Works of Art Removed from 

the Duomo

Works by Agostino di Duccio

Much of the original decoration of the Duomo was done under Bishop Jacopo Vannucci, and since he had previously been Bishop of Rimini, he drew on the example of the Malatesta Temple, which explains the stress on sculpted rather than painted altarpieces at this time.  It was probably Bishop Vannucci who invited Agostino di Duccio to Perugia from Rimini.

Altare di San Bernardino (1473)

See the page on the Cappella di Sant' Anello, which was the original site of this altar by Agostino di Duccio.

Altare della Pietà (1474)

This altar by Agostino di Duccio, which was on the left wall (between the entrance to the external pulpit and the side door), was built according to the provisions of the will of Nicolò Ranieri.  He named the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Misercordia as his heir on the condition that they would erect a chapel in the Duomo.   They duly commissioned this altar, which featured a relief of the dead Christ with the Virgin and St John and another of God the Father.  It was demolished in the late 18th century.

Cappella di Sant' Onofrio 

Stained glass panels (1481)

Bishop Jacopo Vannucci  commissioned Bartolomeo Caporali to design the stained glass windows of the chapel.  It was dismantled in 1765.  The surviving panes, which depict  the Madonna and Child and SS Jerome, Humphrey (Onofrio) and Lawrence, are now in the Treasury, San Francesco, Assisi.

Sant' Onofrio Altarpiece (1484)

This altarpiece, which is among the earliest of the surviving works of Luca Signorelli, is first recorded in 1568 in the Cappella di Sant' Onofrio, which was then in the right transept.  When this chapel was divided into two 1608, the altarpiece was moved to another location in the Duomo until 1923, when it became the major exhibit in the newly instituted Museo Capitolare (now in Room 19). 

The original frame was probably lost at that point, but it is known to have had an inscription that established the fact that Bishop Jacopo Vannucci had founded the chapel and that his successor and nephew, Bishop Dionisio Vannucci installed the altarpiece in it in 1484. 

The altarpiece depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Humphrey (Onofrio in Italian, dressed as an unkempt hermit), John the Baptist and Lawrence and an unidentified bishop.  This last figure is sometime identified as St Herculanus, although this is unlikely since the figure does not have a halo.  Others suggest that it is a portrait of Jacopo Vannucci, although the prominent representation of a donor would have been unusual at this time.

Other Works from the Duomo

Death of the Virgin (1432)

The inscription on this panel records that Pietro di Giovanni and his parishioners commissioned it in 1432 in honour of God and the Virgin.   Two coats of arms flank the inscription: one is the griffin of Perugia and the other probably belonged to the commissioner.  The altarpiece, which is in an anachronistic style and depicts the Virgin on her death bed, surrounded by the Apostles, is now in the Museo Capitolare (Room 15). 

Panels from the Organ Screen (1513)

This screen, which was decorated with a series of panels by Giannicola di Paolo, was demolished in 1784.  Only four of the panels survive:

  • a panel of the Risen Christ with SS Lawrence and Herculanus now forms the lunette above the altarpiece in the Cappella del Gonfalone in the left aisle of the Duomo: and

  • a tondo of the martyrdom of St Lawrence and panels of SS Peter and Paul are now in the Museo Capitolare (Room 18).

St Nicholas Altarpiece (1529)

Braccino di Pietro commissioned this altarpiece from Pompeo Cocchi for the Cappella di San Nicolò in 1519.  The work was attributed to Pinturicchio until a restoration carried out in the 19th century revealed the name of the artist and the date of its execution (some 10 years after the date of the commission).  It is now in the Museo Capitolare (Room 19).

The altarpiece depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned with:

  • St Nicholas of Bari, who carries the three bags of gold which he used to save the daughters of a poor man from prostitution; and

  • St Laurence, who holds the grill on which he was martyred.

Altare di San Sebastiano (16th century)

The Cantagallina family commissioned this marble altar for the counter façade.  It was dismantled and largely destroyed in 1651, although fragments of it survive in the Museo Capitolare (Room 11).


See also the sections on works of art removed from the Cappella di Sant' Anello and the Cappella di San Bernardino.


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