Rome - Palazzo Doria Pamphily
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| Rome |
I was in Rome recently
and visited a small gallery that was quite wonderful. The tip to go there came
from the book Making
the Mummies Dance, by Thomas Hoving (former Director of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art), which is the summer read of my Museum book group. Hoving refers
to a painting in this gallery, a portrait of Pope Innocent X by
Diego Velazquez, as "the most successful portrait in Western Art." After
reading this, I decided I would try to see this picture when in Rome. The
gallery is easy to get to--on the Via del Corso, #305. The price of admission
includes the use of an audio guide, which is great as the history of the place
is explained by one of the family descendents, who still lives on the upper
floors of the palazzo. The painting did not disappoint--and there is an equally
spectacular Caravaggio,
Rest during the Flight to Egypt, among other masterpieces. As mobbed as the
Vatican museum was that day in early July, this lovely palazzo was pleasantly
not crowded. I had the Valazquez all to myself.
305 Via del Corso
Rome
2012 - Sue Dadd