COLONNA PALACE - COLONNA GALLERY (fifth part)

Large Room

The entire decoration of the gallery is dedicated to Marcantonio Colonna II the winner of the battle of Lepanto in 1571 against the Ottoman Empire

The historical event is represented in the frescoes of the vault “Triumph of Marcantonio Colonna II” 1675/1678 by Giovanni Coli (1636/81) and Filippo Gherardi (1643/1704) with painted frame and decorative elements 1665/68 by Giovanni Paolo Schor (1615/74):

In the oval panels “Pius V entrusts the command of the papal fleet to Marcantonio II Colonna” and “Triumphal entry of Marcantonio II Colonna in Rome”

In the center rectangle “Battle of Lepanto”

In the squares next to the short sides “Council with the Doge of Venice to eradicate the Turks” and “Inauguration of the statue of Marcantonio II Colonna on Capitol Hill”

Spectacular masterpiece of the two inseparable friends from Lucca who always worked and lived together

After Giovanni Coli's death, Filippo Gherardi lived for twenty-three years and he always had a style very similar to the one he had when he worked with his friend. When he died he wanted to be buried in Coli's same grave

“The frame inspired by Pietro da Cortona unfolds a huge overlap of detail, while the central panel, strongly Venetian, confuses the eye with the almost incredible tangle of shapes, keels and masts, all surrounded by a flickering light. There is no need to emphasize further how distant is this style from Pietro da Cortona's Baroque. It is also clear that the style of Gaulli and Coli-Gherardi have little in common, since they spring from two sources: one mainly from the late style of Bernini spiritualized, the other from the hedonistic Pietro da Cortona and Venetian pictorial tradition. On the other hand, compared with the fresco by Maratta at Palazzo Altieri, Gaulli and Coli-Gherardi seem to be on the same side of the barrier” (Rudolf Wittkower)

FLOOR of the gallery made out of inlaid marble taken from the Temple of Serapis and recycled here in 1694

Four huge mirrors painted with putti by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713) and flowers by Mario Nuzzi said Mario de' Fiori (1603/73) and Giovanni Stanchi aka Giovanni de’ Fiori (1608/about 1675)

Tables with spectacular gilded wooden supports representing Muslim prisoners

“St. John the Baptist in a cave” and “St. John the Baptist preaching in a landscape” by Salvator Rosa (1615/73)

“He developed a new romantic and subjective interpretation of the natural world. Having approached the classical conception of Poussin, he conceived more and more decidedly nature as a mirror of the moods of man” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“St. Sebastian tended by pious women” by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609/81)

“Martyrdom of S. Emerenziana” and “St. Paul the Hermit” by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

Canvas of breathtaking beauty with “Mary Magdalene in Glory” by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647) who maybe also painted “St. Peter in prison freed by an angel”

“Ecce homo between two angels” by Francesco Albani (1578/1660)

“Hagar and Ishmael” and “Rebecca at the Well” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

“Adam and Eve” by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“St. Francis prayer” by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

“St. Francis in prayer with two angels” by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

“Christ in Limbo” by Alessandro Allori aka Bronzino (1533/1607) a pupil of Agnolo di Cosimo aka Bronzino

“Despite the incalculable number of figures, it is not too big a board, in which the artist gave free rein to his inexhaustible repertoire of complicated rotating movements, overlapping images and perspective views. The general composition follows the Christ in Limbo by Bronzino, but goes far beyond its artificial spatial structure. The vanishing point is placed very high, so as to guide the eye into the farthest depths through the various fields of view. The result is also consistent with this procedure: a swirl teeming of twisted limbs, which makes it impossible for the eye to wander on wider perspectives” (Hermann Voss)

“Portraits” by Bartolomeo Passerotti (1529/92)

“Roman Charity” by Antonio Gherardi (1638/1702)

“Our Lady of Rescue frees a child from the clutches of the devil” by Niccolò di Liberatore aka l'Alunno (about 1430/1502)