Council of the Gods

Title: Council of the Gods

Artist: Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647) and Domenico Corvi

Date: 1624-25 - Lanfranco

Finished: 1779-1782- Corvi

Medium: Fresco (paint on plaster)

Dimensions: approxametly30feet by 20 feet

Location: Sala della Loggia, Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy

Source: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lanfranc/council.html

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/baroque-midterm.html

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Lanfranco,_Giovanni_-The_Council_of_Gods_-_1624-25.jpg

Significance of the work:

This work was completed under the patron of Scipione Borghese, the same commissioner for Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. The painting depicts the gods gathered around Jupiter in the heavenly realm. Venus is seen as the nude to the left of Jupiter, and Apollo is next to her dressed for war. The water gods are portrayed at the bottom of the painting holding the typical trident. Hermes is flying in on the right to deliver a message to Jupiter. The room would have been used as a banquet hall with the pope seated beneath Jupiter. The surrounding telamones and Lunnettes represent the rivers of the earth.

River god of the Nile

Title: River god of the Nile

Artist: Giacomo della Porta, designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Location: Palazzo Senatorio

Date: Redesign-16^th century, Completion-17^th century

Size: 10 ft. x 6 ft. x 3 ft.

Medium: Marble

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

This sculpture was designed by Michelangelo as part of the Capitoline Hill renovations commissioned in the mid-16^th century. Giacomo della Porta was the man who brought the art to life. However, the statue has been in existence for much longer. According to The Fountains of Papal Rome, “Once they [the matching Tiber river statue] stood before that most magnificent of all Roman temples" — Aurelian's Temple of the Sun. Later they belonged to the Medieval Museum of Statues, a collection kept in or near the old papal palace of the Lateran, where they had been called Bacchus and Saturn.” The god was identified because of the presence of the sphinx. The river gods were to be worshipped because they ruled over the waters that breathed life into Rome and all humanity.