Opened to
the public in 1927, closed in the forties and reopened in 1951 for the
commitment of the great art historian Federico Zeri who reorganized it, trying
to recreate the original appearance of this seventeenth-century private
collection
Room
I
The
decorations on the ceiling and the frieze date back to 1777
“St. Jerome” and “Portrait of Cardinal
Bernardino Spada” 1631 by Guido Reni (1575/1642), who
maybe also painted the “Slave of Ripa Grande”
“Portrait of Cardinal Bernardino Spada” 1631 by
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino
(1591/1666)
“Cardinal
Bernardino Spada during his papal legation in Bologna (1627-1631) had
befriended several artists and especially Reni and Guercino. (...) Both became
his official painters so much that he did not hesitate to introduce their
skills to the Queen of France, Marie de' Medici, who immediately ordered them
some important works. (...) In the painting by Reni the refined and vibrant
rendition of the colors and the minute details revealed in the representation
of the cardinal outfit, enhance his appearance and his aristocratic look smart
and aloof” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)
“David and Goliath” and “Portrait of Cardinal
Bernardino Spada” in 1653 by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini
(1609/81)
“Landscape”
by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641)
“Portrait
of Cardinal Fabrizio Spada” 1754 by Sebastiano
Ceccarini (1703/83)
“Bacchus and Ariadne”, “Apollo and Daphne”, “Latona transforming
shepherd into frogs” and “Mercury entrusts Bacchus to the nymphs” 1695/99 by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727), pupil of Carlo Maratta
Beautiful
mythological tableaux reproducing episodes of Ovid's Metamorphoses with a
delicate color taste and sensual compositional lightness
They could
be considered a fitting visual counterpart to the sublime notes of many
dramatic cantatas by Georg Friedrich Händel (1685/1759)
“Solomon
worships idols”, “St. John of God cure the lepers” and various “Roman Emperors”
by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703)
“Roman Charity” and “Sacrifice of
Mirtillus”
by Niccolò Tornioli (1598/1651) from Siena
“Cardinal
Bernardino Spada in November 1643 bought seven paintings from Niccolò Tornioli,
eclectic painter who could expertly merge Caravaggio's culture with the current
Baroque of Pietro da Cortona. Of the seven paintings originally in the gallery,
remain only four” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)
Two “Still Life with
small geniuses” 1714 by Onofrio Loth (1665/1715)
“Landscape
with Figures” about 1660 and “Landscape with shepherds” about 1670 by Gaspard Dughet (1615/75)
Four views
including “View of the Lazio
Region with convent” and “View of Janiculum
Hill with the church of S. Pietro in Montorio” 1711 by Hendrik
Van Lint (1684/1763)
Four “Battles” by the specialist in this genre Jacques Courtois aka Borgognone (1628/79)
“Portrait of Cardinal
Benedetto Naro” about 1825 by Vincenzo Camuccini
(1771/1844)
“St. Jerome in
Penitence”
about 1605 by G.B. Crespi aka Cerano (1567/1632)
Room
II
The room
was designed in the year 1636/37 by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini (1598/1680)
Frieze by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47) which was to serve as a model
for the tapestries designed to cover the plinth of the Last Judgement in the
Sistine Chapel
“The Visitation” maybe by Andrea d'Agnolo aka Andrea del Sarto (1486/1531)
“Portrait
of a Man” by Leandro da Ponte aka Leandro Bassano
(1557/1622) the son of the more famous Jacopo Bassano
“Portrait of Luca
Stella Archbishop of Zadar” by Domenico Robusti aka Tintoretto (1560/1635),
the son of the more famous Jacopo Tintoretto
“One of the
last works by Domenico Tintoretto, excellent portraitist who manages to
effortlessly mix components of the Veneto region culture with the one of
Lombardy. In the background it's possible to see the city of Zadar where Luca
Stella was archbishop from 1615 to 1624” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)
“Passage of the Red
Sea” and “Moses
drawing water from a rock” plus four paintings of “Night scenes” by the very
original Giovanni Andrea Danducci aka Mastelletta
(1575/1655)
“The
paintings with stories of Moses are early works made out of delicate pastel
colors dating back to the 'bright' period of the painter and clearly reflect
the influence of Bassano, of the culture of Ferrara and Bologna, of Dossi and Nicolò dell'Abate, with hints of Caravaggio, as can
be noted in the figure of the wanderer with the donkey, at the center of the
Passage of the Red Sea. To the same painter belong four other works to be
referred to his 'dark' period adopted in the mature stage of its activity. They
are very impressive nighttime scenes, with fairy-tale characteristics, inspired
perhaps by the chivalry poems, that were staged a lot by theater companies
between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and where also there's no lack
of reference to the painter Ludovico Carracci” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)
Three
portraits: “Notable”, “Botanist” and “King David” about 1570 by Bartolomeo Passerotti (1529/92)
“Portrait of Violinist” about 1515 by Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) (about 1490/1576)
“The astrologer” by Prospero
Fontana (1512/97), father of Lavinia Fontana
“Three
heads” maybe by Francesco Mazzola aka Parmigianino
(1503/40)
“Cleopatra” about 1580 by Lavinia Fontana (1552/1614)
“Cardinal Nicolò
Gaetani and a prelate” about 1580 by Bartolomeo Cesi
(1556/1629)
Two tempera
on two sides of a wooden panel with “St. Christopher” (recto) and “St. Luke” (verso) about 1510 by Amico Aspertini (1457/1552) from Bologna, who was
heavily influenced by the painting of the north of Europe
“Way to Calvary” and “Eternal God Blessing” about
1495 by Marco Palmezzano (1459/1539)
“The Way to
Calvary, taken from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), captures the
particular moment in which Simon of Cyrene is forced to help Christ carry the
cross, in a calm atmosphere albeit painful, where citations from Melozzo da
Forlì in the framing of the composition blend with Bellini themes in the choice
of colors with silvery tones and in the background landscape” (Maria Lucrezia
Vicini)
“Portrait of young
man” 1531 by
the Dutchman Jan Van Scorel (1495/1562)
Vivid “Portrait of Julius
III Ciocchi del Monte (1550/55)” by an anonymous sixteenth-century
Roman artist
“Marble
bust of Laocoon” maybe by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
