PALAZZO BARBERINI
A bit of History

The palace was bought by Pope Urban VIII in the 17th century. It was he who commissioned innovative artists such as Maderno, Bernini and Borromini to convert the original villa into a palace.

The palazzo bears the name “Barberini” because Pope Urban VIII came from the Barberini family. When the latter (real name Maffeo Barberini, 1568 -1644) became pope, bees were integrated into the papal coat of arms. These should actually be flies because his original family name was Tafani (translated: Brakes/Flies). Since flies are rather unsuitable for a coat of arms, he had himself renamed after his hometown, Barberino, and the flies became bees. These bees can also be found in many places in the building, for example on statues or stucco ceilings. Today, in the advertising industry, this would be called branding…

The reconstruction of the Palazzo began in 1627 and was completed 11 years later. There are 187 rooms in the palazzo, spread over 12,000 m2. What was once living space is now used for an art collection of more than 5000 paintings, frescoes and sculptures (mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries). This was not always the case. It was not until 1949 that the palace became the property of the state. A few years later, the building was opened to the public. After completion of the renovation work, the entire palace has only been open to visitors since 2011.

WHO WAS
CARAVAGGIO?

Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), called and known as Caravaggio. What is actually the name of his hometown becomes his trademark in adversity! Why? He had to find an artist’s name because a Michelangelo already existed at that time. And quite honestly, who wants to be “the 2nd”?

Caravaggio came to Rome from northern Italy in his early twenties because he wanted to become a painter and not a bricklayer like his father. He began his career in a workshop by drawing heads. He then painted mainly fruits and plants until he began to paint portraits of himself. Furthermore, he painted himself as a “boy with a basket of fruit”, as “Bacchus” and as “sick Bacchus”, which also reveals a lot about his own biography. Caravaggio became famous, however, mainly for his public works in churches. Caravaggio is known for his realistic painting, for example, he painted dirty people. That was very untypical for that time!

A special feature of his painting is his use of chiaroscuro effects. With these, he manages to set the scene for his paintings in a particularly dramatic way. The bright areas of his paintings are illuminated by the “divine light spot”. Whereby it is never quite clear from which corner this light comes, whether it is day or night and whether the light comes from a natural light source (sun/moon) or an unnatural one (candlelight). Whoever looks at his pictures has the feeling of being directly involved in what is happening. As if the viewer were an eyewitness. As if the picture were a scene in a film being played before his eyes.

His life was, as was usual for artists of that time, a life with a lot of alcohol, with many ups and downs. As an alleged murderer, he had to flee Rome, first to Naples, then to Sicily. Caravaggio died at the age of 38 during an attempted return to Rome. How he died, however, remains unclear to this day.

Judith and Holofernes (1597/1600)

Caravaggio painted a biblical scene here: Judith beheads Holofernes. It probably dates from 1598/99, but it was lost at some point and only rediscovered in 1950. Since then, it has been in the collection of the Palazzo Barberini. It shows the moment when the widow Judith Holofernes chops off/saws Holofernes’ head with a sword. An elderly maid accompanies her.

But what happened? What moves Judith to do this deed? The Syrian Holofernes was a feared general. His soldiers robbed, murdered and set villages on fire. One day, they came to Judith’s village. She wanted to save her town and set a trap for Holofernes. She was not only brave, but also very beautiful. She went into his camp with her maid, and he was immediately on fire for her.

He invited her to dinner and promised himself more. But Judith got him drunk, and together they disappeared into his tent… There she and her maid took the chance and beheaded him. They took Holofernes’ head back to their city, and the next morning the soldiers found only the lifeless torso: they fled in terror and the city was saved!

Another beautiful depiction of Judith is, for example, “Judith” by Gustav Klimt, which you can see at some point in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. 😉