to take you!
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
