One of the gems of the collection, a highly finished Madonna and Child of Carlo Dolce, is usually shown in a glass case in the first room.
The Corsini Library (open every day except Wednesdays) contains a magnificent collection of MSS. and engravings, founded by Cardinal Neri Corsini. It has also some beautiful original drawings by the old masters. Behind the palace, on the slope of the Janiculan, are large and beautiful Gardens adorned with fountains, cypresses, and some grand old plane-trees. There is a fine view from the Casino on the summit of the hill.
"A magnificent porter in cocked hat and grand livery conducted the visitors across the quadrangle, unlocked the ponderous iron gates of the gardens, and let them through, leaving them to their own devices, and closing and locking the gates with a crash. They now stood in a wide avenue of ilex, whose gloomy boughs, interlacing overhead, effectually excluded the sunlight; nearly a quarter of a mile further on, the ilexes were replaced by box and bay trees, beneath which the sun and shade divided the path between them, trembling and flickering on the ground and invading each other's dominions with every breath of wind. The strangers heard the splash of fountains as they walked onwards by banks precipitous as a hill-side, and covered with wild rank herbage and tall trees. Stooping to gather a flower, they almost started, as looking up, they saw, rising against a sky fabulously blue, the unfamiliar green ilex and dark cypress spire."—Mademoiselle Mori.
Opposite the Corsini Palace is the beautiful villa of the Farnesina (open on Sundays from 10 to 3), built in 1506 by Baldassare Peruzzi for the famous banker Agostino Chigi, who here gave his sumptuous and extravagant entertainments to Leo X. and his court—banquets at which three fish cost as much as 230 crowns, and after which the plate that had been used, was all thrown into the Tiber.[386] This same Agostino Chigi was one of the greatest of art patrons, and has handed down to us not only the decorations of the Farnesina, but the Sibyls of Sta. Maria della Pace, which he also ordered from Raphael.
"Le jour où Leon X. alla prendre possession de la basilique de Latran, l'opulent Chigi se distingua. Le théâtre qui s'élevait devant son palais était rempli des envoyés de tous les peuples, blancs, cuivrés, et noirs; au milieu d'eux on distinguait les images de Vénus, de Mars, de Minerve, allusion singulière aux trois pontificats d'Alexander VI., de Jules II, et de Léon X. Vénus a eu son temps: disait l'inscription; Mars a eu le sien; c'est aujourd'hui le règne de Minerve. Antoine de San-Marino, qui demeurait près de Chigi, répondit aussitot en plaçant sur sa boutique la statue isolée de Vénus, avec ce peu de mots: Mars a régné, Minerve règne, Vénus régnera toujours."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 109.
The Farnesina contains some of the most beautiful existing frescoes of Raphael and his school. The principal hall was once open, but has now been closed in to preserve the paintings. Its ceiling was designed by Raphael (1518—20), and painted by Giulio Romano and Francesco Penni, with twelve scenes from the story of Psyche as narrated by Apuleius:
A king had three daughters. The youngest was named Psyche, and was more lovely than the sunshine. Venus, the queen of beauty, was herself jealous of her, and bade her son Cupid to destroy her charms by inspiring her with an unworthy love (1). But Cupid, when he beheld Psyche, loved her himself, showed her to the Graces (2), and carried her off. He only visited her in the darkness of night, and bade her always to repress her curiosity as to his appearance. But while Cupid was sleeping, Psyche lighted a lamp, and looked upon him,—and a drop of the hot oil fell upon him and he awoke. Then he left her alone in grief and solitude. Venus in the mean time learnt that Cupid was faithless to her, and imprisoned him, and sought assistance from Juno and Ceres that she might find Psyche, but they refused to aid her (3). Then she drove to seek Jupiter in her chariot drawn by doves (4), and implored him to send Mercury to her assistance (5). Jupiter listened to her prayer, and Mercury was sent forth to seek for Psyche (6). Venus then showed her spite against Psyche, and imposed harsh tasks upon her which she was nevertheless enabled to perform. At length she was ordered to bring a casket from the infernal regions (7), and even this, to the amazement of Venus, she succeeded in effecting (8). Cupid, escaped from captivity, then implored Jupiter to restore Psyche to him. Jupiter embraced him (9), and bade Mercury summon the gods to a council on the subject (see the ceiling on the right). Psyche was then brought to Olympus (10), and became immortal, and the gods celebrated her nuptial banquet (ceiling painting on left).
"On the flat of the ceiling are two large compositions, with numerous figures,—the Judgment of the Gods, who decide the dispute between Venus and Cupid, and the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche in the festal assembly of the gods. In the lunettes of the ceiling are amorini, with the attributes of those gods who have done homage to the power of Love. In the triangular compartments between the lunettes are different groups, illustrative of the incidents in the fable. They are of great beauty, and are examples of the most tasteful disposition in a given space. The picture of the three Graces, that in which Cupid stands in an imploring attitude before Jupiter; a third, where Psyche is borne away by Loves, are extremely graceful. Peevish critics have designated these representations as common and sensual, but the noble spirit visible in all Raphael's works prevails also in these: religious feeling could naturally find no place in them; but they are conceived in a spirit of the purest artlessness, always a proof of true moral feeling, and to which a narrow taste alone could object. In the execution, indeed, we recognise little of Raphael's fine feeling; the greatest part is by his scholars, after his cartoons, especially by G. Romano. The nearest of the three Graces, in the group before alluded to, appears to be by Raphael's own hand."—Kugler.
The paintings were injuriously retouched by Carlo Maratta. The garlands round them are by Giovanni da Udine. The second room contains the beautiful fresco of Galatea floating in a shell drawn by dolphins, by Raphael himself.
"Raphael not only designed, but executed this fresco; and faded as is its colouring, the mind must be dead to the highest beauties of painting, that can contemplate it without admiration. The spirit and beauty of the composition, the pure and perfect design, the flowing outline, the soft and graceful contours, and the sentiment and sweetness of the expression, all remain unchanged; for time, till it totally obliterates, has no power to injure them.... The figures of the attendant Nereid, and of the triumphant Triton who embraces her, are beautiful beyond description."—Eaton's Rome.