June 3, 2017

June 3, 2017

Bonnie putting her hand into a replica of the Mouth of Truth in Rome, Italy.Scene from Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck
The Mouth of Truth is now known mostly from its appearance in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. The film also uses the Mouth of Truth as a storytelling device since both Hepburn’s and Peck’s characters are not initially truthful with each other.

which was in all likelihood used as drain cover,

The Mouth of Truth is an enormous marble image of a man’s face. According to legend, the man is said to bite the hand of anyone who lied.
which stands against the left wall of the portico of the Santa Maria in the Cosmedin church, at the Piazza della Bocca della Verità. June 3, 2017

June 3, 2017

June 3, 2017

June 3, 2017

June 3, 2017

The gallery in which Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Rape of Proserfina,” is displayed at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. The story goes: “Proserpina, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, was noticed by Pluto, king of the underworld, who fell in love with her and abducted her as she was gathering flowers at Lake Perugia, near Edna in Sicily. In her riff and anger, her mother Ceres, abandoned the fields causing a great dearth of food. Jupiter sought to find a solution through mediation of Mercury: Proserpina would spend nine months with her mother, favoring the abundance of the harvest, while over the three winter months, she would return to Pluto,” according to a book on Bernini. June 4, 2017

A close-up of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Rape of Proserpina” sculpted 1621-1622 can be seen at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. Bernini was only twenty-three years old at the completion of this sculpture which shows, even through the carving of hard marble, Apollo’s hands gripping the fold of Proserpina’s skin. June 4, 2017

“Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius Fleeing Troy,” by Gian Lorenzo Bernin at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy, was sculpted when the artist was just 19-years-old. This sculpture depicts Aeneas’ flight from Troy, bearing on his shoulders his elderly father Anchises who is carrying the container with their ancestors’ ashes. The third figure of the group is the young Ascanius who is carrying the eternal flame from the Temple of Vesta. June 4, 2017

A detailed close-up of the back of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius Fleeing Troy,” at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. June 4, 2017

All these people have come to see my most favorite Gian Lorenzo Bernini sculpture, “Apollo and Daphne,” at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. The tale is: Apollo pursues Daphne who changes into a laurel tree in order to escape him. June 4, 2017

A close-up of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Apollo and Daphne” in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy, depicts the transitory moment of metamorphosis when Daphne changes into a laurel tree as she seeks to escape Apollo’s pursuit. This is my most favorite Bernini sculpture. June 4, 2017

Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s version of “David”, sculpted 1623-1624, can be seen at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. Bernini shows his David in the moment of action, portraying the hero grimacing with tension and effort. June 4, 2017

Our Borghese Gallery tour guide, Paolo, telling us about this gorgeous sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte by Antonio
Canova at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. Paolo, who works at the gallery, really brought the various paintings, sculptors and frescoes to life with histories. June 4, 2017

Although Pauline Bonaparte agreed to posing nude for this sculpture by Antonio Canova, she did it only for her husband’s eyes. However, the sculpture, reigns gloriously for all to see at the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. June 4, 2017