The Loves of the Gods is a monumental fresco cycle, completed by the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci and his studio, in the Farnese Gallery which is located in the west wing of the Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy) in Rome, Italy. The frescoes were greatly admired at the time, and were later considered to reflect a significant change in painting style away from sixteenth century Mannerism to anticipation of the development of Baroque and Classicism in Rome during the seventeenth century.
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Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, Pope Paul III's nephew, commissioned Annibale Carracci and his workshop to decorate the barrel-vaulted gallery on the piano nobile of the family palace. Work was started in 1597 and was not entirely finished until 1608, one year before Annibale's death.[1]
His brother Agostino joined him from 1597-1600, and other artists in the workshop included Giovanni Lanfranco, Francesco Albani, Domenichino and Sisto Badalocchio. The Farnese Gallery consists of profusely decorated quadratura and framed mythological scenes.
Annibale Carracci had first decorated a small room, the Camerino (1595-7), in the Palazzo Farnese with scenes from the life of Hercules; the theme was probably selected because of the famous ancient Roman statue, known as the Farnese Hercules, which at that time was also in the Palazzo Farnese.[2] In 1597, he began to decorate the Gallery with mythological themes set within painted frames (quadri riportati) painted on an illusionistic architectural framework referred to as quadratura [1]. Ignudi or painted nudes, putti, and herms help support the painted framework. Gian Pietro Bellori, a famous biographer of artists' lives of the next generation, called it 'Human Love Governed by Celestial Love'.
In the center panel, the ‘Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne’ depicts a both riotous and classically restrained procession which ferries Bacchus and Ariadne to their lovers' bed. Here, the underlying myth is that Bacchus, the god of wine, had gained the love of the abandoned princess, Ariadne. The procession recalls the triumphs of the Republican and Imperial Roman era, in which the parades of victorious leaders had the laurel-crowned ‘imperator’ in a white chariot with two white horses. In Carracci’s procession, the two lovers are seated in chariots drawn by tigers [2] and goats, and accompanied by a parade of nymphs, bacchanti, and trumpeting satyrs. At the fore, Bacchus' tutor, the paunchy, ugly, and leering drunk Silenus, rides an ass. The figures carefully cavort in order to hide most naked male genitals.[3]
The program refers to Ovid's Metamorphosis (VIII; lines 160-182) and may allude to a trifling carnival song-poem written by Lorenzo de Medici in about 1475, that entreats: [3]
| Quest’è Bacco ed Arïanna, | Here are Bacchus and Ariadne, |
| belli, e l’un de l’altro ardenti: | Handsome, and burning for each other: |
| perché ’l tempo fugge e inganna, | Because time flees and fools, |
| sempre insieme stan contenti. | They stay together always content. |
| Queste ninfe ed altre genti | These nymphs and those others |
| sono allegre tuttavia. | Are ever full of joy. |
| Chi vuol esser lieto, sia: | Let those who wish to be happy, be: |
| di doman non c’è certezza. | Of tomorrow, we have no certainty. |
Annibale Carracci's decorations in the Farnese Gallery demonstrated a new grand manner of monumental fresco painting.[4] They exerted a powerful formative influence on both canvas and fresco painting in Rome during the seventeenth century. The dual classicizing and baroque tendencies in this work would fuel the debate by the next generation of fresco painters, between Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona, over the number of figures to be included in a painting.[5] Carracci's treatment of the composition and the disposition and expression of the figures would influence painters such as Sacchi and Poussin, whereas his effervescent narrative manner influenced Cortona.
Annibale Carracci, in his day, was seen as one of the key painters to revive the classical style. In contrast, a few years later, artists such as Caravaggio and his followers would rebel against representing spatial depth in colour and light, and introduce tenebrous dramatic realism into their art instead. But it would be inappropriate to view Annibale Carracci as solely the continuation of an inherited tradition; in his day, his vigorous and dynamic style, and that of his studio assistants, changed the pre-eminent style of painting in Rome. His work would have been seen as liberating for artists of his day, touching on pagan themes with an unconstrained joy. It could be said that while Mannerism had mastered the art of formal strained contraposto and contorsion; Annibale Carracci had depicted dance and joy.
Later followers of Neoclassic formalism and severity frowned on the excesses of Annibale Carracci, but in his day, he would have been seen as masterful in achieving the supreme approximation to classic beauty in the tradition of Raphael and Giulio Romano's secular frescoes in the Loggia of the Villa Farnesina [4][6]. Unlike Raphael, though, his figures can display a Michelangelo-esque muscularity, and depart from the often emotionless visages of High Renaissance painting.[7]
To visit the gallery you must schedule a free appointment by phone or mail with the Servizio Culturale, French Embassy, Piazza Farnese 67, Rome 00186, Italy, Phone: 06-686011. Indicate when you wish to visit and provide a local phone number to receive confirmation a few days prior to your visit.
![[1]](http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/080bg.jpg){kind=link}
![[4]](http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/farnesina/raphaeldet2.jpg){kind=link}
