National Gallery of the Marches: new rooms open on the second floor. And hitherto unvisitable rooms

On July 14, 2022, the western wing of the second floor of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, which is housed in the Ducal Palace in Urbino, will be inaugurated: eight new rooms dedicated to painting from the 16th to the 18th century, landscape, portraiture, the Albani pontificate, and the Volponi Collection will then be accessible. This opening concludes the musealization of the upper floor of the historic Urbino building, and nearly one hundred more works will be visible than before. Rooms not previously visible to the public, such as the south tower, the loggia and the Gallo terrace, will also be accessible.

The musealization of the spaces on the second floor became necessary following 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 includes about two hundred paintings, ranging from the fifteenth century to the contemporary age, all from the Marche region, and about two hundred ceramics whose production, starting in the fifteenth century, represents an excellence of the area. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works of Marche scope from the collection of the Cassa di Risparmi di Pesaro supplement the narrative of Marche art well represented for the 15th and 16th centuries by the permanent collection of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.

“With the opening of the new rooms on the second floor, spaces that had never before been musealized,” said director Luigi Gallo, “the process of reconverting 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, is brought to completion. 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 has necessitated a rethinking of the museographic arrangement of the entire Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. Increasing the available spaces first of all makes it possible to give more space to the works exhibited on the second floor: the entire exhibition 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, such as the Studiolo, the Salone del Trono, and the Sala degli Angeli. The second floor, on the other hand, will host 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 was further enriched recently thanks to the Ministry of Culture’s initiative 100 works come home. In fact, as part of this project, two more works by Federico Barocci from the Pinacoteca di Brera entered (and will remain there for ten years) the collections of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. The same initiative has enriched this section of the museum with three more works, two by Simone Cantarini and one by Pomarancio.
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, will also find space in the second-floor rooms. This is followed by a number of works by Zuccari, part of which are owned by the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche and part of which come from the depository of the Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro, and by Federico Barocci, whose paintings and drawings the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche holds a rich nucleus of; also included among the 16th-century works are paintings by Tintoretto, Boscoli, Maso da San Friano, Naldini and other artists. The new rooms on the second floor will also house the Volponi Donation, the collection of writer Paolo Volponi donated to the National Gallery by his heirs. Except for a very small nucleus of works from the fourteenth and 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 works by Jusepe de Ribera, Orazio Gentileschi, Battistello Caracciolo and Salvator Rosa. The section on the 18th century will focus on the pontificate of Clement XI, born Giovanni Francesco Albani, a native of Urbino.
The layout of the second floor will also include two thematic sections: one dedicated to landscapes and one to portraits. Other specific sections that have already found their 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 feature, among others, numerous drawings by Barocci himself. The Pasquino Gallery and the adjoining room allow visitors to admire a rich review of ceramics of which Montefeltro was a land of excellent production. This review is formed partly from the collections of the Gallery itself and from some deposits from private collections, as well as a rich nucleus of pieces from the Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Pesaro. 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, characterized by refined fireplaces, portals and framed windows, see the protagonist the lighting system that enhances these elements and the exhibited works, ensuring their best visibility. The care of the lighting system, homogeneous on the whole floor, also characterizes the rooms of 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. Paneling was therefore undertaken to conceal some elements of these systems and support the works, distributed on the three sides of each room, taking care to always leave the windowed wall facing outward 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. Display tables have also been made here to allow easy replacement of the drawings, which will thus be displayed in rotation every four months, both for conservation needs and to allow subsequent viewing of the various pieces in the possession of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. The section devoted to ceramics has its strong point in the Pasquino Gallery, which overlooks the garden of the same name. 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 also resurfaced: they will soon undergo a major restoration, but the lighting has already been designed to enhance them. The interventions allowed the recovery of some architectural elements: for example, the corridor leading to the entrance of the Torricino 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 famous Urbino plasticizer and author of the decorations of the Appartamento Roveresco, the Camerino Dorato and the Chapel of Guidobaldo II. The second-floor itinerary ends with the room dedicated to the Albani pontificate: here, an overlook allows visitors to see the extrados of the vault of the Throne Room below, built in masonry with wooden chains.

The recovery of the second floor, however, did not concern only the rooms on this floor, but a series of interventions aimed at thefunctional optimization of the entire structure and, in particular, at the marked improvement of accessibility and the adaptation of security systems. A new elevator was built: in this context, the construction of the new elevator connecting the second floor to the second floor was to be evaluated. One already existed, but its location did not allow its ride to be extended to the second floor. At a location near the previous one, another, smaller one was built. The placement made the impact on the ancient 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, a defiladed and discreet location with very low aesthetic impact. 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 of the Melaranci (previously not accessible to the public) and to obtain a toilet on the second floor, which, prior to the work, lacked it. In addition to improved accessibility, this has resulted in a better level of user services and the recovery of an evocative historical space that has an extremely favorable impact on the enhancement of the architectural complex of the Ducal Palace.

The South Torricino. The recovery of an architectural element of strong iconic value 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 Torricino underwent a restoration that, in addition to recovering its use, restored its original spatial and architectural values. Action was taken on the masonry by removing 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 done 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. The torricino also functions as an additional escape route, allowing one to reach an open space that can be defined as a “safe place.” The terrace of the Rooster, an evocative space architecturally defined by an elegant Renaissance loggia that, again thanks to the torricino, will be accessible to the public. The latter, like the terrace below, were not accessible by the public because of the direct access they have from the exhibition halls. The south turret will also be walkable upward to overlook the characteristic balcony that wraps around the base of the spire.

National Gallery of the Marches: new rooms open on the second floor. And hitherto unvisitable rooms

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