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In the galleries of the Getty Museum are two works of art with an interesting connection. The first, a magnificent cabinet with intricate stone inlay, gilded statuettes, and an array of compartments and hidden drawers. The second, a commanding portrait bust made of marble. At almost six feet tall, the Borghese-Windsor Cabinet, as it’s called, was originally commissioned for Pope Paul V, who is the subject of the marble portrait bust by the renowned sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. We visit the galleries to see and discuss these works with the Getty’s Anne-Lise Desmas, head of sculpture and decorative arts, and Arlen Heginbotham, decorative arts conservator.
 
The Borghese-Windsor Cabinet, 1620–1821, Cabinet: Italian; Stand: French. Cabinet: Fir walnut and chestnut veneered with various tropical hard woods, set with lapis lazuli, jasper, agate, amethyst, and other hard stones ('pietre dure' in Italian); gilt bronze; silver and silver gilt; Stand: Beech, mahogany and oak ebonized and veneered with ebony; ebony columns; lacquered brass; mirrored glass, 70 1/16 × 49 5/8 × 21 1/4 in.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016.66. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program

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JIM CUNO:  Hello, I’m Jim Cuno, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Welcome to Art and Ideas, a podcast in which I speak to artists, conservators, authors, and scholars about their work.

ARLEN HEGINBOTHAM:  Once you open a drawer, you invariably find hidden drawers. And that was not ...

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This post is part of Art + Ideas, a podcast in which Getty president Jim Cuno talks with artists, writers, curators, and scholars about their work.
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