Farnese. Italian family of humanists and patrons of the arts which rose to importance with the creation of
Alessandro Farnese (1468–1549) as a cardinal in 1493. In 1534 he became Pope Paul III and in this role 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. Among the other artists Paul patronized was
Titian, who visited Rome at his invitation in 1545–6.
Paul's ‘nephew’ (actually his grandson—the Italian word ‘nipote’ is conveniently ambiguous), another
Alessandro (1520–89), was made a cardinal in 1534 at the age of 14 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 and
Farnese Hercules), 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.
By this time, however, the family was declining as a power in Rome, and the most important centre of its activities had passed to Parma, where Paul III had installed his son Pier Luigi as duke in 1545. The Farnese continued to rule there until 1731, when the line became extinct. Among the notable patrons of this branch of the family was the 4th duke,
Ranuccio I (1569–1627; reigned from 1592). The artists he employed included Agostino Carracci, Francesco
Mochi, and Bartolomeo
Schedoni.
The family collections eventually passed to Elizabeth Farnese, 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 collections moved to Naples, where they remain—in the Archaeological Museum and the Museo di Capodimonte.