Provenzale portrays Scipione Borghese in the role of Orpheus in the mosaic dated 1618. Scipione, nephew of Pope Paul V, by privilege granted to him by the Pontiff, obtains the right to include the emblems of Pope Borghese in his crest: the crowned eagle and the dragon, placed by Provenzale among the animals surrounding Orpheus on the Parnassus. The dragon represents the cosmic forces not yet rationally dominated. It is decorated with only two palmated paws and prehistoric animal wings. Its still medieval features of a creature halfway between rooster and snake, are those of a monster with a ferine aspect which, according to Pliny, had the power to kill with a single glance or emitting breath.
Female version
Marcello Provenzale Scipione Borghese in the role of Orfeo
During my countless visits to Galleria Borghese in Rome, I was irresistibly attracted by the many dragons of different shapes, carved, painted, engraved, metal melted, made in order to decorate the villa and to remind them of the ownership of the Borghese family that is emblazoned on them.
The temptation to create a jewel was irresistible. I imagined it to be huge, dark and powerful coming out of the painting of the Provenzale towards me as in an updated fantasy in the park of the villa, among the splendor of the maritime pines and the deafening chirping of cicadas, lining the amazing orange trees.
The jewel in which I compressed the fire of the great dragon is made in a fusion that reproduces it in the aspect of the mythical beast portrayed by Matteo Provenzale in the Scipione Borghese in the role of Orpheus preserved in the museum. Made with settings that embrace the stones that light up its wings, ready to take flight, it is bathed in gold or rhodium in the female version and with chain in black ruthenium for the male version, updated by a leather strap with the extension and a lobster clasp enhanced with smoked topaz stone.
Male version
Marcello Provenzale Scipione Borghese in the role of Orfeo
The mythical beast of monstrous appearance with wide membranous wings that paradoxically symbolizes positive values and the goodness in oriental culture, I carried it in an aggressive fusion with the dragon that can adorn the man’s neck constituting a symbol of strength and character.
Action and power condensed in a necklace that, in my vision, adorns the neck of a man who, as a vigilant dragon, lives in the plots of the fantasy genre and guards his treasures, protects his love with fire. A dream, a myth, a narration, a mosaic, a work of art, a powerful family, the city… Rome.
The Collection
Marcello Provenzale Scipione Borghese in the role of Orfeo
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