The Palazzo dei Conservatori
The LITTLE ENTRANCE COURT contains the grandiose remains of the statue of Costanti ne (head, arm, leg, hand and feet); the colossal acrolith was in the apse of the Basilica of Constantine. In the opposite PORTICO is the head of Costantius II, another colossal statue. On the left hand walls there are reliefs representing the provinces conquered by Rome, which come from the cella of the Temple of Hadrian in Piazza di Pietra.
On the first landing of the STAIRCASE there are four magnificent reliefs from the second century A.C. three of which (Marcus Aurelius sacrificing in front of the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter; Triumph of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius pardoning his conquered enemies) come from the arch dedicated to Marcus Aurelius; the fourth depicts Hadrian’s entry into Rome and comes from the arch erected in this emperor’s honour. On the second landing there is another relief, from the Arch of Portugal, depicting Hadrian pronouncing a funeral eulogy on his wife Sabina, and the statue of Charles of Anjou, which is attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio.
From here one enters the Halls of the Conservators which make up an extremely rich complex. The first (HORATII AND CURIATII HALL), painted in fresco with the history of the origins of Rome by the Cavaliere d’Arbino, contains at either end two of the masterpieces of baroque sculpture: a marble statue of Urban VIII by Bernini and helpers, and Alessandro Algardi’s bronze statue of Innocent X. The second room HALL OF THE CAPTAINS, is adorned with frescoes portraying episodes from the history of republican Rome by Tommaso Laureti and contains five marble statues of modern Roman generals: Marcantonio Colonna, by Nicolò Pippi; Alessandro Farnese, with a head by Ippolito Buzio on an ancient statue. Carlo Barberini, with the head by Bernini and arms and legs by Algardi on an ancient torso; Gianfrancesco Aldobrandini and Tommaso Rospigliosi, by Ercole Ferrata. The HALL OF MARIO’S TRlUMPHS is named after the frieze by Michele Alberti and Giovan Paolo Rossetti. In the centre of the room there is the famous bronze Spio narius (boy with a thorn), a work of the late Hellenistic period. There is al so a statue of Camillus from the Augustan period, a bronze bust reputed to be of Junius Brutus and a bronze bowl with an inscription in Greek of Mythridates, loot from the Mythridatic War.
In the SHE - WOlF HAll which has frescoes of subjects trom Roman history by Giacomo Ripanda, there is the famous bronze Wolf of the Capitol, a sculpture from the sixth . fifth centuries B.C. derived from an lonian . Greek type and attributed to the school of Vulca di Veio, who decorated the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter; according to tradition the twins were added by Antonio del Pollaiolo. The Fasti Consulares fragments which came from the Arch of Augustus are displayed on the end wall.
After the WOLF HALL there follow the HALL OF THE GEES, with a delightful green dog; the HALL OF THE EAGLES, with a painting by G.F. Romanelli of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; the HALL OF THE ARRAS with tapestries of Romulus and Remus (trom the painting by Rubens) the Vestal Tuzia, Camillus, the Dea Roma produced in the Roman factory of S. Michele between 1764 and 1768.
After the NEW CHAPEL and the HALL OF THE PUNIC WARS with frescoes by Jacopo Ripanda one passes into the OLD CHAPEL with a roof decorated with frescoes and stuccos by M. Alberti and G. P. Rossetti. On the walls there is a fresco by Antonio da Viterbo depicting the Madonna delle Scale; the four Evangelists by the school of Caravaggio; portraits of Saint Cecilia, Alessio, Eustachio and Ludovica Albertoni - by G. F. Romanelli.
In the corridor, together with sixteenth century Flemish tapestry of a feast at the Colosseum, there are some tempera views of Rome by Gaspare Vanvitelli. Ludovico Carracci: The Charity; Jacopo Bassano: Adoration of the three Magi; Guido Reni: Putto with torch; A. Carracci: St. Jerome.
Tags: Bernini, Guido Reni, Ludovico Carracci, Marcus Aurelius, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rubens