Emperors hall wpe36.jpg (806 byte)
compianto1.jpg (14634 byte)The small chapel in the villa is the only room which stili preserves the frescoes of Cardinal Scipione’s time, together with certain religious works including Federico Zuccari’ s painting Piety (1567). From the chapel one enters into a beautiful room which was used by Cardinal Scipione for parties and banquets. lts beautiful interior was created by Antonio Asprucci at the end of the I 8th century. This includes marbles, mosaics, stuccoes and several porphyry and alabaster busts along the walls which represent the Roman emperors. In the middle of the room are two beautiful porphyry tables, by Luigi Valadier  (1773).
The ancient world is also well represented in the three paintings on the vault, which depicts the story of Polifemo and Galatea. They were painted by Domenico De Angelis in 1780. The masterpice of this room is the statue of Pluto and Proserpina, made by Bernini in 1622. Here the artist tries out new solutions such as the twisting body and the extraordinary realism of certain details (Proserpina’s tears and Pluto’s fingers which press into the soft flesh of Proserpina). These new solutions anticipate the creation of Apollo and Daphne statue.

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