Palazzo Barberini, Rome (part 1)

Once upon a recent time, I went to Rome to visit a friend.

He took me on a wild ride, starting with the fabulous Palazzo Barberini! Here are the best of my pix from that visit.

Just a modest ceiling fresco to start the visit! Look for the bee, symbol of the family, throughout!

That Barberini family symbol, the bee, is definitely found throughout the palazzo!

Above is the lovely man who took me on the wild ride and showed me many familiar and unfamiliar spots all around Rome. He is an enthusiastic, energetic, and most excellent guide!

But let’s focus on the artistic highlights from that day!

As always, I like looking at masterpieces of Italian art, but I most enjoy finding the everyday details from the period that the paintings so often transmit to use, 600 years after they were painted. For example, look at the gorgeous bed, with the hanging curtains and the incredible bedspread. Even the pillows look modern.

Or, how about the detailed feathers in the wings of Gabriel, the angel whose job it is to tell the Virgin she is going to give birth to the Son of God. No small feat. If you were going to imagine feathers on a human-type angel, how would you begin?

Look at the thin, elegant, transparent scarf that wraps around Mary’s wrist and leads the eye down to Gabriel’s hand, which holds the stem of the lily that symbolizes Mary’s virginity and leads the eye back up to the top of the painting. We are in the hands of a master here, without a doubt.

Gabriel’s corona, or crown is composed of blossoms of pale pink roses in a concentric shape. The forms of the flowers echo his curled hairstyle.

Best of all, perhaps, is the quotidian detail of 2 servants on the far right side. One is ascending and one descending the almost hidden stairway. Their movement and the gestures of their hands convey a sense of excitement from this essential moment in the Christian story. Of course the 2 donors are portrayed below, kneeling; but they interest me less than the other details.