M Dion Formisano
The Sacred Woods of Bomarzo
Research by Italian and English scholars indicates that, far from being a surrealist chamber of horrors, the Sacred Woods of Bomarzo were originally a rather solemn effort to combine the wonders of the ancient world with figures from a pagan sacred grove. With sphinxes on either side of the entrance to give fair warning, Vicino Orsini (1528-1588), the then Duke of Bomarzo along with the help of one of the greatest landscapers and architects of his time, Pirro Ligorio set out to create the impression that some otherworldly spirit had brought the strange stone figures into existence, leaving no record of who the actual sculptors or stonecutters were.
Some of the sources of Orsini's inspiration can be guessed at. The ogre seems borrowed from the Mouth of Hell leading to Pluto's cave, as illustrated in medieval manuscripts on Ovid. The curious words ringing the ogre's mouth—Lasciate Ogni Pensiero Voi Que Entrate (Abandon all thought, ye who enter)—refer to the cup of forgetfulness ancient Greeks thought was drunk before crossing the river Lethe. The dragon-fighting lions (probably an oblique reference to political feuds) derived from a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. The elephant with castle was a symbol used to depict Eleazar's slaying of the beast of King Antiochus (/ Maccabees 6:17-46), a feat of self-sacrifice interpreted as prefiguring Christ's martyrdom. But many of Vicino Orsini's fantasies remain obscure. He set out to create a garden unlike any ever seen—and he succeeded.
A number of Italian princes came to visit during Orsini's life, as did innumerable foreign guests. Unfortunately, after his death, as with most of the Renaissance gardens, the work was neglected - in this case for some 300 years.
When it was revisited in the beginning of this century, it was overgrown with trees, everything half collapsed and covered in debris, all of which lent the garden an even more foreboding, sinister feel. It was at this time that Andre Pieyre de Mandiargue visited and wrote a sublime treatise on the sleeping garden of Bomarzo. Then, shortly after, Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau, the surrealists, visited and discussed it at great length.
In 1938, Dali making his way through the tangle of weeds, shot a short film at the park which went on to inspire his 1946 painting The Temptation of Saint Anthony.
In 1962 Argentinian writer Manuel Mujica Làinez wrote a novel entitled Bomarzo, based on the life of the duke. He followed the novel by composing a libretto based on the book which was later set to music, becoming an opera for which he and Alberto Ginastera shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1967.
The Sacred Woods of Bomarzo
Research by Italian and English scholars indicates that, far from being a surrealist chamber of horrors, the Sacred Woods of Bomarzo were originally a rather solemn effort to combine the wonders of the ancient world with figures from a pagan sacred grove. With sphinxes on either side of the entrance to give fair warning, Vicino Orsini (1528-1588), the then Duke of Bomarzo along with the help of one of the greatest landscapers and architects of his time, Pirro Ligorio set out to create the impression that some otherworldly spirit had brought the strange stone figures into existence, leaving no record of who the actual sculptors or stonecutters were.
Some of the sources of Orsini's inspiration can be guessed at. The ogre seems borrowed from the Mouth of Hell leading to Pluto's cave, as illustrated in medieval manuscripts on Ovid. The curious words ringing the ogre's mouth—Lasciate Ogni Pensiero Voi Que Entrate (Abandon all thought, ye who enter)—refer to the cup of forgetfulness ancient Greeks thought was drunk before crossing the river Lethe. The dragon-fighting lions (probably an oblique reference to political feuds) derived from a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. The elephant with castle was a symbol used to depict Eleazar's slaying of the beast of King Antiochus (/ Maccabees 6:17-46), a feat of self-sacrifice interpreted as prefiguring Christ's martyrdom. But many of Vicino Orsini's fantasies remain obscure. He set out to create a garden unlike any ever seen—and he succeeded.
A number of Italian princes came to visit during Orsini's life, as did innumerable foreign guests. Unfortunately, after his death, as with most of the Renaissance gardens, the work was neglected - in this case for some 300 years.
When it was revisited in the beginning of this century, it was overgrown with trees, everything half collapsed and covered in debris, all of which lent the garden an even more foreboding, sinister feel. It was at this time that Andre Pieyre de Mandiargue visited and wrote a sublime treatise on the sleeping garden of Bomarzo. Then, shortly after, Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau, the surrealists, visited and discussed it at great length.
In 1938, Dali making his way through the tangle of weeds, shot a short film at the park which went on to inspire his 1946 painting The Temptation of Saint Anthony.
In 1962 Argentinian writer Manuel Mujica Làinez wrote a novel entitled Bomarzo, based on the life of the duke. He followed the novel by composing a libretto based on the book which was later set to music, becoming an opera for which he and Alberto Ginastera shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1967.