A visit to the Galleria Borghese

Rome, Italy
November 21, 2025

As the art is researched, I’ll update the captions.

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Photos of our Pilgrimage to Italy.

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  1. FSC_8255 — Galleria Borghese
  2. FSC_8261 — The density of major works was breathtaking.
  3. ESE_5707 — They had far more art than room to display it.
  4. ESE_5887 — Our tour guide knew the provenence of every brush stroke of every painting.
  5. FSC_8278 — Even the ceilings were filled
  6. ESE_5698 — A mosaic “painting”
  7. ESE_5699 — Pope Paul V (Camillo Borghese), the gallery’s namesake.
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  16. ESE_5719 — St. Sebastian
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  18. ESE_5722 — What’s with the unicorn?
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  22. ESE_5753 — Fresco
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  26. ESE_5715 — In addition to biblical and mythical scenes, Boroque paintings touched on the sensual—considered quite scandulous.
  27. ESE_5729 — Cupid & Phyche—The Putti represents the playfullnes of their affair.
  28. ESE_5736 — Leda and the Swan by Cesare da Sesto (1744-1523), after a lost painting by da Vinci. The swan was Jupiter as a seducer.
  29. ESE_5733 — Mars and Venus with Cupid overhead
  30. ESE_5776 — Susanna and the Elders by Peter Paul Rubens (1607–8). The elder is blackmailing Susanna.
  31. ESE_5783 — Boroque artists painted mythical figures as an excuse to depict senual themes.
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  36. ESE_5837 — David slays the giant.
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  38. ESE_5850 — Saint Jerome thanslating the Bible. The skull is a reminder of man’s mortality.
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  40. ESE_5755 — A younster on our tour brought a sketchbook and was quite an artist himself.
  41. FSC_8281 — The gallery featured many Boroque sculptures in the ground floor rooms.
  42. FSC_8276 — Our guide describing a sculpture by Bernini.
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  51. ESE_5802 — Bernini’s “The Rape of Proserpina [by Pluto]”
  52. ESE_5809 — Notice how Pluto’s fingers dig into Proserpina’s flesh.
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  54. ESE_5822 — Bernini’s “Truth Unveiled by Time”
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  58. ESE_5867 — Napoleon’s sister. She said the studio was warm, so she was not uncomfortable.
  59. ESE_5871 — Bernini’s David
  60. ESE_5873 — Apollo & Phoebe
  61. ESE_5874 — Apollo, struck by Cupid’s arrow, pursues Phoebe, who turns into a tree as she is almost captured.
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  64. FSC_8284 — Another fantastic ceiling