The Camerino was Farnese's private study. The subject of the central scene in the ceiling is
The Choice of Hercules. The scene is surrounded by a painted frame, an example of
quadro riportato, which gives the illusion of a framed oil painting hung on the ceiling when in reality both the scene and its frame were frescoed. This
quadro riportato device was brought to fruition by Carracci in the Farnese Gallery a few years later.In addition, Farnese commissioned various oil paintings from Carracci, including his
Rinaldo and Armida now in the
Capodimonte Museum in
Naples and
Christ in Glory with Saints and Odoardo Farnese now in the Galleria Palatina in Florence. It was on Carracci's recommendation that he commissioned
Domenichino to fresco the Chapel of St Nilo in the abbey at
Grottaferrata. Farnese also commissioned Carracci's
Sleeping Venus. His patronage of architecture was less extensive but included the
Casa Professa, the
Jesuit house adjacent to the
church of the Gesu in Rome, by the architect
Girolamo Rainaldi. ==Ancestry==