Here is one of the numerous paintings of the art collection of the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery, a huge complex site along the Via del Corso which belongs to the noble Doria-Pamphilj family (whose heirs and members, in a wing of the palace completely private, are living still today). It is one of the best art collection in Rome, and trust when I say you that after a tour here my tourists would like to come back to see it again and again!

This painting, attributed to Guido Reni, helps us to understand an interesting an aspect of the religiosity and of the costume of that period (we are at the XVII century). The title is "The fight of the children", and we see the three pale-faced cherubs, recognizable through the wings, who are playing, almost coming assaulted by three figures similar to angels, but without wings. We can notice many differences: from the pale whiteness, nearly fatal, of the winged figures, to the amber-coloured dark and tanned skin of the others. Not only that!

Try to notice the attitude and the facial expression, which very much helps. The poor cherubs seem to undergo a kind of aggression. They are crying out, trying in a desperate way to defend themselves. The others, however, are almost indifferent, as to be incapable of understanding the violence perpetrated. Well, it seems not really a game, but rather as a kind of aggression. What does it mean? What we call today as sacred love and profane love, a subject that is very dear and heard in the course of the ’600! A chaste love, I would say almost emotional and not carnal (embodied by the putti, which derive their source from Eros, the God of Love) opposing the physical, instinctive, and animalistic love. Especially within the clergy, of course, you thought that sex as such was not driven by reason, but of the simple human instincts, being completely different by the feelings and the Reason (gift of God), that only those who feel the "true" love can have. And as you note, the win seems to be the sex. But that is not the end here, because according to another interpretation, in "The fight of the children" we find signals of the true life lived by Guido Reni.

It seems that one day he had a lot of problems with a top Spanish diplomat, on a mission to Rome. Due to some disagreements, it seems that Guido Reni was also imprisoned. You can understand how all of this could not make him happy. And now try to imagine how the pale cherubs are representing the nobility (the pale and clear skin for centuries it has been regarded as a symbol of the high lineage of those people, the nobles, who passed the time in their princely residences), while those tanned are the social classes, the most deprived (a skin darkened by the Sun meant the outdoor work, work carried out mainly by peasants and simple men). In short, flipping the thing, the painting can be read as a sort of social struggle of the class, and in the last attack, up to overpower them, the members of the elite. Moreover, not so far from this canvas you will find the private room that is dedicated to the great masterpiece of the art collection of the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery in Rome. If you want to know more about it, try to click here...