Farnese

far-na'se, the name of an illustrious Italian family, the origin of which can be traced to the middle of the thirteenth century. Alessandro Farnese, Pope Paul III, filled the papal chair 1534-1549. Alessandro Farnese, son of Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma, was a distinguished general, almost worshiped by his soldiery. Elizabeth Farnese became the wife of Philip V of Spain. The Farnese family became extinct with Antonio Farnese, who died in 1731. The name Farnese, however, is connected with several celebrated works of art. The Farnese Palace, an edifice erected by Pope Paul III before he was raised to the holy see, is one of the finest in Rome. It is adorned with frescoes by Annibale Caracci. A number of pieces of antique sculpture, formerly in this palace, are now preserved in the National Gallery at Naples and are known as the Farnese collection. These are: The Farnese Bull; the Farnese Flora; the Farnese Minerva; the Farnese Homer; the Farnese Juno; the Farnese Hercules; and the Farnese Bacchus. During the period of Rome's greatest splendor, an immense number of works of art were brought to the city from other countries. Many of these antique statues were lost for hundreds of years, to be rediscovered, perhaps, in excavating some ruin. The Farnese Bull, which is the most celebrated statue of the Farnese collection, was dug up from the ruins of the baths of Caracalla in the sixteenth century. The Hercules was found in the same ruins, while the Minerva was discovered at Velletri, Italy. The Farnesina is a palace at Trastevere, noted especially for the frescoes of Raphael which adorn it.

Farnese (far-na'se) Bull, a celebrated group of statuary. It was found in excavating the baths of Caracalla in 1546, and placed in the Farnese Palace at Rome. The group is believed to date from the third century B. C., and to have been the work of Apollonius and Tauriscus, sculptors of the Rhodian School. It represents the punishment of Dirce for her treatment of Antiope. According to legend, Antiope's sons bound Dirce to the horns of a wild bull. In 1786 the sculptured group was sent from the Farnese Palace to the National Museum at Naples, where it is now preserved. The figures of the group are of colossal size, and it is considered the "most elaborate and dramatic group to be found among the monuments of Greek art." See Dirce; Antiope; Farnese