Call It a "Purchase," Read It as a Looting: The Borghese Room

This room is called the Borghese Room. Anyone who loves art will immediately think of the Borghese Gallery in Rome — and rightly so, since that museum's collection came from the works once owned by the Borghese family, one of Rome's most prominent noble houses.

During his Italian campaign, Napoleon bought up a large number of works from that very collection and brought them back to France. Refusing a request from Napoleon, who dominated Europe at the time, was virtually impossible for the Borghese family, so while it's officially recorded as a "purchase," it's closer in spirit to a forced sale, if not outright looting. This room takes its name from the fact that it displays the works brought over in that acquisition.