{"id":27848,"date":"2025-07-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beculture.it\/?p=27848"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:22:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T07:22:46","slug":"palazzo-colonna-rome-artworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beculture.it\/en\/palazzo-colonna-rome-artworks\/","title":{"rendered":"Galleria Colonna: a priceless collection within the walls of a historic Palazzo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A dynasty that has spanned eight centuries, a palazzo radiating all the grandeur of the Baroque<\/a>, and an extraordinarily rich art collection: these are the elements of a true yet incredible story, one that spans the centuries and reaches us today. The address is Piazza SS. Apostoli 66 in Rome, home to Palazzo Colonna<\/strong> since the 14th century, named after the family who still reside there. This sumptuous residence houses one of the city\u2019s most important art galleries.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical background of a resourceful and astute family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Originally from the village of the same name outside Rome, the Colonna family moved to the city around the 13th century, weaving a dense and fruitful web of relationships. Close to political, military and ecclesiastical power, they gradually secured prestigious titles and honours through strategic alliances, financial means, and shrewd marriage policies \u2013 even joining with their long-standing rivals, the Orsini family. Over the generations, senators, soldiers, and cardinals<\/strong> took turns in shaping their legacy.
Among the most notable figures of this long lineage is Oddone Colonna (1386\u20131431), who ascended to the papacy in 1417 as Pope Martin\u202fV, famed for returning the Holy See to Rome from Avignon and for promoting the reconstruction of the city following the Western Schism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colonna family were often involved in the city\u2019s affairs, for better or worse. During the Sack of Rome in 1527, their Palazzo was one of the few spared from the flames of Charles\u202fV\u2019s troops, thanks to a familial tie to the emperor. In 1797, however, they came to the aid of the papal treasury<\/strong> to meet Napoleon\u2019s onerous demands on Pope Pius\u202fVI in the Treaty of Tolentino \u2013 a move that cost the family valuable paintings, jewels, and silver.
Though renowned military leaders, they also displayed cultural and artistic sensitivity<\/strong>. Vittoria Colonna was a poet and muse to Michelangelo<\/a>, who depicted her in his Giudizio Universale<\/em> in the Cappella Sistina. Years later, another Michelangelo \u2013 Merisi, known as Caravaggio<\/a> \u2013 found refuge thanks to Costanza Colonna, who helped him flee to Naples after the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni.
Since the 17th century, the family have actively collected artworks, blending a passion for collecting with the desire to decorate their grand Roman residence and demonstrate their rank.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Giudizio Universale<\/em>, Michelangelo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Galleria Colonna and its artworks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Furnishings, tapestries, stuccoes, frescoes, paintings, statues, antiquities\u2026 Palazzo Colonna is an extraordinary example of Italian luxury and splendour.
The majestic Galleria<\/a> occupies an entire wing of the building and holds a prominent place among major art collections thanks to its vast and varied catalogue<\/strong>: a remarkable core of Florentine and Venetian painting<\/a> from the 16th century, Emilian works from the 17th century, Roman landscape views from the 16th\u201317th centuries, still lifes<\/a>, Flemish works and a rich series of family portraits, portraits of illustrious figures and female beauties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sala della Fontana, Palazzo Colonna <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The initial collection, established by the art enthusiast Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna, was further enriched in 1718 with the marriage of Fabrizio Colonna and Caterina Zeffirina Salviati<\/strong>, whose dowry included over two hundred paintings collected by the Salviati family since the 16th century. These included works by Bronzino, Tiziano<\/a>, Raffaello<\/a> and Correggio. In the 19th century, further acquisitions were added, mainly from the Renaissance period. Although later sales and dispersals have prevented us from appreciating the collection in its entirety, they have not diminished its inestimable value. Let us now focus on some of the most representative works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The masterpieces of Cosm\u00e8 Tura<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Three panels<\/strong> by Cosm\u00e8 Tura, court painter to the Dukes of Ferrara, are preserved in the Galleria, offering precious insight into both the artist\u2019s style and contemporary devotional practices.
I Santi Maurelio e Paolo e il vescovo Niccol\u00f2 Roverella<\/em><\/strong> (c.1474) was part of a polyptych, now partially destroyed and dispersed among museums such as the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris. The Colonna panel \u2013 thought to be the right wing of the original polyptych \u2013 depicts the two saints and, kneeling in the foreground, the commissioner\u2019s brother, originally from the Church of San Giorgio fuori le Mura in Ferrara. The plasticity of the drapery, smooth and heavy, combined with the strong expressiveness of the figures, are hallmarks of Tura\u2019s style, also recognisable in the other two panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vergine Annunciata<\/em> (lh); Madonna dello Zodiaco<\/em> (rh), Cosm\u00e8 Tura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second panel is a Vergine Annunciata<\/em><\/strong> (1460\u20131465), purchased by Aspremo Colonna in the early 19th century. It was part of a small portable altar, <\/strong>likely commissioned by the Este family for private devotion. This explains the heraldic colours of the columns behind the Virgin, evoking theological virtues. This panel is also incomplete: the other two sections are held at the Cini Foundation in Venice and at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, while the Announcing Angel, which was meant to occupy the left of the Colonna panel, has been lost. Yet this Annunciazione<\/a> remains one of great intimacy and refinement and anticipates compositional solutions seen in Tura\u2019s later Madonna col Bambino<\/em> (c.1470\u20131475), known as the Madonna dello Zodiaco<\/em><\/strong>, also in the collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, the Virgin\u2019s pose is identical, yet the scene depicts the Holy Family with features unusual to modern viewers. Its name derives from the zodiac signs<\/strong> \u2013 some of which are still partially visible \u2013 within the mandorla behind the Virgin. They begin with Capricorn-unicorn on the right and end with Virgo on the left. In Christian thought, astrology could reflect divine will in the sky, signalling Christ\u2019s birth. Gilded in her hair and robes, the Virgin gazes upon the Child whose waking pose suggests his resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronzino and Michelangelo\u2011inspired allegories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Between 1553 and 1555 Bronzino painted, “for Mr Alemanno Salviati, a Venus with a Satyr nearby, so beautiful she truly seems Venus, goddess of beauty,” according to Vasari\u00b9. This work, titled Venere, Cupido e Satiro<\/em><\/strong> and signed by the author, arrived at Palazzo Colonna at the beginning of the 18th century as part of Caterina Zeffirina\u2019s dowry. It was commissioned to decorate a chamber in the noble Florentine’s palace alongside three allegories \u2013 Venere e Amore<\/em>, La Notte<\/em> and L\u2019Aurora<\/em> (all dating to around 1555) by Michele di Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. The series was ultimately reunited in Rome only after the spouses\u2019 deaths, who never saw it complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Venere, Cupido e Satiro, Bronzino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bronzino had previously painted other Venus and Cupid variants, now in the National Gallery in London, and the Sz\u00e9pm\u0171v\u00e9szeti M\u00fazeum in Budapest.
The one in the Galleria Colonna is the latest chronologically and features a simplified composition than the other two, yet no less enigmatic<\/strong>: allegorical symbols are reduced, and the figures stand out in marble-like nudity, draperies, flowers and jewels. Its explicit sensuality must have shocked the prudish 18th-century public, prompting the hiring of Stefano Pozzi to apply posthumous drapery veils (later removed in the 2000 restoration) to conceal the goddess\u2019s form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Venere e Amore<\/em>, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The inspiration behind Michele di Ridolfo\u2019s panels, on the other hand, is explicit: Salviati commissioned him to reproduce in painting the sculptures of the same name<\/strong> created by Michelangelo for the Sagrestia Nuova of San Lorenzo. His Venere <\/em>too is directly derived from a design by Michelangelo \u2013 a preparatory cartoon never realised by the master and eventually completed by Pontormo<\/a>, now in the Gallerie dell\u2019Accademia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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La Notte<\/em>, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n