The architectural drawings by Mario Asprucci, his father Antonio Asprucci, and their associates, dating from 1786 to the early 1800s, document the buildings and gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome that were commissioned by Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese as well as other Borghese commissions. They reveal the importance of Mario Asprucci's contributions and include designs he made for the Temple of Aesculapius and the unrealized Museo Gabino.

The Villa Borghese on the Pincian Hill in Rome was commissioned in the early seventeenth century by Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1576-1633) who was a nephew of Pope Paul V (1552-1621) and whose numerous positions within the Roman Church enabled him to become an influential collector and art patron. The Villa's Casino Nobile (now home to the Galleria Borghese) was conceived to house his collection of antique statuary, which featured the Borghese Gladiator, the Sleeping Hermaphroditus, and the Centaur with Cupid, now at the Louvre. In the following century, Prince Marcantonio IV (1730-1800) took up the Borghese tradition of art patronage, expanding the collection and undertaking the renovation of the Villa's architecture and gardens. Antonio Asprucci (1723-1808) was the architect who directed this ambitious project of modernization.

12 Linear Feet (41 sheets)

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