Farnese

Farnese Italian family of humanists and patrons of the arts who rose to importance with the election of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1468–1549) as Pope Paul III in 1534. He was the most important patron of Michelangelo's later years, commissioning from him the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel and the Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter in his private chapel in the Vatican (the Cappella Paolina), and also appointing him architect to St Peter's. Michelangelo also had a hand in the design of the Palazzo Farnese, the finest palace built in Rome in the 16th century. Pope Paul's grandson (or ‘nephew’ as he was known), another Alessandro (1520–89), was made a cardinal in 1534 and held many lucrative church appointments. Much of his enormous wealth was spent on artistic projects, and he ranks among the greatest patrons of the 16th century. He built up the largest collection of antiquities in Rome (now mainly in the Archaeological Museum in Naples; see Farnese Bull; Farnese Hercules), was instrumental in bringing Titian to Rome (1545–6), encouraged Vasari to write his Lives, engaged Giacoma da Vignola to complete the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola, and commissioned some of the most important Mannerist frescos. He gave special support to the Jesuits and built for them the church of Il Gesù, Rome (designed by Vignola, begun 1568), one of the most influential buildings in the history of architecture. Alessandro's great-nephew, Cardinal Odoardo (1573–1626), great-great-grandson of Paul III, commissioned Annibale Carracci to decorate the gallery in the family palace in Rome. The family collections eventually passed to Elizabeth Farnese (1692–1766), who married Philip V of Spain in 1715, and then to her son Charles, who was king of Naples from 1734 to 1759 (as Charles VII) and king of Spain from 1759 until his death in 1788 (as Charles III). It was in this way that the Farnese collections moved to Naples, where they remain—in the Archaeological Museum and the Museo di Capodimonte.