Galleria Nazionale

Rooms 33 - 40

Room 33

This room was built above Via dei Priori in ca. 1330. 

The space on the right is known as the Sala dell' Orologio and provides access to the clock that was inserted in the curtain wall overlooking Corso Vannucci in 1867.  In the 16th century, it housed the "Spenditori" (the officials responsible for the provisions consumed in the adjacent refectory (see below).  The frescoes on the vaults represent the coats of arms of a number of men who served in this capacity.

Room 33

Christ Drives the Merchants from the Temple (16th century)

This stucco relief is attributed to Vincenzo Danti.  (It might have been a cast of a bronze relief by this artist).  Nothing is known of its provenance before 1882, when it was recorded in the Museo Civico.  It entered the gallery in 1910.

Allegorical female figure (ca. 1573)

This small bronze figure, which is undocumented, is nevertheless firmly attributed to Vincenzo Danti.  It depicts a robed woman holding a crown of laurel leaves, almost certainly an allegorical representation of one of the virtues.  The Commune bought it from a private collector in 1862, and it entered the gallery in 1910. 

Rooms 34 - 37

These rooms formed part of the extension that was carried out in 1317-26 to accommodate the Priori delle Arti, and more specifically were used as the living quarters of the Priors. 

The room to the right of Room 34 (not part of the gallery) served as the Sala del Consiglio.  This was the site of the Priors' fateful decision in 1375 to release prisoners of war who later defeated the city.  The room was subsequently known colloquially as the Sala del Malconsiglio.

Room 36 served as the priors' refectory and Sala dell Udienza (Audience Chamber).  A fresco (1493) of the last Supper by the young Giannicola di Paolo was recently uncovered on the wall of the ex-refectory.

Room 34

Theological Virtues (ca. 1600)

These four panels by Simeone Ciburri came from the Oratorio di Sant'Agostino.  They depict Faith, Hope and two figures of Charity.

Room 35

Presentation of Jesus (ca. 1580)

An inscription on the back of this panel by Giovanni Battista Naldini reveals that it was part of the collection that Simonetto Anastagi left to the Collegio dei Gesuiti in 1602.  It was recorded in the sacristy of the Chiesa del Gesù in the late 17th century.  Although Agostino Tofanelli, the Director of the Musei Capitolini selected it for dispatch to Rome in 1812, it was subsequently decided that it would remain in Perugia.  It passed to the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1810. 

Madonna and Child with the young St John the Baptist (ca. 1606)

This panel by Ventura Salimbene came from Palazzo Graziani (see Walk I).

Room 36

Adoration of the Magi (1545)

Antonio di Filippo, the prior of Santa Maria Novella (later San Benedetto dei Condotti) commissioned a double-sided altarpiece from Giannicola di Paolo for the high altar, but it was never delivered.  His son Paolo transferred the commission to Domenico Alfani in 1544.  The altarpiece was removed to Sant’ Agostino in 1641 and subsequently split into two panels:

  • the Visitation;  and
  • the Adoration of the Magi. 

The predella, which had an inscription bearing the date, was subsequently lost. 

  • Dominique-Vivant Denon, the Director of the Musée Napoleon selected the Visitation for confiscation after the Napoleonic suppression of 1810, and it is still in what is now the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
  • The Adoration of the Magi remained in Sant' Agostino until 1863, when it entered the gallery.

Presentation of Jesus (1651)

This altarpiece by Andrea Sacchi came from San Filippo Neri.

Model of an Equestrian Statue of Orazio Baglioni (ca.1630)

This wooden model was made for the bronze equestrian statue on the monument to Orazio Baglioni (died 1617) that was executed by an unknown sculptor in the church of SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.  Baglioni was given this honour after he was killed in action while commanding Venetian forces during the War of Gradisca (1615-7) against the Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Austria.  In this statue, he crushes the Imperial enemy in a manner reminiscent of St George and the dragon.

Bust of Marcantonio Eugeni (ca. 1640)

This marble bust came from the tomb of Marcantonio Eugeni (died 1657), which was near his family chapel in Sant’ Agostino.  Eugeni worked as a lawyer at the Roman Curia, and was listed as a Roman consul in 1641.

The bust was included in an account of the work of Francesco Mochi that was written in 1730, and the tomb itself featured in guides to the church until its re-modelling at the turn of the 18th century.  

Birth of the Virgin (1643)

Sofonisba Petrini commissioned this altarpiece, which is signed and dated, from Pietro Berrettini da Cortona for his chapel in San Filippo Neri.  The Oratorian fathers were upset by the voluptuous representation of the female figures, but they were over-ruled. 

Madonna and Child with St Martina (ca. 1647)

This small panel by Pietro Berrettini da Cortona is of unknown provenance. Pietro da Cortona was devoted to St Martina, a 3rd century martyr whose relics were rediscovered in 1634 during his work on the refurbishment of the church of SS Luca e Martina, Rome.  This is one of a number of images of the saint that he subsequently painted.

Virgin in Prayer (ca. 1660) 

This small panel by Giovan Battista Salvi (il Sassoferrato), which depicts a half-length figure of the Virgin with her hands together in prayer, came from San Severo. 

Room 37

Panels from the della Fargna Collection (ca. 1620)

These two panels by Valentin de Boulogne depict the scene “Noli me tangere” (in which the risen Christ command St Mary Magdalene not to touch Him) and Christ with the woman from Samaria.  They previously belonged to the della Fargna family of Città della Pieve.

St Cecilia and an angel (ca. 1620)

This panel by Orazio Gentileschi was in the church of [San Francesco di Borgo, Todi] in the 1970s, but nothing else is known about its history.  It depicts St Cecilia playing the spinette.

Presentation of the Virgin (ca. 1665)

This altarpiece by Luigi Pellegrino Scaramuccia came from San Filippo Neri.

Holy family (ca. 1660)

This altarpiece by Gian Domenico Cerrini (il Cavalier Perugino) came from the Angelini Collection.  It depicts the Madonna breast-feeding the baby Jesus, watched by St Elizabeth, the young St John the Baptist and angels. 

St Bonaventure in his Study (1669)

This panel by Giovanni Andrea Carlone came from San Girolamo.

Rooms 38 - 40

These rooms were built around the Torre di Madonna Dialdana in Via della Gabbia in ca. 1333 to provide more space for the Capitano del Popolo. 

Windows on the right in Room 38 look down into the Sala del Consiglio, the room of the original palace (1292-6) that was used for meetings of the advisory council.  It was re-designated as the  Sala dei Notai in 1583.

Room 38

Trinity (1740-2)

Corrado Giaquinto executed this preparatory sketch for the frescoes of the vaults of San Giovanni Calibita, Rome.

Room 39

This room contains a number of fine views of Perugia in the 19th century by the prolific Giuseppe Rossi.

Room 40

Panels from Montemorcino Nuovo (ca. 1745)

The gallery exhibits two preparatory designs by Pierre Subleyras, which relate to altarpieces that he painted for the church of Montemorcino Nuovo:

  • St Benedict (dressed in the Olivetan habit) revives a dead child; and
  • St Ambrose absolves the excommunicated Emperor Theodosius after the massacre of the citizens of Thessalonica.

Both altarpieces were executed in ca. 1745.  When Monte Morcino Nuovo passed to the University in 1822:

  • the altarpiece of St Benedict reviving a dead child was sent to tthe altarpiece was sent to the Olivetans’ mother house, Santa Francesca Romana, Rome; and
  • the altarpiece of St Ambrose absolving the Emperor Thoedosius was transferred to the gallery.

Head of a Man (18th century)

This fine portrait by Pierre Subleyras came from the Carattoli Collection (see below).

Communion of St Mary Magdalene (1738)

This altarpiece by Sebastiano Conca came from the Santa Maria Maddalena delle Repentute. 

Works from the Carattoli Collection

The artist Giuseppe Carattoli assembled a fine art collection that included a number of works by his teacher, Jean Baptiste Wicar.  Giuseppe’s son, Luigi Carattoli donated it to the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1894. 

The works by Wicar that are exhibited here include a fine portrait (ca. 1809) of Carolina Murat.  She was the sister of Napoleon who married Joachim (Gioacchino) Murat, one of her brother’s generals.  In 1808, Napoleon appointed them as King and Queen of Naples, positions they held until their deposition in 1815.