Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia Comune di Ariccia
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The Cardinal's Rooms
Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi - Piazza di Corte, 14
(July 20 – September 21, 2003)
 
 
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Giovan Battista Gaulli, Il Baciccio
Ritratto del cardinale Sigismondo Chigi
Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi
The exhibit is an event to officialize the opening of the apartment of the Cardinal Flavio Chigi (1631-1693) located on the ground floor of the Chigi Palace and never opened to the public before.
 
The apartment was restored following the old inventories of the Chigi Palace and today preserves all the original artworks and furniture from the 1600s, some of them designed by Bernini, in their original location.
 
The event is dedicated to the memory of the Prince Agostino Chigi, Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco and Beatrice Canestro Chiovenda, three figures who have contributed to the importance and the artistic development of the Palace.
Thanks to the Prince, today we can admire the Palace and its art collections, while Ariccia will be forever grateful to the art historian Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco for the donation of his precious art collection on Roman Baroque and to Mrs. Chiovenda for the donation of her important Library.
 
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Michelangelo Pace, Il Campidoglio
Cane levriero, lepre e il feudo di Ariccia
Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi
The Cardinal Flavio Chigi (1631 - 1693), powerful nephew of the Pope Alexander VII (1655 - 1667), was a very important figure in the social and cultural life of Rome in the late 1600s. His passions were art, hunting and beautiful women, as documented by the artworks present in his apartment: hunting scenes and dogs with Chigi’s feudal residences painted by "Campidoglio", the Allegories to the senses painted by Pierfrancesco Mola, and the frescoes dedicated to exotic birds, zodiac signs of the warm months of the year attributed to Cavalier Tempesta and Bernardino Cesari, son of the artist Cavalier d'Arpino.
 
In the apartment there are artworks which have never been exhibited before, such as a portrait of the Cardinal Flavio Chigi by Giovanni Maria Morandi, the portrait of Mario Chigi by Ludovico Gimignani, the portraits of Agostino Chigi and Maria Virginia Borghese by Ferdinand Voet, artworks by Borgognone, Alessandro Mattia, Agostino Masucci.
 
Among the masterpieces, the portraits of Pope Clement IX Rospigliosi and the Cardinal Sigmund Chigi by Baciccio and a portrait of Augustin II Chigi as knight of the Toson d'oro by the Austrian painter Peter Kobler.
 
The exhibition presents important restorations carried out in recent years such as Pindar and Pan by Salvator Rosa and a view of the Villa Chigi in Cetinale.