The Artists of Rome: A Guide to the Masterpieces of the City

The eternal city is known for being the birthplace of many great artists. Rome led many great cultural and artistic movements, including the Baroque period and the Renaissance. From Michelangelo to Raphael, there’s no shortage of priceless artworks to admire in this Italian city. Whether you’re an art expert or completely new to the art scene, you could always use this guide to get started on planning your artistic journey.  

Michelangelo

Discovered at twenty one, Michelangelo went from a young, relatively unknown apprentice to a gifted craftsman. In his lifetime, he would go on to complete some of the most celebrated works in Rome. Though he spent some time in Florence, Michelangelo lived out most of his years in the Italian capital. You can find some of his best pieces at places such as:  

St Peter's Basilica  

Located in Vatican City, St Peter's Basilica is home to Michelangelo’s Pieta. The sculpture was completed during the artist’s first visit to Rome (1496 -1501) and depicts a mournful Mother Mary cradling the body of Jesus, shortly after the crucifiction. The Pieta, which means the Pity, was commissioned by the cardinal of the time, and stands out as one of the only works Michelangelo ever signed.  

The sculpture is carved entirely out of marble and was initially meant as a funeral monument. The sculpture alone is proof of Michelangelo’s great talent; the troubled look of pain on Mary’s face and the wasted muscles of Christ’s body has captivated visitors for years. Many speculate over Michelangelo’s unique choice to make Mary appear so youthful, others over the direction of Mary’s gaze, aimed at Christs’ abdomen. The most popular theory is that it accounts for the sculpture being a vision Mary had when the angels visited her to tell her of her pregnancy, that she would eventually lose her son. 

Address: Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano, Vatican City

Opening Hours: 
April to September: 7am - 7pm
October to March: 7am - 6pm

Sistine Chapel 

At age 33, Michelangelo was asked upon his return from Florence to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It may surprise you to know the artist initially turned the commission down as he was already in the midst of working on another monumental project at the time. Michelangelo also considered himself more of a sculptor than a painter at the time; he reportedly had no experience with painting frescos, which no double makes the frescoes at the Sistine Chapel appear even more incredible. 

To paint the Sistine Chapel was a long and arduous task, one that took Michelangelo over four years of back breaking work. Yes, though popular imagination would have the artist on his back for the 
entire ordeal, the artist actually devised an ingenious pulley system that allowed him to paint freely
on the ceiling. The result is the magnificent, ceiling adornment, depicting the scenes from the Book of Genesis. Most visitors make a beeline for The Creation of Man, which was the last of the panels Michelangelo completed and arguably the most famous.

Address: 00120 Vatican City

Opening Hours:
Monday - Saturday: 9am - 4pm

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva  

Located just behind the Pantheon, this church holds one of Michelangelo’s most prized sculptures, titled Risen Christ. The sculpture was commissioned in 1514 and subsequently finished in 1521, and stands proudly next to the altar of the church. The only instruction given to Michelangelo was to make a nude standing figure bearing a cross, and thereafter Michelangelo exercised his own creative licence to deliver Risen Christ.  

The sculpture carefully carved from marble depicts Christ standing by a Cross, holding it up. Michelangelo intended his Christ to be gloriously naked, to show off his incorruptible nature but in later periods, a more conservative bronze loincloth was added. Nevertheless the work remains outstanding and lauded by critics. One even remarked that the knees of Christ alone were worth more than all of Rome - exaggerated as this praise is, you are bound to find that Risen Christ is more than deserving of such high esteem.  

Address: Piazza della Minerva, 42, 00186 Roma RM

Caravaggio

Throughout his life, Caravaggio spent his years active in various Italian cities, including Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily. He is known for having changed the art world significantly through his undeniable  influence on Baroque art. You can find most of his best works preserved in Rome, where he left an indelible mark.  

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj actually houses a private gallery Galleria Doria Pamphilj. It ranks high amongst the private galleries in Rome, and the collection of furniture, painting and sculptures were amassed by the rich families of Rome at the time.  

In the gallery you’ll find three of Caravaggio’s paintings. Rest on the Flight into Egypt is Caravaggio’s extravagant take on the legend of an angel visiting John and Mary to warn them of Herod the Great threatening to kill their child . The luminous angel, suffused in soft light and the serene figure of Mary, bending over an infant Jesus, are strokes of Caravaggio’s genius.

Another painting of Caravaggio’s you can find there is Saint John the Baptist (Youth with a Ram). Caravaggio did many paintings on the subject of John the Baptist, and his paintings were part of a counter-reformation. John grins out cheekily from behind the frame as he wrestles not a docile lamb but a sturdy ram, said to signify lust and sin, yet John shows no identifiable shame. This deliberate choice of Caravaggio’s saw him fall out of favour in his lifetime. 

The last of Caravaggio’s paintings to be found in Galleria Doria Pamphilj is Penitent Magdalene, known for its unusual effects of realism. 

Address: Via del Corso, 305, 00186 Roma RM

Opening Hours:
Friday 1:30pm – 11pm
Saturday and Sunday: 9:30am – 7pm

Palazzo Barberini  

Three more of Caravaggio’s works can be found in the collection at Palazzo Barberini, which was a palace designed for Pope Urban VIII. Within the Palace is the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, the National Gallery of Ancient Arts. The extensive collection is worth a visit on its own, and accounts for 1,400 works of art donated by the richest families in Rome. However, if you’re looking for Caravaggio specifically, you’ll be delighted to find Narcissus, the haunting image of the figure from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, admiring his own reflection in an egotistical daze. It is known as one of the only two paintings by Caravaggio dedicated to Classical mythology, and carries an air of melancholic brooding.

You can also find Judith Beheading Holofernes and St Francis in Meditation. The first tells the story of Judith, facing off with the conqueror of her city, and beheading him whilst he’s in a drunken stupor. Caravaggio’s masterful use of colour really highlights the gory scene, with Holofernes’ head thrown back in shock, tongue lolling out as Judith remains poised with the sword. The latter is a dark-lit painting depicting St Francis with his chin resting on his hands, as he contemplates a human skull.

Address: Via delle Quattro Fontane, 13, 00184 Roma RM

Opening Hours:
Thursdays – Sundays: 10am – 6pm

Galleria Borghese  

This gallery is housed in the former Villa Borghese, though the country villa has since been revived for the purpose of exhibiting art work. You can find a sizable collection of Caravaggio’s works here, including a total of seven paintings by the master himself. Do check out Young Sick Bacchus, an intimate self portrait done by this artist when he was suffering from illness, and Boy with a Basket of Fruit, which Caravaggio painted when he arrived in Rome in order to show off his talents before commissioners and the then art world. His use of light and shadow as well as his depiction of the juicy fruits are noteworthy.

Other Caravaggio works you can find in this treasure trove include St Jerome Writing, Madonna and Child with St Anne, Portrait of Pope Paul V, David and the Head of Goliath as well as another rendition of St John the Baptist. It is worth comparing the two to see how Caravaggio developed and changed throughout his career. You can also visit the Villa Borghese Gardens, which were once part of the gallery.

Address: Piazzale Scipione Borghese, 5, 00197 Roma RM

Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 9am - 7pm

Raphael  

High renaissance painter Raphael is known for his clarity and artistic vision. His name is among one of the most esteemed in the art world, and his impact has been felt for centuries. Along with Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, he is considered one of the three great masters of his time. Raphael was born in Urbino but later moved to Rome, where he operated a workshop and produced some of his best masterpieces. Rome was the city where he lived and died, and today you can find many of his artworks at the following places.  

Vatican Museums  

Back at the Vatican, but before the Sistine Chapel, stop by the museums themselves for a taste of Raphael’s great flair. There are a total of four Raphael Rooms, covered in frescoes by the master himself. These are Room of Heliodorus, Room of Signatura, Room of Fire in the Borgo and The Room of Constantine. The rooms were painted to form an apartment and are famously considered the mark of the High Renaissance era in Rome.

The frescoes are exquisitely detailed, they depict various biblical stories and you won’t be able to look at them without imagining the hours of laborious work that must have gone into them. After all, Raphael painted a room fit for a king, or at least a Pope, since these were meant to be the chambers of Pope Julius II. Though he started the project, it was the assistants that finished off the work in The Room of Constantine after the master’s death.

Address: 00120 Vatican City

Opening Hours:  
Monday - Saturday: 9am - 4pm

Galleria Borghese  

Yet another familiar name, Galleria Borghese also hosts some of Raphael’s work, three in particular. The Deposition was painted in 1507, depicting popular subject matter of the time: Christ after his crucification, and is Raphael’s own take on the subsequent events. Sorrowful angels carry the body of a dead Christ homeward, as Mary faints in another’s arms at the sight of her son. Raphael’s careful touches can be observed here, and it stands as testament of his great emotionality. Raphael worked long and hard to produce this masterpiece, you can see his earlier sketches in galleries such as Uffzi in Florence.

Another work bearing Raphael’s signature you can find at Galleria Borghese is Lady with a Unicorn, painted in 1506. Initially, critics had difficulty identifying the painter of this elusive art piece, but it was confirmed in recent years to have been the work of Raphael. The woman resembles Mona Lisa almost, with her cool smile, and she holds in her arms a small unicorn, symbolic of her chastity.  

Villa Farnesina

To view more of Raphael’s works, you can head to Villa Farnesina. There you can marvel at a whole parade of frescoes done by Raphael and his contemporaries, including Giulio Romano and II Sodoma. The latter two were tasked with painting the bedroom and the salon on the first floor with scenes of Alexander the Great and more. However it is Raphael’s frescoes that take up the ground floor, and are the most famous.

There are two frescoes: The Loggia of Galatea and The Loggia of Cupid and Psyche. The Loggia of Galatea shows a disrobed nymph Galatea surrounded by heralding angels, standing atop an open shell in a scene that is reminiscent of The Birth of Venus. It is accompanied by various scenes from The Metamorphoses. The Loggia of Cupid and Psyche depicts the story of Cupid and mortal woman Psyche. Their first meeting, marriage and Psyche’s betrayal all feature heavily in this brightly coloured fresco.  

Address: Via della Lungara, 230, 00165 Roma RM

Opening Hours:
Monday - Saturday: 9am - 2pm