This is Aquilino son of the wind. Portraits of the Rospigliosi horses from the Capitoline collections

The Pietro Canonica Museum at Villa Borghese celebrates the “culture of the horse” by presenting to the public a unique body of works preserved in the Capitoline collections: portraits of the famous horses of prince and collector Camillo Rospigliosi, splendid specimens of equine breeds with noble genealogies, bred on the estates of Campo Salino in Maccarese and Zagarolo.

In the first half of the 18th century, the prince had asked painters Johan Reder and Paolo Monaldi to depict his beloved horses. The protagonists of the exhibition are therefore the mares Gelsomina, Capriola and Polledruccia, the steeds Bicchierino, Leggiadro and Brigliadoro, and of course Aquilino, “son of the wind,” the favorite horse, for whom the prince himself had composed pompous verses.

The exhibition was conceived for the 2024 edition of the traditional Piazza di Siena Horse Competition and is promoted by Roma Capitale - Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, in collaboration with Sport e Salute SpA and FISE (Federazione Italiana Sport Equestri). It displays 12 paintings on canvas, most of them embellished by the original 18th-century frames, plus a print on parchment and a print on paper, with texts and verses written in honor of the horse Aquilino.