The Villas

Week seven of the program began with another day dedicated to Caravaggio. We met on the steps of Sant' Agostino in the morning to discuss the Augustinian's relationship to poverty, humility and pilgrimage. We discussed how these factors played a specific role in both the conception and the reception of Caravaggio's Maddona di Loreto inside. We continued the day's discussion with a trip to Santa Maria del Popolo. Maria led us in an examination of Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio in confronto in the Cerasi Chapel. Maria's visual assignment for us was to consider the ways in which Caravaggio and Annibale were looking at and responding to the other's different painting practice within the confined space of the chapel.

On Tuesday we embarked on our third and final day trip. We met our bus at 8AM and headed to Tivoli, the location of two important sites: Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este. Denver was our guide to Hadrian's massive second century CE imperial retreat. We focused our discussion of the villa on the so-called Maritime Theater. Denver's task was to persuade us based on her research that this small man-made island within the greater complex served as the center of the villa and the other buildings were conceived in relation to it. We were then able to wander the ruins for the next couple of hours, visiting whichever parts of the villa interested us most.

We ate our lunches on the bus on the way to our next site, Villa d'Este. As one of our resident landscape experts, Kelsey was well equipped to lead us through the Renaissance gardens. She summarized the patron's desire to create a Rome away from Rome through his use of water works and a specific sculptural program. Kelsey asked us to consider the manipulation of space and axiality as we wandered from the main entrance to the gardens up to the palazzo above. Moving through gardens and up the stairs, we were never presented with a clear path to follow; instead we were prompted to move through the winding paths, encountering the villa's many installations and fountains.

Wednesday continued our theme of villa's and private spaces, but this time a little closer to home. We crossed the river and met at the Villa Farnesina. Kristin presented Raphael's Loggia of Cupid & Pysche. With our day at the Vatican fresh in minds, we discussed Raphael's update on Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling. Kristin led us through the narrative of Cupid and Pysche, noting that several key scenes were left out of the story in Raphael's conception. Kristin concluded that the narrative was addressing the mischief of Venus rather than the love story of Cupid and Pysche. We noted the differences in this ceiling, which was commissioned for a private residence. We compared it with that which we had seen in the religious spaces of the Vatican.

Following our trip to the Farnesina, we headed back to the classroom to discuss the Farnesina's counterpart across the river, Palazzo Farnese. We compared Annibale Carracci's Loves of the God's to Raphael's loggia. We went on a virtual tour of the ceiling, sorting out the levels of reality Annibale incorporated into his ceiling depicting the escapades of the gods. We grappled with the question of patronage, attempting to determine how this program functioned for a religious patron situated in a private space.

Thursday wrapped up our week with a day of seventeenth century painting. Our morning began early with a visit to SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini. This church is often not open in the morning, but we arranged to slip in right after the 8:30 mass. We were able to spend a long time in silence looking closely at Guido Reni's Trinity altarpiece. It was particularly rewarding to be able to view this altarpiece in its original setting, helping us to understand how Reni communicated an abstract concept, such as the Trinity, through light and color.

After SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini, we traveled by bus to San Gregorio Magno. We had the Oratory of St. Andrew all to ourselves with Domenichino's the Scourging of St. Andrew on one side and Guido Reni's St.Andrew Led to Martyrdom on the other. This was an ideal "classroom" setting to consider the different compositional approaches of these two contemporary painters. We debated over which was more effective in conveying the narrative of story, framing the discussion that the visual arts were searching for a new pictorial language in post-Tridentine Rome.

After our official class session was over, our professors offered to take any interested students to the Case Romane, an excavation site of ancient Roman houses near to San Gregorio Magno. We were able to see remnants of both pagan and early Christian wall paintings. It was a reminder to us that we are constantly moving through spaces that have been inhabited for millennia. Good week.