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Bernini's Sculptures in the Villa Borghese |
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written
by nmdaybaz / 09.22.2005 |
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| Joy Kenseth (p.196) |
| Ground Floor of the Villa Borghese |
| (A) Original location of David; (B) Original location of Apollo and Daphne and proposed intended location of Pluto and Persephone |
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The Villa Borghese was built primarily to showcase the extensive collection of art that Scipione Borghese had acquired. The villa itself had little living space. It served to entertain and impress guests by means of the magnificent pieces of art it housed. The Cardinal, as a powerful politician, certainly must have used his villa to impress or gain influence among his peers and colleagues. Indeed, Pluto and Persephone did not even remain in the villa for long because Scipione Borghese gave it to the nephew of the new pope, Pope Gregory XV, to regain favor after the death of his own uncle. This, however, was only a facet of the impact of the villa and the art it contained.
Bernini was an ambitious man, and he realized the potential of his great talents. According to Bruce Boucher, Bernini’s works in the Villa Borghese “pitted him against Michelangelo and Giambologna, the greatest sculptors of the previous century.” Bernini’s ambition drove him to compete with the talents of the masters, and he could not have picked a better place to showcase his beginning works than the Cardinal’s villa. Not only did Scipione Borghese entertain his own private guests at the villa, but also it became a popular place for foreign visitors and Roman citizens to marvel at and discuss the wonders of Bernini’s new works and the rest of the collection. As Genevieve Warwick states, “Both [artist and patron] understood that the role of the villa was to attract an educated international audience.” This role helped spread word both of Bernini’s talents and of Scipione’s wealth and fine taste.
The villa itself is compact, consisting of twenty rooms across two floors, making it possible to view the entire collection in two hours. Originally, the first floor housed primarily sculptures, while the second was devoted to paintings. Bernini’s main trio of works thus resided on the first floor. Today they are located in the center of three separate rooms, which provides quite a different effect than was intended by the artist. With the present positioning, the viewing of the sculpture is not under any control, and it is possible to view it in the round in any manner desired. Early guides written for visitors of the villa certify that originally, each of the works was placed up against a wall. Many artists argue that this placement supports the idea that Bernini intended there to be one dominant view of each sculpture. However, due to the fact that there has not been a unanimous decision on a particular dominant view for each sculpture among art historians, it seems that Bernini may have had something else in mind.
Pluto and Persephone was, as mentioned previously, given away as a gift. To fill its place in the villa, Apollo and Daphne was commissioned as its replacement. Thus the original position of the latter can be assumed as the original place for the former as well. As seen in the diagram of the ground floor of the Villa Borghese, there are two entrances to the room in which Apollo and Daphne was located. Both of which place the viewer entering in such a way that they would be facing Apollo’s back. This was obviously not the intended dominant view of the statue, yet it was enough to intrigue the viewer to follow around the figure and see the rest of the sculpture. With the statue placed against the wall, this left a 180-degree viewing range of the work. Beginning at the entrance of the room, the viewer first sees the figure of Apollo running. Following along and approaching the front of the sculpture, the viewer now sees the object of Apollo’s pursuit, Daphne. The viewer’s eyes can then follow up Daphne’s figure to the frozen cry on her face and see her fingers transforming into leaves. Once the viewer has reached the last portion of the statue, the metamorphosis of the nymph is fully visible and one can see Daphne’s form becoming encased in bark and her toes sprouting roots. In this way, Bernini creates a narrative view of the Ovidian tale he has sculpted. Had Pluto and Persephone been in this position as originally intended, a similar narrative tale would have unfolded to the viewer. First one would see the strong form of Pluto, then the maiden he has in his clutches, and finally her tears and Cerberus at their feet welcoming them to Hades.
Bernini again uses the 180-degree narrative viewing strategy with David. In this instance, the original positioning of the statue in the Villa Borghese, as the diagram shows, places David against a wall in a room in which there are two entrances. Each entrance places the viewer to see the right side of the statue first. As in Apollo and Daphne, this is not the intended dominate view, but a view that is engaging and invokes curiosity to continue to move along the statue. The right side of David does not show any specific action, but once the viewer progresses around to the front, the figure is clearly seen sighting the imaginary Goliath. Continuing further to the final side of the statue, David’s sling is seen with the rock aimed at his adversary and a facial expression of extreme concentration. The narrative Bernini projects with David is more of a psychological story, one that shows the development of the character’s mental process in regards to his impending action. This is in contrast to the narrative of Apollo and Daphne, which is derived from a poem by Ovid and is more literally a story.
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