Marche National Gallery, eight new rooms open on second floor. Spaces never before musealized

As of July 15, 2023, eight new rooms, dedicated to paintings from the 16th to the 18th century, landscapes, portraits, the Albani pontificate, and the Volponi Collection, have been opened in the west wing of the second floor of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. This opening concludes the musealization of the upper floor of the Ducal Palace in Urbino, allowing the Marche museum to house nearly 100 more works than before. The musealization of these spaces was necessitated by theincrease in the collections of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche and, in particular, the deposit of the rich collection of the Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro. The latter consists of about two hundred paintings, ranging from the 15th century to the contemporary age, all from the Marche region, and about two hundred ceramics. The most significant nucleus of the Cassa di Risparmi di Pesaro’s collection sees works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from the area of the Marches and is therefore a key addition to the narrative of Marches art in the museum’s permanent collection.

“With the opening of the new rooms on the second floor, spaces that had never before been musealized,” says Galleria Nazionale delle Marche director Luigi Gallo, “we complete that process of converting the entire building for cultural purposes, which began with the establishment of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in 1912 under the direction of a very young Lionello Venturi. In addition to increasing the exhibition spaces and, consequently, the quantity of works on display, the operation includes in the itinerary spaces of great value that were previously not visible to the public, such as the southern turret, the loggia and the Gallo terrace.”

The recovery of these spaces involved a rethinking of the museographic layout of the entire Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. By increasing the spaces available, there is first of all a way to give more air to the works exhibited on the second floor: this is where the entire display of works from the 14th to the mid-16th centuries remains, culminating with the masterpieces of the Frederician age that are inserted near the characteristic spaces of the period: the Studiolo, the Salone del Trono, the Sala degli Angeli, and so on. The second floor, on the other hand, houses works from the mid-sixteenth century to the eighteenth century. Here the tour starts from the rooms dedicated to Barocci and his followers. The nucleus of his works has been further enriched in recent times thanks to the Ministry of Culture’s initiative 100 works come home. As part of the project of temporary exhibition at other museums of works from the deposits of major museums, two more works by Federico Barocci from the Pinacoteca di Brera have in fact entered (and will remain for 10 years) the collections of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. The same initiative enriched this section of the museum with three more works, two by Simone Cantarini and one by Cristoforo Roncalli known as il Pomarancio. The rooms on the second floor also contain works by other artists active in the Marche region, such as Orazio Gentileschi, or of Marche origin, such as Francesco Guerrieri and Giovan Battista Salvi known as Sassoferrato. This is followed by some works by Zuccari and Federico Barocci; also included among the 16th-century works are paintings by Tintoretto, Boscoli, Maso da San Friano, Naldini and others. Also relocated to the new rooms on the second floor is the Volponi Donation, the collection of writer Paolo Volponi donated to the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, in memory first of Roberto, the senator’s son who died tragically in a plane crash, then of Paolo himself, by his heirs. Except for a very small nucleus of works from the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries with a gold background, the collection consists mainly of works from the Roman seventeenth century with masterpieces by Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco, Guercino, Mattia Preti, as well as Ribera, Gentileschi, Battistello Caracciolo, and Salvator Rosa. The section on the eighteenth century focuses on the pontificate of Clement XI, born Giovanni Francesco Albani, who was a native of Urbino and who, for this reason, represented a particularly flourishing moment for the city in the Marche region from a cultural and artistic point of view. The layout of the second floor also includes two thematic sections: one dedicated to landscapes and one to portraits. Because of the characteristics peculiar to the Montefeltro landscape, the former takes on a particularly significant connotation. Other specific sections that have already found a place in the new rooms are the Cabinet of Drawings, which offers the opportunity to exhibit not only two monumental cartoons by Domenichino and Carracci, but also a selection from the graphic collection of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, which will also see alternating numerous drawings by Barocci himself, a rich selection of which the Institute preserves. Then there is the Pasquino Gallery and the adjoining room, which allow visitors to admire a rich collection of ceramics of which Montefeltro was a land of excellent production.

The layout of the rooms on the second floor is characterized by different declinations depending on the architectural characterization of the rooms and the materials to be displayed.

A minimalist intervention characterizes the Roveresque rooms of the eastern arm, which feature refined fireplaces, portals and framed windows, and the lighting system enhances these elements and the works on display, ensuring the best visibility of each other. The care taken with the lighting system, which is homogeneous throughout the entire floor, also characterizes the rooms on the western arm: the eight new rooms on this side, lacking the architectural elements of the previous ones, were “disturbed” by a previous plant system that needed to be hidden. Therefore, panelling was done to conceal some elements of these systems and support the works, distributed on the three sides of each individual room taking care to always leave the windowed wall facing outward and the landscape from the windows free. Ad hoc interventions were required by the Cabinet of Drawings, with a lighting system calibrated to ensure the preservation of the delicate graphic works. Elegant display tables have also been built here, allowing the easy replacement of drawings on a four-month rotation.

The section devoted to ceramics has its strong point in the Pasquino Gallery overlooking the garden of the same name: from the windows, facing south, the sun invades the space enhancing the chromatic richness of the ceramics on display. In the last bays of the loggia, the grotesque decorations dating back to the mid-sixteenth century and commissioned by Guidobaldo II della Rovere have resurfaced: they will soon undergo major restoration, but the lighting has already been designed to enhance them. The interventions allowed the recovery of some architectural elements that had not been well evaluated previously: the corridor leading to the entrance of the Torricino, for example, had capitals that were barely legible under the many layers of paint. Their cleaning made it possible to recognize them as the work of Federico Brandani, a celebrated Urbino plasticizer and author of the decorations of the Appartamento Roveresco, the Camerino Dorato and the Chapel of Gudobaldo II. The second-floor itinerary concludes with the room dedicated to the Albani pontificate: here, an overlook allows a view of the extrados of the vault of the Throne Room below, built in masonry with wooden chains. The grandiose environment develops considerably in height, occupying, almost entirely, two entire floors of the building, reaching the same level as the rooms on the second floor.

The rehabilitation of the second floor did not concern only the rooms located at this level, but it is triggered by a series of interventions aimed at the functional optimization of the entire structure and, in particular, the improvement of accessibility and the adaptation of security systems. In this context, the construction of the new elevator connecting the second floor to the second floor must be evaluated. In fact, there was already one that made the second floor accessible to those with mobility difficulties, but its location did not allow its ride to be extended to the second floor. Thus, at a point relatively close to the previous one, another one was built - smaller in size and, technically, with an elevating platform - making it possible to reach from this first level, the other one above. The location made the impact on the ancient and valuable structure of the fifteenth-century Ducal Palace very small: minimal demolition and tampering with the original structure, sufficient service for users who need the use of a climbing device other than the staircase. This device also made it possible to solve a particular junction of the palace where it was possible to restore access to one of the overlooks of the Loggia dei Melaranci (previously precluded to the public) and to obtain a toilet on the second floor that, prior to the works, lacked it.

A similar system of improvements, albeit with reversed priorities, occurs with the rehabilitation of the south tower. Unlike what was seen for the creation of the elevator, here it is the recovery of an architectural element of very strong iconic value, which has also allowed an improvement at the level of safety and an enrichment of the paths. Altered and degraded by improper use and inappropriate interventions superimposed over the years, the south tower underwent a true restoration that, in addition to recovering its use, restored its original spatial and architectural values. Work was done on the masonry by eliminating incongruous interventions made with improper mortars and cement, cleaning and restoration of the stone elements with partial integration of the characteristic stone handrail where it was lost. Work was also carried out on the metal railing, integrating it and making it compliant with safety regulations: the latter was also exploited to house a lighting system that would not impact the view of the environment, but would enhance it and meet the requirements proper to safety. Also accessible to the public is the Terrace of the Rooster, an evocative space architecturally defined by an elegant Renaissance loggia- Like the terrace below, it was not accessible to the public because of direct access from the exhibition rooms where, for reasons of microclimate, window frames cannot be kept open. The south turret will also be walkable upward to overlook the characteristic balcony that wraps around the base of the spire.

Marche National Gallery, eight new rooms open on second floor. Spaces never before musealized

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