VENEZIA PALACE - MUSEUM OF VENEZIA PALACE (third part)

Altoviti Room

Frescoes and stuccos detached from the studio destroyed in 1888 of the Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti near Ponte Sant'Angelo and restored in 2004:

“Inventions of the twelve months” with, at the center, “Homage to Ceres” and at the short ends “Arno River crowned by Florence” and “River Tiber crowned by Rome” 1553 by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74)

Pastels

Twenty-two pastels 1700/mid-1800s including “Woman with child dressed in a Turkish way”, “Portrait of Maria Leczczyuska”, “Portrait of Mr. Kinchant in hunting costume”, “Tsarina Maria Fiodorowna” maybe by G.B. Lampi

On display there are also fans and miniatures, and at the center of the room, a painted Neapolitan sedan

Room 10 - Wooden Statues of the German School

“Virgin Mary” end of the fifteenth century maybe by Jorg Syrlin the Younger (about 1455/after 1521)

“St. Helena” early 1500 by Ivo Strigel (1430/1516)

Table carved early 1500 with “Death of the Virgin Mary”

“St. Michael defeating Satan” by Michael Pacher

Corridor of the Cardinals

Collection of pottery and porcelain from Austria, Germany, England, Japan, Russia, China and Italy, including “St. Peter” and “St. Andrew” half of 1700s by the manufacture of Capodimonte

Room 12 - Middle Ages

Plate of colored enamel “Christ Pantocrator” about XII/XIII century

“The plate, of considerable size, was accidentally found in Rome near S. Maria in Trastevere (...). This is a great product of medieval art made with a unique and highly refined technique. The hieratic pose of the figure was considered a hint of the Byzantine origin of this Christ Pantocrator, even if the art historians have repeatedly considered the enamel similar to the products of the school of Limoges. Recently the work has been attributed to a workshop active in central-southern Italy in the fourteenth century” (Official website of the Museum of Palazzo Venezia - www.museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it)

Byzantine ivories “Casanatense Triptych with Deesis (intercession) with Christ, the Virgin, St. John the Baptist and other saints” of the tenth century made for the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus

“Wedding Box” with reliefs representing the stories of David

“Terracina Chest” piece of furniture of the tenth or eleventh century in which vestments and liturgical documents were kept

“It is one of the oldest chest extant today (...). The theme of the eternal battle between Good and Evil is the basis of the fight scenes inserted within the arches that decorate the panels, and the same meaning is also emphasized by the Original Sin of Adam and Eve in the center of the lower part. There are many influences that are gathered in this chest, both of Western and Eastern origin” (Official website of the Museum of Palazzo Venezia - www.museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it)

Room 14

Four reliefs with “History of St. Jerome” by Mino da Fiesole (1429/84) formerly in S. Maria Maggiore

Barsanti Collection

1100 bronzes donated in 1934 by the antiquarian Alfredo Barsanti including “Aries” by Andrea Briosco aka Riccio (about 1470/1532)

Bronze Pieces

113 bronzes pieces donated in 1963 by Ambassador Giacinto Auriti including “Bagpiper” and “Wanderer” by Jean Boulogne aka Giambologna (1529/1608)

“Female Bust” by François Duquesnoy (1597/1643)

“Reliefs of the portrait of Clement X Altieri (1670/76)” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

Models in Terracotta

“Two plates with stories of St. Mark” by Jacopo Tatti aka Jacopo Sansovino (1486/1570)

“Head of Christ” about 1506 by Baccio da Montelupo (1469/about 1523)

Studies for the Trevi Fountain: “Ocean” by Pietro Bracci (1700/73) and “Abundance” by Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768)

Various models by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

“Head of Black Man” for the fountain in Piazza Navona, “Angel holding the sign INRI for the Cross of Jesus” for Ponte Sant'Angelo and “Golden Papier Mache with Maria Raggi” for S. Maria sopra Minerva by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

“Head of Seneca” maybe by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

“St. Eustace among the lions of St. Agnes in Agony” by Melchiorre Caffà (1636/67)

In this collection there are also works by:

Ercole Ferrata (1610/86), Antonio Giorgetti (active since 1660/d. 1669), Pierre Legros (1666/1719), Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728), Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725), Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88), Camillo Pacetti (1758/1826), Francesco Mochi (1580/1654), Pierre-Étienne Monnot (1657/1733) e Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741/1828)

Lapidarium

In the upper gallery impressive collection of marble fragments ranging from antiquity to the Renaissance

Odescalchi Armory

Incredible collection of arms and armor that counts about 1,200 pieces put together by Prince Ladislao Odescalchi (1846/1922) the same man who founded in 1888 and named after himself Ladispoli, town of 42.000 inhabitants 20 miles from Rome

Studio Rooms

Collection of silver about 800 pieces of the period 1500s/1800s from northern Europe, Russia and Italy

Collection of oriental porcelain and glass about 150 pieces of the period 1400s/1700s from Venice, Persia and China

Collection of oriental porcelain about 400 pieces of the period 1600s/1800s from China and Japan

Collection of early medieval and medieval European porcelain and majolica

Paintings Section “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” by the Dutchman Dirk Van Baburen (about 1595/1624) and “Catherine II of Russia” about 1763 by Stefano Torelli (1712/84)

VENEZIA PALACE - MUSEUM OF VENEZIA PALACE (second part)

MUSEO DI PALAZZO VENEZIA

Museum of Venezia Palace

In the rooms of the Cybo Apartment and in the premises of the Palazzo Venezia formerly Viridarium of Paul II Barbo (1464/71), which was dismantled and moved in 1911 of about 100 m (330 feet)

Ceilings 1916 by Ludovico Seitz (1844/1908) in imitation of the style of the sixteenth century

VESTIBULE and ANTEROOM

“Bust of Pope Paul II” by the workshop of Paolo Taccone aka Paolo Romano (about 1415/77)

Venetian Paintings

“Double Portrait” about 1502 maybe by Giorgio Zorzi or Giorgio da Castelfranco aka Giorgione (1477-78/1510)

Mysterious and extremely beautiful painting where the light shines differently on the two characters, creating an effect of almost photographic realism

The young man in the foreground holds a wild orange bitter and sweet at the same time that the Renaissance was associated with the sufferings and the joys of love

“Madonna and Child” and “Head of a Young Woman” maybe by Antonio Pisano aka Pisanello (about 1390/about 1455)

The head of a young woman maybe was part of the lost decoration of the Basilica of St. John Lateran that Pisanello had carried out with Gentile da Fabriano in the first half of the fifteenth century and which was destroyed during the works of Francesco Borromini for the Jubilee of 1650

“Madonna and Child” by Paolo Veneziano (active about 1320/62)

Emilia-Romagna Paintings

“Crucifixion” first half of 1400s by Stefano da Ferrara

There are few biographical information regarding this painter and there is much uncertainty in the attributions. In this painting the expressions of torment of the faces are remarkable and innovative

“Christ Carrying the Cross” by Bernardino Zaganelli (about 1465/about 1511)

“Adoration of the Magi” by Lorenzo Sabatini (about 1530/76)

“Pieta” about 1579 by Lelio Orsi (1511/87)

“In this work there are influences of Correggio's poetry, especially in the pathos expressed by the figure of St. John the Evangelist, whereas the plasticity of the body of Christ is livid expression of a strong influence by Michelangelo, disseminated through engravings. Not to mention that from an elaboration of an idea by Michelangelo, namely the Deposition for Vittoria Colonna, comes the pose of Christ lying in the lap of the Mother” (Official website of the Museum of Palazzo Venezia - www.museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it)

Lazio, Umbria and Marche Regions Paintings

“Head of the Redeemer” from an artist of the school of Pietro de' Cerroni aka Pietro Cavallini (about 1240/about 1325)

“Great Painted Cross” from the church S. Tommaso dei Cenci

Processional banner “Virgin Mary of Mercy” by the Master of Staffolo

Rooms 4 and 5 - Tuscan Paintings

“Marriage of St. Catherine” by the Master of the Coronation of Christ Church

Small panel “Prophet Hosea” by Gherardo di Jacopo aka Starnina (active 1387/1409)

“Nativity” end of 1400s by the school of Filippo Lippi and Pesellino with a portrait of Lorenzo the Magnificent in the lower right

Remarkable “Head of the Redeemer” maybe by Benozzo di Lese aka Benozzo Gozzoli (1420/97), more probably by Fra' Giovanni da Fiesole aka Fra Angelico (about 1395/1455), maybe from the destroyed Chapel of Eugene IV Coldumer (1431/47)

“Episodes from the life of St. Catherine of Alexandria” by Bicci di Lorenzo (1373/1452)

“Vision of St. Bernard” by Francesco di Ubertino Verdi aka Bachiacca (1494/1557)

“Madonna and Child with Angels and Saints” by Mariotto di Cristofano (1393/1457)

Paintings on Canvas

Oldest and largest part of the collection added in 1919 from the collection Ruffo of Motta Bagnara:

“Marriage of St. Catherine” by Ciro Ferri (1634/89)

“Dance of the Nymphs” 1725 by Donato Creti (1671/1749)

“Restless temperament, haunted by an almost obsessive anxiety for perfection, Creti offers a varied range of expressive accents ranging from Veronese inclinations to his own classicism sometimes full of mannerism moods, some other times sublimated in purist formulas, almost neoclassical, largely ahead of its time. This work is a significant blend of his experiences: the party atmosphere is evoked with a Frenchified gallant grace, the traditional Arcadian landscape here is imbued with a rediscovery of more refined ways of the Emilian Mannerism, which give a more decanted and thin grace to this idyll” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“David and Abigail” and “Finding of Moses” by Giuseppe Maria Crespi known as the Spanish (1665/1747) from Bologna

“Dead Christ” by Orazio Borgianni (1578/1616)

“The sons of Francesco Orsini” 1597 maybe by Tiberio Titi (1578/1637), the son of the painter Santi di Tito and official portraitist of the Medici Grand Dukes

“Wedding at Cana” by Francesco Solimena (1657/1747)

“Cleopatra” by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713) who represented the Egyptian queen with the face of his daughter Faustina as she dissolves a pearl in vinegar to prove her indifference to luxury

“St. Peter weeping” by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

Golden terracotta “Baptism of Jesus” and “Terracotta bust of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55)” by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

VENEZIA PALACE - MUSEUM OF VENEZIA PALACE (first part)

PALAZZO VENEZIA

Piazza Venezia 3

The first great work of civic Renaissance architecture in Rome, begun in the years 1455/64 for Cardinal Pietro Barbo

Expanded over the years 1465/68 after the election of Cardinal Pietro Barbo as Pope Paul II Barbo (1464/71)

1468/71 WING ALONG VIA DEL PLEBISCITO and COURTYARD which remained incomplete. Later on Cardinal Marco Barbo and Cardinal Lorenzo Cybo, nephew of Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92), completed it

Intervention of Pope Paul III Farnese (1534/49) who connected it to his tower on Capitol Hill

It was used as a summer residence of the popes, before the construction of Palazzo del Quirinale, until 1564, when Pius IV Medici (1559/64) sold it partly to Venice to be the residence of their Ambassadors

It later became wholly owned by the Republic of Venice

In 1797 it passed to France and in 1814 to Austria

In 1916 it was confiscated by the Italian government and, after a restoration in the years 1924/30, it became a museum

Between 1929 and 1943 the reception rooms housed the office of Benito Mussolini and the Fascist Grand Council here on June 25, 1943 voted against Mussolini and took his political power away from him

The architect of the palace is unknown, but it is the first example in Rome from the model of a Renaissance Tuscan building according to the principles of Leon Battista Alberti

In the VAULT OF THE VESTIBULE there is the first example ever of modern use of cast concrete, a construction technique that had not been used since the ancient times: a crucial step for the development of technical architecture, fruit and expression of Western civilization

Among the artists who worked here for sure, using also travertine taken from the Colosseum: Giacomo da Pietrasanta (active since 1452/d. about 1497), Francesco da Borgo S. Sepolcro and Meo del Caprino

BALCONY

1714 for the Venetian ambassador Niccolò Duodo

CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF GRACE

1600, rebuilt in 1911

Altar 1682 by G.B. Contini (1641/1723)

“Madonna and Child” by Bernardino Gagliardi (1609/1660)

On the right “Flight into Egypt” by Francesco Cozza (1605/82)

GARDEN

Fountain “Marriage of Venice to the Sea” 1729 by Carlo Monaldi (about 1690/1760), restored in 1930 by Giovanni Prini (1877/1958)

LOGGIA

1467/68 maybe by Baccio Pontelli (about 1450/92)

STAIRCASE

1930 by Luigi Marangoni (1872/1950)

ROOMS OF THE PAULINE PALACE

Royal Hall, Hall of Battles (originally Consistory), Hall of the Globe and Apartment Barbo subdivided and altered over the eighteenth and nineteenth century, restored in the years 1924/30

These rooms are currently used for temporary exhibitions

The painted decoration was widely integrated

In the Hall of the Globe, with the famous balcony from which Mussolini used to address the Italians, the painted architecture is attributed to Andrea Mantegna