Pinacoteca
The building of the Pinacoteca, completed in 1931, was commissioned by Pius IX (1922 -1939), expressly to house a collection of paintings, belonging to various popes and started by Pius VI (1775-1799). Many of the paintings on exhibit were taken to Paris by Napoleon in 1797, but returned to Italy after the Congress of Vienna (1815), thanks also to the intercession of the sculptor Antonio Canova. The works, covering a period from the Middle Ages to 1800, are set in chronological order, in eighteen rooms.
- Room I – contains collections by painters of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, known as “primitives”, because they pre-date Giotto. The paintings on wood are generally characterized by golden background, figures with clear outlines and not shaded colours and a lack of
perspective in the architectonic elements. The main figure is often shown in the middle of the painting, while scenes from his life are on the sides.
- Room II – dedicated to the 14th century painters from Siena and to Giotto (1267-1337), the greatest Italian painter in the Middle Ages. Noteworthy are: “Christ before Pilate” by Pietro Lorenzetti (1280/1285-1348), where his highly refined and elegant painting, typical of the Siena painters, is shown in sinuous forms and warm colours; “ the Redeemer conferring a blessing” by Simone Martini (1284-1344). Giotto’s “Triptych”, known as “Stefaneschi”, named after the client,
is in the middle of the room. It is painted on both sides: the central panel represents Saint Peter enthroned with angels and offerers on the recto and Christ enthroned with angels and offerer (Cardinal Stefaneschi) on the verso. Noteworthy are the refined mosaic decorations on the throne.
- Room III – shows works of the early 15th century, when a new painting style was taking hold in Florence: the golden background was slowly disappearing, figures were becoming more solid, the central perspective was the only vanishing point giving depth.
The “Madonna and Child, with St Dominic and St Catherine”, a small tempera painting on wood by Fra Angelico, a Dominican monk, is remarkably beautiful. It is a perfect blend of the new painting theories with a typically Mediaeval love for miniatures.
- Room IV – contains works by the painter from Emilia, Melozzo da Forlì (1438-1494): the “Musician Angels” are fragments from a huge fresco, “Christ in Glory between Angels and Apostles”, which covered the apsidal conch of the Church of Sts Apostles, near Venice Square:
the daringly foreshortened figures, serene faces and light hair are often reproduced in musical history books. Another “taken” fresco is “Sixtus IV and Platina” (1477), by Melozzo: it represents Platina being appointed prefect of the Apostolic Library and Giuliano della Rovere, pope-to-be Julius II, wearing a cardinal habit. All the characters are rigorously set in perspective architecture, with typical coffered ceilings with rosettes, golden moulding and oak garlands (Sixtus IV also belonged to the della Rovere family).
- Room V – is dedicated to 15th century painting. In the painting “Miracles of Saint Vincenzo Ferrer” by Ercole de’ Roberti (c. 1450- 1496), a theme typical of Italian painting during that period can be seen: a taste for ancient ruins and past architectures.
- Room VI – contains polyptychs by 15th century artists, often with 14th century features (golden background, taste for details, etc.).
- Room VII – has paintings of the Umbrian school, including “Madonna and Child with four Saints” by Perugino (1446-1524), completed in 1495, where the calm, balanced figures are framed by architecture set in a gentle, serene landscape. The artist had already painted the “Handing over of the Keys” in the Sistine Chapel (1461). Noteworthy is the “Saint Jerome Enthroned” by Giovanni Santi (? -1494), the great Raphael’s father.
- Room VIII – shows a tapestry of the Last Supper, taken from the work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and 16th century Flemish tapestries made using cartoons by Raphael (1483-1520): the latter was set on the lower part of the walls in the Sistine Chapel. In the middle of the room are paintings by Raphael: on the right is the “Crowning of the Virgin” of 1502-1503, a youthful work; on the left, the “Madonna of Foligno” (1511-1512) from the same period as the works in Julius II’s Apartment, known as the “Stanze”; in the centre is the “Transfiguration” (1518-1520), a masterpiece in oil on wood, where the dramatic figures show how the artist was influenced by Michelangelo.
- Room IX – contains Leonardo’s famous “St Jerome”, an unfinished work dated 1482. The landscape on the upper left is typically Leonardesque, with glaciers and remote mountains, as is the gaunt figure of the saint, who abandoned all his worldly goods and became ascetic. The “Lament over the dead Christ” by Venetian Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) is also in the room.
- Room X – contains works by some of the greatest Venetian painters of the 16th century; the “Madonna of St Niccolò dei Frari” with the beautiful veiled woman on the right is by Titian (1490-1576), while a painting representing Saint Helen is by Paolo Caliari, known as il Veronese (1528-1588): the saint is seen from below and is portrayed in the artist’s typical fashion, like a wealthy woman wearing a wide glimmering brocade gown.
- Room XI – has works by painters of the second half of the 16th century, including the “Lapidation of Saint Stephen” by Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), the “Sacrifice of Isaac” by Ludovico Carracci, the “Annunciation” by Cavalier d’Arpino, dated 1606, and “Rest during the Flight into Egypt” by Barocci (1528-1612).
- Room XII – is dedicated to early 17th century painters, who inherited a taste for realism and daring perspective from Caravaggio. Of remarkable interest is the “Communion of Saint Jerome” painted by Domenichino in 1616, the “Crucifixion of Saint Peter” and “Saint
Matthew and the Angel” by Guido Reni (1575-1642), “Saint Peter Disclaiming Christ” by the Caravaggio school, “Deposition from the Cross” by Caravaggio dated 1604 and the “Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus” by the French painter Nicolas Poussin.
- Room XIII, XIV and XV – the first room contains paintings by the Flemish Van Dyck, the Italian Pietro da Cortona and the French Nicolas Poussin, while rooms XIV and XV has “genre” paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries.
- Room XVI – contains paintings by Wenzel Peter (1745-1829), a Bohemian painter born near Prague: note the superb “Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden”, with an exceptional variety of flowers and animals. In the two nearby small rooms are some clay models of Gian Lorenzo Bernini statues, realized for the works in Saint Peter’s Basilica (Room XVII) and some 15th to 19th century Greek icons (Room XVIII).