L'Aurora (''Aurora'') is a large

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

ceiling fresco painted in 1614 by

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...

for the Casino, or garden house, adjacent to the

Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi The Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi is a palace in Rome, Italy. It was built by the Borghese family on the Quirinal Hill; its footprint occupies the site where the ruins of the baths of Constantine (Rome), baths of Constantine stood, whose remai ...

, in Rome. The work is considered Reni's fresco masterpiece.

Casino dell'Aurora

The casino and the paintings were commissioned by the Cardinal

Scipione Borghese Scipione Caffarelli-Borghese (; 1 September 1577 – 2 October 1633) was an Italian cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini. His legac ...

, a prominent art patron, and designed by

Giovanni Vasanzio Giovanni Vasanzio or Jan van Santen (1550 – 21 August 1621) was a Dutch-born architect, garden designer and engraver who spent his mature career in Rome, where he arrived in the 1580s. Vasanzio was born in Utrecht. He worked as assistant t ...

and

Carlo Maderno Carlo Maderno or Maderna (1556 – 31 January 1629) was an Italian architect, born in today's Ticino, Switzerland, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica, and Sant ...

, and the rear overlooks the Piazza del Quirinale in Rome. The facade is towards the small garden next to the palace. On the walls of the room are four frescoes of the ''Seasons'' by

Paul Bril Paul Bril (1554 – 7 October 1626) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish painter and printmaker principally known for his Landscape art, landscapes.Nicola Courtright. "Paul Bril." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. ...

, and two ''Triumphs'' by

Antonio Tempesta Antonio Tempesta, also called il Tempestino (1555 – 5 August 1630), was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Roman Baroque, Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp. Much of his work depicts major ba ...

The Aurora fresco

The ceiling fresco is tall and wide. It is displayed within a painted frame or ''

quadro riportato ''Quadro riportato'' (plural ''quadri riportati'') is the Italian phrase for "carried picture" or "transported paintings". It is used in art to describe gold-framed easel paintings or framed paintings that are seen in a normal perspective and pain ...

'' and depicts from right to left, Aurora (Dawn) in a golden billowing dress with her garlands flying over a dim-lit landscape, leading a blond Apollo in his horse-drawn chariot, surrounded by a chain of female "hours", bringing light to the world. It could also be described as the '' Triumph of Apollo led by the Aurora''. Above the

quadriga A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in classical antiquity and the Roman Empire. The word derives from the Latin , a contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. In Latin the word is almos ...

, in the sky, flies the

putto A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and very often winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University ...

Phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

with a torch. Zephyrs blow winds at either end. One interpretation of the work is that the incorporated heraldic symbols were meant to link the patron Scipione with Apollo, his patronage bringing "light to the darkness". It may have served to uphold the ravenous Borghese accumulation of classical antiquities. The style of the work is classically restrained and mimics poses from ancient Roman

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

, that were on display in the cardinal's collection. Others have noted how the painting echoes in part a bas-relief at the

Arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine () is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312 ...

showing Apollo in a Quadriga with Phosphorus. The chariot procession recalls the central fresco in ''

The Loves of the Gods ''The Loves of the Gods'' is a monumental fresco cycle, completed by the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci and his studio, in the Farnese Gallery which is located in the west wing of the Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy, in Rome. The fres ...

'', painted by

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...

in the

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

, which depicts the ''Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne''; however, here there is far more classical sobriety in a restricted number of figures, with little emotion, without overemphasizing muscular anatomy, and hearkening beyond mannerism back to a high-

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

restraint. The quadriga prances in unison; the maiden hours gambol at a placid pace. There is little attention to perspective, and if anything the vibrantly colored style is an affront to the violence and tenebrism displayed by

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

and his followers, despite this being a pavilion commissioned by one of Caravaggio's early patrons, Scipione Borghese. It is unclear how the fresco relates to the paintings on the walls by Paolo Brill. On the other hand, the contemporary frescoes by

also depict triumphs: on the right a ''Roman general in a triumph and crowned by winged Victory. On the left, a ''Triumph of Love''.Casino Aurora of Palazzo Pallavicini
official site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurora 1614 paintings Paintings in the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi Paintings by Guido Reni Paintings of Aurora (mythology)