Cardinal Scipione’s tastes were extremely eclectic. He loved Caravaggio’s wild lights and shades, Annibale Caracci’s bright colours7 Domenichino’s delicate landscapes and Lanfranco’s strong brush strokes. As a collector he never was wrong and it is proved by the paintings in this room, wholly dedicated to the painting of the I 7th century.

The most important is Diana’s Hunt, painted by Domenichino, wich the Cardinal obtained illegally by imprisoning the artist who did no want to selì him the painting. Painted between 1616 and 1617, it * portrays the goddess of hunting with a group of nymphs playing a bow-match. The scene was inspired by an episode of Virgil’s "Aeneid", while the arrow which strikes the target is a metaphor of the rhetoric ability to strike the target.

In the same room there is another masterpiece by the Emilian artist, The Sybil from Cuma (1617), in which Domenichino reveals his love for music. The room is dominated by the huge canvas of Giovanni Lanfranco Norandino and Lucina overcome by the Ogre(1 642) which represents a dramatic episode of "The furious Orlando"by Ludovico Ariosto:the king of Damasco, named Norandino and his wife Lucina shipwrecked on the island where the ogre lived, during their honeymoon. Terrified, they disguise themselves as sheep and mingle with the flock. Lucina, however, is overcome by the ogre, while her bridegroom runs away.

The painting, commissioned by Cardinal Borghese for his villa in Frascati, looks like a big mythological fresco. Another unusual work is Enea running away from Troy (1598), by the painter Federico Barocci from Urbino. The scene is a true drama, where everything is on fire while the terrified hero is running away with his father on his shoulders. There was a connection between the myth of Enea, who was the ancestor of the Latins, and the Borghese dynasty ambitions. In fact, they wished to legitimize their role in Roman society by some symbolism of the Roman Empire. That’s why Scipione exhibited this painting together with Bernini’s Enea, Anchise and Ascanio (now in the 3rd room): he wanted the visitors of this room to believe that his family was related to the rich patricians of ancient Rome.

Last but not least, one can see an unusual painting by Annibale Caracci, The Laughing Boy. This is the portrait of a youg actor who acts "the doctor from Bologna", an uncommon topic which anticipates the concern for caricature of some artists, such as Velasquez or Bernini. The last one, in particular, is theauthor of two masterpieces which belong to this genre: The Blessed Soul and The Damned Soul, now in the Museum for the Bernini Exhibition.

DIDASCALIA: For a painting from Domenichino

Cardinal Scipione was a man with no scruples when he wanted a valuable paiflting. Poor Domenichino, for instance, was put in jail because he refused to selì him Diana’s Hunt, so much beloved by Cardinal Scipione. Actually, Domenichino had promised the painting to another very important cardinal, Pietro Aldobrandini who was a mortal enemy of the Borgheses. Scipione did not lose his temper and put in jail Domenichino, because he dared to disobey to the nephew of the pope. He got the painting.