Galleria Nazionale

Sala Podiani and  Sala Conferenze

Sala Podiani

After climbing the stairs, but before entering the gallery, look into this room on the right, which is reserved for temporary exhibitions.  It is named in honour of the bibliophile Prospero Podiani, who donated his collection of some 7,000 books to the Commune in 1582.  This collection, which formed the nucleus of the Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, was housed here until 1968.  [Link to present library]

This room, which formed part of the original nucleus of the palace, was recorded from 1296.  It was directly above the main meeting room that the Capitano del Popolo used for meetings of his advisors.   The remains of frescoed arms of some of the holders of this office survive on the entrance wall, although nothing remains of the frescoes (1475) that the young Perugino executed here. 

The room houses a few altarpieces that are too large to be exhibited in their chronological sequence in the gallery.

Santa Maria del Popolo Altarpiece (1549)

Cardinal Tiberio Crispo commissioned this enormous altarpiece for the high altar of Santa Maria del Popolo from Lattanzio Pagani.  According to Giorgio Vasari, Cristoforo Gherardi (called il Doceno) took over the commission and painted the upper part of the altarpiece.  The altarpiece entered the gallery in 1866, when Santa Maria del Popolo was deconsecrated. 

In the upper part of the altarpiece, the Madonna is surrounded by angels and seated on a cloud.  She holds the standing baby Jesus and is flanked by SS Herculanus and Laurence.  Below, the citizens of Perugia are assembled in front of Santa Maria del Popolo, which has been moved from its urban setting into a landscape.

Adoration of the Magi (1564)

Adriano di Nicola Montemelini commissioned this altarpiece, which is signed by Hendrik van den Broeck (called Arrigo Fiammingo da Malines) and dated, for his chapel in San Francesco al Prato.  It was moved to the Duomo in 1813, returned to San Francesco in 1817 and passed to the gallery in 1863.

Sala Conferenze

[This small room, which is reached from Sala Podiani, was built over the old church of San Severo in ca. 1330 as part of an extension of the part of the palace that was used by the Capitano del Popolo.]


Fresco from Santa Giuliana (1376)

This frescoed triptych, which is the autograph work of the Maestro di Santa Giuliana, was detached from the Chapter Room of  Santa Giuliana (which was at the base of the campanile) in the 1870s.  The inscription reveals that the Abbess Gabriella Bontempi commissioned it to commemorate the donation of the relics of St Juliana to the nuns by the monks of San Domenico.  The fresco was displayed in the church in the period 1941-54 and was subsequently moved to the gallery.

The main scene depicts St Juliana protecting the nuns, who kneel under her cloak, with a flying angel to each side.  The nun immediately to the left of St Juliana is presumably Gabriella Bontempi, and the smaller kneeling male figure behind her might have been the nuns' chaplain. 

The other compartments depict:

  • St Christopher carrying the baby Jesus across a river  (on the right); and

  • Cardinal John of Toledo, the founder of the nunnery (on the left).