Farnese
Farnese names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Farnese far-na'se, the name of an illustrious Italian family
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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
Farnese ALESSANDRO, great-grandson of the preceding
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ALESSANDRO, great-grandson of the preceding; was born 1546. He early entered upon the profession of arms, and distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto (1571) under his uncle, the famous Don John of Austria. Philip II. afterward appointed him governor of the Netherlands, where he waged war against the Prince of Orange. He was subsequently made commander-in-chief of the army sent to the assistance of the French Catholics, and compelled Henry IV. to raise the siege of Paris; but, being ill-supported by the League, he was eventually obliged to succumb to his and died soon after in great adversary ary Arras, in 1592. The line continued until 1731, when it became extinct in the person of ANTONIO FARNESE, the prince of his house.
Farnese ALESSANDRO, Cardinal
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ALESSANDRO, Cardinal, raised to the tiara under the title of Pope Paul III., in 1534, who created his natural son, PIETRO, Duke of Parma and Piacenza.
Farnese the patronymic of an illustrious and princely Italian house
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the patronymic of an illustrious and princely Italian house, which arose about the middle of the 13th century. Of its principal members were the following:
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The family history stands as Aiton's told it in 1910 and Collier's in 1921: the line did end with Antonio Farnese in 1731, and the collection did pass by Bourbon inheritance to Naples. The main correction is to the sculpture. The Farnese Bull, which Aiton's dated to the third century B.C. as the original work of Apollonius and Tauriscus, is now generally read as a Roman marble version of that Hellenistic group described by Pliny, and one heavily reworked by sixteenth-century restorers after its discovery in the Baths of Caracalla. The pieces are still together in Naples, in what is now called the National Archaeological Museum rather than the "National Gallery," while the Palazzo Farnese in Rome has housed the French embassy since the 1870s and the Villa Farnesina with its Raphael frescoes belongs to the Accademia dei Lincei.
Written for this edition, 2026.