GALLERIA DELLE STATUE, SALA DEI BUSTI

Speranza

Gallery of Statues and the Hall of Busts
Ariadne, cat. 548 The Chiaramonti Caesar, cat. 713

This area, which today holds many of the masterpieces of the Pio Clementino Museum, was once part of the loggia of the small palace of Innocent VIII Cybo (1484-1492) in Belvedere.   The walls were once covered with frescoes showing landscapes and cities and in the lunettes there were small cupids painted by Pinturicchio and his assistants which are still visible today.   In the year 1771, Clement XIV decided to include 1400s architecture in the museum he was setting up.   The loggia was closed by walls with windows.   At the end of the gallery the Hall of Busts was created.   Between 1776 and 1778 Pius VI had the museum space extended towards the west entrusting the decoration of the vaulted ceiling of the new gallery to the painter Cristoforo Unterperger.