#borghese

[amare-habeo]

Franz Borghese (Italian, 1941-2005)       The otolaryngologist, N/D

Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm      

[illustratus]

Head of Ares

[daily-arty]

Saint Jerome Writing

Caravaggio, 1605

Oil on canvas, 112 cm × 157 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome

[postcards-in-motion]

A Love Letter to the Borghese Gardens

Whenever the sun decides to shine in Rome—and especially when I have the time—I make the hour-long walk from my apartment to the Borghese Garden, one of my absolute favorite places in the city.

There’s something undeniably magical about it. I find myself daydreaming about the gardens during class, longing for those long, slow walks through its tree-lined paths. My favorite spot is the small pond with a fountain, tucked away like a secret. I bring a book (these past few weeks it’s been The Iliad) and camp out for hours, letting the sun warm my skin and the words pull me somewhere else entirely.

Sometimes I pretend I’m a young woman whose only job is to come to this park and read all day—and honestly, that sounds like the dream.

Couples stroll hand in hand. Children dart through the grass, laughing and chasing one another. Even the dogs seem to trot along in bliss, tails wagging in rhythm with the peaceful air. The Borghese Gardens are a splash of green in a city filled with ancient stone and ruins—a place where time feels slower.

It’s the kind of place that makes you feel like life might actually be poetry.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Fountain the gardens of the Villa Borghese, Rome, Italy

Italian vintage postcard

[empirearchives]

Description of Pauline Bonaparte

Buste de la princesse Pauline Borghèse, Jean-Baptiste Isabey (Louvre)

“At dinner, I was placed next Paulette, who, remembering that she had met me at Marseilles, knowing me to be in possession of her secrets since I was the confidential friend of her future husband, treated me as an old acquaintance. She was a singular combination of the most perfect physical beauty and the most bizarre moral qualities. If she was the most lovely person one could possibly see, she was also the most unreasonable that one could imagine. She behaved like a schoolgirl, speaking at random, laughing at nothing and at everything, making fun of the most serious persons, putting out her tongue at her sister-in-law when she was not looking, nudging my knee when I did not pay sufficient attention to her pranks, and attracting to herself from time to time those terrible glances with which her brother called the most untractable men to order. But they made hardly any impression on her; the next moment she would begin again, and the authority of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy fell to pieces before the giddiness of a little girl. Nevertheless, she was a good child by nature rather than from a desire to be such, for she had no principle and was capable of doing good merely from caprice.”

— The poet Arnault

[Italics in original]

*Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy is Napoleon.

Source: The Sisters of Napoleon: Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline Bonaparte, After the Testimony of Their Contemporaries, by Joseph Turquan and W. R. H. Trowbridge

From Arnault, Souvenirs d'un Sexagénaire

[nocturnalpicnic]

Temple of Esculapio, 2024 water color michael pontieri

[museeeuuuum]

What makes a good museum? Is it the lighting? The interpretation? The little cafe that serves delicious teas and pastries? Come along with Cosi and I as we chat about our favourite museums and what makes them so engaging!

[detournementsmineurs]

"Vénus Victrix "ou "Pauline Borghèse en Vénus Victorieuse" sculpture grandeur nature d'Antonio Canova (1805-08) présentée dans Secrets d'Histoire consacré à “Pauline Borghèse, La Diva de l'Empire !” docu-fiction présenté par Stéphane Bern, janvier 2025.

[chicinsilk]

US Vogue February 1988

Rachel Williams wears a cropped yellow jacket over a black crepe jumpsuit. Ultrasuede jacket. By Geoffrey Beene. Beauty note: Borghese Peach Passione lipstick. Hairstyle, Orlando Raphael, makeup, Andrea Paoletti.

Rachel Williams porte une veste jaune courte sur une combinaison en crêpe noir. Veste Ultrasuede. Par Geoffrey Beene. Note beauté : rouge à lèvres Peach Passione de Borghese. Coiffure, Orlando Raphael, maquillage, Andrea Paoletti.

Photo Irving Penn vogue archive

[floriangimbert]

Apollon et Daphné

[illustratus]

Head of Ares

[empirearchives]

Painting of Pauline Bonaparte by Andrea Appiani.

[data-double]

https://www.instagram.com/joeffoster?igsh=MTNuZWx3Y3AxbW5reg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

[detournementsmineurs]

“Parure with Engraved Gems" given to Josephine by Napoleon's sister Caroline Murat (1808) and "Pauline Borghese, Duchess of Guastala (sister of Napoleon)" by Robert Lefèvre (1806) presented in “A History of Jewellery: Bedazzled (part 5: 19th Century)” by Beatriz Chadour-Sampson - International Jewellery Historian and Author - for the V&A Academy online, march 2024.

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Il Mattino di Oggi domenica, 02 febbraio 2025