Florentine Mennerism wpe43.jpg (822 byte)

This room is situated on the First Floor
adorazione_del_banbino1.gif (38903 byte)
One of the most important painter who is not present in the Borghese Gallery is Michelangelo. Scipione Borghese had only a smalì crucifix made by the artist, which unfortunately disappeared.

This room, however, is entirely dedicated to Michelangelo’s pupils. They were called "manierists", because they painted after the manner of Michelangelo. Like him, they portrayed strong and marked characters, put together in settings characterized by drama. One can see, for instance, the Child Worship, by Pellegrino Tibaldi (1548), where the expressions of the characters round the child recalì to the dramatic scene of the Doomsday in the Sistin Chapel.

The Nativity (1546) ,painted by George Vasari who was an admirer of Michelangelo, is less dramatic than the above mentioned painting. The Allegory of Adam in the new formed world and the Aìlegory of the discovery of America by Jacopo Zucchi (1585) are two paintings fulì of details which recalì the love for exoticism and for the collection of unusual things. They both come from the smalì studio of another beautiful Roman villa, Villa Medici, located on the top of the Pincio and which belong to Cardinal Ferdinando.

DIDASCALIA: Allegories and Oddities

Jacopo Zucchi’s allegories reveal the worldwide love for Manierism which gained ground in the last part of the l6th century in the European courts (see, for instance, the court of King Rudolph II, in Prague).

All paintings were considered as valuable things to take care of .They were preserved in the so called "Wunderkammer" (wonder rooms), smalì studios which kept every sort of peculiarity: rare shells, ostrich eggs, spangled -gem salt-cellars, etc.