Full title | The Judgement of Midas |
---|---|
Artist | Domenichino and assistants |
Artist dates | 1581 - 1641 |
Series | Villa Aldobrandini Frescoes |
Date made | 1616-18 |
Medium and support | Fresco, transferred to canvas and mounted on board |
Dimensions | 267 x 224 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1958 |
Inventory number | NG6285 |
Location | Room 13 |
Collection | Main Collection |
A group of figures sits in a classical landscape. In the middle stands a king who seems to have grown large ears. This is the Judgement of Midas, taken from the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses. On the right is the sun god Apollo, wearing a red cloak and a laurel crown and holding his lyre; on the left is the satyr Pan with his pipes. Pan challenged Apollo to a musical contest: the unfortunate Midas judged Pan the better player so Apollo punished him by turning his ears into those of a donkey.
This is one of ten frescoes by Domenichino and assistants which originally adorned a garden pavilion in the grounds of the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati, near Rome. Eight were transferred to canvas and are now in our collection. All show stories of Apollo, who in this cycle was intended to represent the light of reason. Pan, with his hairy legs, was perhaps understood to represent man’s baser emotions and Midas was punished for preferring sensual pleasure over thought.
A group of figures sits in a classical landscape. In the middle stands a king who seems to have grown large ears. This is the Judgement of Midas, taken from the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses. On the right is Apollo, wearing a red cloak and laurel crown and holding his lyre; on the left is Pan with his pipes. Pan challenged Apollo to a musical contest: the unfortunate Midas judged Pan the better player so Apollo punished him by turning his ears into those of a donkey.
This is one of ten frescoes by Domenichino and assistants which originally adorned the walls of a room known as the Stanza di Apollo in a garden pavilion in the grounds of the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati, near Rome. Eight of the frescoes were transferred to canvas and are now in our collection. They all show stories of the Greek sun god Apollo.
The decoration of the Stanza was designed to glorify the Aldobrandini family but also to express their philosophical and religious ideas. For them, Apollo was not just the classical god of the sun, music and the arts but, by extension, the light of reason. Pan, with his hairy legs, was perhaps understood to represent man’s baser emotions. Like Marsyas in The Flaying of Marsyas, Midas is punished for preferring sensual pleasure to rational thought.
This fresco was originally positioned on the left wall of the Stanza, next to Apollo killing the Cyclops. Although Domenichino designed all ten scenes, it is not clear how much he was involved in actually painting them. Seven out of the ten scenes, including this one, were among those illustrated by the painter and engraver Antonio Tempesta in a 1606 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Domenichino may have drawn inspiration from Tempesta’s compositions, although he revised them extensively to make them clearer and adapted them to fit a vertical rather than horizontal space.
Several chalk drawings for this composition, including various detailed figure studies, are in the Royal Collection at Windsor. Whether painted by Domenichino or his assistants, the scene was executed quickly (as was necessary with fresco, which dries quickly) – the horizontal joins in the plaster suggest it was done in just three days.
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The Judgement of Midas
Villa Aldobrandini Frescoes
These large frescoes (now transferred to canvas) once decorated the walls of a spectacular pavilion in one of the great Italian Baroque gardens.
The Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati was rebuilt by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of Pope Clement VIII, in the early years of the seventeenth century. Immediately behind the palace, he built a large classical pavilion and decorated it with fountains, statues and paintings. Domenichino’s frescoes – two of which remain in situ – were arranged around a room called the Stanza di Apollo, which also contained a musical fountain representing Mount Parnassus, the mythical home of the Greek sun god Apollo and the Muses. Based on themes drawn from the Greek myths, the iconographical programme glorified the triumph of the Catholic Church, and the role of the Aldobrandini family in it, emphasising the superiority of the intellect over the emotions.
Although Domenichino designed the pictures, much of the actual painting was done by assistants.
These large frescoes (now transferred to canvas) once decorated the walls of a spectacular pavilion in one of the great Italian Baroque gardens. The Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati was rebuilt in the early years of the seventeenth century by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, nephew of Pope Clement VIII. It was a place where the Cardinal could retire from the pressures of his political activities in Rome and devote himself to intellectual pursuits.
Keen both to associate himself with Italy’s ancient heritage and to outdo the fashionable classicising country retreats of his own day, Aldobrandini set about creating a great villa in the antique manner. With the aid of the architects Giacomo della Porta and Carlo Maderno (chief architect of St Peters in Rome) and hydraulic expert Giovanni Fontana, he adopted a number of architectural forms from Roman villas and their gardens. Maderno and Fontanta supervised the construction of an elaborate series of fountains and waterworks which, inspired by the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, were hugely fashionable in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.
The large pavilion was constructed immediately behind the palace like a magnificent stage setting, with fountains and statues. It was designed to glorify the triumph of the Catholic Church, and the role of the Aldobrandini family role in it, and to emphasise the superiority of the intellect over the emotions.
On the exterior was a fountain decorated with figures of Atlas with the globe of the world on his shoulders, and Hercules, reaching up towards the globe. These stood for Cardinal Aldobrandini himself (Hercules) acquiring divine wisdom, symbolised by the globe, or more prosaically taking the weight of political care off the shoulders of the Pope.
Inside, in the left wing, was a chapel dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the Aldobrandini’s patron saint. In the right wing was the Stanza di Apollo, containing an elaborate musical fountain: a pool with a large stucco hill representing Mount Parnassus, on which were statues of the Greek sun god Apollo, the Muses and Pegasus. Behind it was a hydraulic organ which made the statues of the Muses appear to play the instruments they held. Other devices made bird calls, and sounds of thunder, wind and rain. The ceiling was painted to look like an aviary with birds perched on trellis entwined with greenery; the floors and walls were sumptuously decorated with multi-coloured mosaics and stuccoes.
It was in this room that Domenichino’s frescoes once hung. There were ten in all – two of them remain in situ – and they adorned the walls along the sides and above the entrance of the Stanza. The Flaying of Marsyas was above the door. On the left wall, from left to right, were Apollo Slaying Python (still in situ), Apollo killing the Cyclops, The Judgement of Midas, Apollo pursuing Daphne and The Transformation of Cyparissus. On the right wall were Apollo with the Head of Orpheus (in situ); Apollo and Neptune advising Laomedon on the Building of Troy; Mercury stealing the Herds of Admetus guarded by Apollo and Apollo slaying Coronis.
The iconographical scheme, inspired by themes taken from the Greek myths, was probably conceived by Giovanni Battista Agucchi, private secretary to Pietro Aldobrandini and a close friend of Domenichino. Domenichino himself seems to have been responsible for the overall design and there are many surviving preparatory sketches by him for the frescoes. By the time they were painted, between 1616 and 1618, Domenichino was busy with other projects and much of the work was done by assistants.








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