Odoardo Farnese (6 December 1573 – 21 February 1626) was an Italian nobleman, the second son of

Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma Alexander Farnese ( it, Alessandro Farnese, es, Alejandro Farnesio; 27 August 1545 – 3 December 1592) was an Italian noble and condottiero and later a general of the Spanish army, who was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 159 ...

and Maria of Portugal, known for his patronage of the arts. He became a Cardinal of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 1591, and briefly acted as regent of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza for his nephew Odoardo from 1622 to 1626. Il Gesù 026

Cardinal Odoardo is probably best known today for commissioning the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci to fresco the Camerino in the

Palazzo Farnese Palazzo Farnese () or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and currently serves as the French emb ...

in Rome. Carracci undertook this from 1595 to 1597, just prior to starting his decoration of the more famous and elaborate Farnese Gallery in the same palace.

The Camerino

The Camerino was Farnese's private study. The subject of the central scene in the ceiling is '' The Choice of Hercules''. The scene is surrounded by a painted frame, an example of '' quadro riportato'', which gives the illusion of a framed oil painting hung on the ceiling when in reality both the scene and its frame were frescoed. This ''quadro riportato'' device was brought to fruition by Carracci in the Farnese Gallery a few years later. In addition, Farnese commissioned various oil paintings from Carracci, including his ''Rinaldo and Armida'' now in the

Capodimonte Museum Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Ital ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and '' Christ in Glory with Saints and Odoardo Farnese'' now in the Galleria Palatina in Florence. It was on Carracci's recommendation that he commissioned

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a sho ...

to fresco the Chapel of St Nilo in the abbey at

Grottaferrata Grottaferrata () is a small town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, south east of Rome. It has grown up around the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, founded in 1004. Nearby comm ...

. Farnese also commissioned Carracci's '' Sleeping Venus''. His patronage of architecture was less extensive but included the Casa Professa, the Jesuit house adjacent to the

church of the Gesu Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in Rome, by the architect Girolamo Rainaldi.Robertson, ''ibid''

Ancestry

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farnese, Odoardo 1573 births 1626 deaths Odoardo Clergy from Rome 17th-century Italian cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Frascati Odoardo 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Regents of Parma Italian art patrons Nobility from Rome

The Camerino

Ancestry

References

Bibliography

See also

External links