Neptune's bath
Alessandro Farnese staged a shepherd's fountain,
formed much like a great ecclesiastical rood screen.
Such was the vast view of the world of the two Farnese
cardinals who gave this building life, in particular the
younger Alessandro Farnese, that diverse decorative
schemes from pagan mythology onwards are subsumed
under the aegis of prevailing Roman Catholic religious
thought, at least of the broad variety that they espoused.
The second Cardinal Farnese, referred to as the
principal patron of Caprarola, was decidedly on the
side of progressive thought. The vast, divergent array of
artistic imagery meshes the glory of the Farnese family
with mythical and historical events, confirming that all
iconography falls within the expression of the Christian
HYLAND
