ALESSANDRO FARNESE, son of Ottavio, was born in 1546. He served his first cam paign under his uncle, Don•John of Austria, and distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto, in the year 1571. He afterwards followed his mother into the Low Countries, then in a state of insurrection, and aided in obtaining the victory at Gembloux, 31st Jan., 1578. He was made governor of the Spanish Netherlands by Philip II., and car ried on the war against the prince of Orange. The ill success of the expedition against England, to the command of which he had been appointed by Philip II., grieved him the more from the contrast it presented to his former successes. On his return to the Netherlands, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army dispatched to the assist ance of the Catholics in France, and compelled Henry IV. to raise the siege of Paris. Being, however, ill supplied with provisions and money by Philip, and insufficiently supported by the league, he was forced to yield to the superior power of Henry IV., and died soon after at Arras, in 1592. F. was really an able warrior, and though severe in his discipline, was almost worshiped by his soldiery. RANUCCIO, his son and suc cessor, did not possess the brilliant qualities of his father: he was somber, austere, greedy, and proud. A conspiracy was hatched against him, and Ranuccio was seized, and thrown into prison. He died in 1622.—ODOARDO, a natural son of the preceding, was a prince remarkable for the elegance of his manners, and also, according to Muratori, for his magnificence, magnanimity, and liberality. He died in 1646, at the age of 34.—The family became extinct in the person of ANTONIO F., who died in 1731.
The name of the Farnese family has been bestowed upon several celebrated works of art. These are-1. The Farnese Palace at Rome, an edifice raised by pope Paul III., before his accession to the holy see, after the design of Antonio da San Gallo. It is in the form
of a quadrangle, and was completed by Michael Angelo. The palace is one of the finest in Rome. The antique sculptures for which it was formerly renowned are now in the museum at Naples; a few classic works, however, are still to be seen in the great hall. The gallery contains the frescoes of Annibal Caracci, which are very valuable, as exhib iting in the most complete manner the new line of art which he struck out. In a room adjoining the gallery, are some mythological fresco-paintings by Domenichino. 2. The is a very elegant palace in Trastevere. It owes its celebrity chiefly to the frescoes of Raphael; but it also contains frescoes by Peruzzi, Sebastian del Piombo, and a colossal head in chiaroscuro, attributed to Michael Angelo. Among the antiques, formerly belonging to the Farnese family, now in the museum at Naples, are two which still bear the name of their original owners. 3. The Farnese Bull is the name given to a colossal group attributed to Apollonius anfi Tauriscus of Tralles, in Asia Minor, who probably belonged to the Rhodian school, and lived about 300 B.C. The group repre sents Dirce bound to the horns of a bull by Zethus and Amphion, for ill usage of her mother—a subject which, notwithstanding the vigorous mode of treatment, is on the whole unsatisfactory. Pliny mentions the transference of the group to Rome, where it first adorned the library of Asinius Pollio, and afterwards the baths of Caracalla. It was discovered 1546. restored by and placed in the Farnese palace. 4. The Farnese Hercules, copied by Glykon from an original by Lysippus. It exhibits the hero, exhausted by toil, leaning upon his club; the muscles and veins are still swollen, the head inclined, the expression melancholy; one hand rests upon his back and grasps one of the apples of the Hesperides.