Villa Speranza: The History of the Vatican Museums -------------*************---------

Speranza

In medieval times, when the popes lived in the "Palazzo del Laterano", near St. Peter's there existed a residence dating back as far as Pope Symmachus.

Here resided the Holy Roman Emperors Charlemagne and Otto I.

It was Pope Innocenzo III who decided to make the building the permanent seat of the papacy, a decision that was made official by the fact that the first conclave following the Great Western Schism was held here.

In 1450, Pope Nicola V began to warm to the idea of a Palazzo Vaticano, or Vatican palace, centered around the courtyard, or Cortile del Pappagallo.

"Bramante" joined the Cortile del Pappagallo with the little palace of Innocenzo VIII, or Palazzetto del Belvedere di Innocenzo VIII, at the behest of Giuliano della Rovere (Papa Giulio II), by means of a series of stacked and arched corridors (part of those structures now surround the Cortile del Belvedere).

Pope Leo X - with his architect, "Bramante" — was responsible for the construction of the Logge di S. Damaso.

One of these loggias was called the "Loggia di Raffaello" because Raphael completed it.

Paolo III had the "Cappella Paolina" and the "Sala Regia" built.

Sesto V — and his architect, Domenico Fontana — built the wings that overlook the ancient thoroughfares.

Urban VIII built the "Scala Regia".

The Palazzi Vaticani now house the Musei Vaticani, a unique set of collections of remarkable importance — both for the beauty of the settings and for the immense value of the artworks assembled there.

It was not until the end of the 18th c., that popes Clemente XIV and Pio VI began establishing the papal collections in proper museums.

Till that period , the papal collections had been arranged in accordance with the Renaissance style, in the two courtyards — Cortile Ottagono and Cortile del Belvedere, as well as in the Casina di Pio IV.

Adjoining the Palazzetto del Belvedere di Innocenzo VIII is the "Braccio Nuovo", built at the behest of PioVII.

Gregorio XVI was responsible for the foundation of the "Museo Egizio" and the "Museo Etrusco".

Pio IX built the "Scala Pia", a stairway.

Leo XIII opened to the public the "Appartamento Borgia".

Pio XI built the "Palazzo della Pinacoteca".

John XXIII and Paul VI constructed the building for the museums that were formerly at the Palazzo Lateranense.

A shuttle bus service takes you to the Information Office, to the left of the courtyard of the church, at the entrance of the Viale Vaticano.

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To reach it the CORTILE DELLE CORAZZE (A), you follow a covered passageway.

At the center, it is adorned by the base of the column honoring Anionino Pio(161).
It joins the atrium of the "Quattro Cancelli," or four gates.

The CORTILE DELLA PIGNA has The bronze "pigna," or pine cone, (8) which is set on a landing of the double stairway in front of the niche of Bramante.

In the Middle Ages this sculpture gave the quarter its name.

The "PIGNA" was made in Roman times, probably to crown a fountain near the Iseo Campense, and it was then set in the atrium of the first church of St. Peter's to feed the "cantharus" (baptismal font).

This courtyard is part of the much larger Cortile del Belvedere, designed by "Bramante " o connect the Palazzetto del Belvedere di Innocenzo VIII with the Palazzo Vaticano.

The structure was enclosed with linking galleries, with terraces.

The structure was broken up in 1587-88 by Domenico Fontana, with the erection of a wing of the library.

Raffaele Stern built the "Braccio Nuovo", which split the original space up into three parts.

Museo Gregoriano Egizio (9-14)

Founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839,

and in 1989 reorganized by the Egyptologist Jean-Luc Grenier, with a view to putting the artifacts in context, in accordance with the succession of Egyptian dynasties, the MUSEO EGIZIO has a collection of epigraphs dating from 2600 B.C. to the 6th c., as well as numerous specimens of sculpture, sarcophagi and funerary steles, documents and artifacts linked to the funerary rites, and artworks from the Roman era, inspired by Egyptian art (the sculptures in hall III come from the Villa Adriana — or Hadrian's Villa — at Tivoli).

Museo Chiaramonti (15-17)

Ordered by Pius VII

and set up under the supervision of Antonio Canova, The MUSEO CHIARAMONTI contains a vast and varied collection of ancient statuary and a rich collection of inscriptions.

The Museo Chiaramonti (15) proper — which occupies about half of the gallery (300 m. in length) and was built by Bramante — contains Roman artifacts, based on Greek originals, and original works (note, in section XIX, the bust of a Roman Man, which dates from the second half of the 1st c. B.C.).

The Galleria Lapidaria (Lapidarian Gallery) (17) occupies the rest of the gallery.

It contains about 4,000 pagan and Christian inscriptions.

They were assembled at the initial behest of Pope Clement XIV, while the collection was further enriched by popes Pius VI and Pius VII.

In the

"Braccio Nuovo", (16)

or new wing, note the 2nd-c. mosaics set in the flooring, as well as numerous busts on brackets and columns, and statues set in niches.

Of special note are:

14 -----
statue of Augusto
di Prima Porta
-----found in 1863 in the Villa "ad Gallinas Albas".

23 ----
the so-called statue of Modesty, a Roman sculpture of the 2nd c..

At the far end of the gallery, note the bust of Pio VII by Antonio Canova

---- 67, Wounded Amazon, a Roman replica from a Greek original (the arms and legs were added by Bertel Thorvaldsen)

--- 106, The Nile*, a 1st-c. Roman sculpture

--- 111, the Athena Giustiniani, a marble sculpture from an original Greek bronze;

--- 117 ---- a satyr at rest, from the renowned work by Praxiteles

--- 123, Doriforo, a Roman replica from the original by Policleto

The MUSEO PIO-CLEMENTINO (18-28), named for two popes, was inaugurated in 1771.

Its namesakes were Clemente XIV and PioVI, who enriched the collections of Greek and Roman sculpture that had existed in the Vatican as early as the 16th c.

From the square vestibule, (18)

which you enter by a stairway at the beginning of the Museo Chiaramonti, and which conserves the decorations by Daniele da Volterra as well as the sarcophagus of Lucio Cornelio Scipio Barbato

(turn of the 3rd c. B.C.), you pass, through the round vestibule (19) (note, from the balcony, the remarkable Fontana della Galera — a fountain in the shape of a 17th-c. galleon), into the cabinet (20) named after the renowned ATLETA,

a Roman replica (the only one known) of the original bronze by Lisippo (4th c.).

Special mention should he made of the stairway, or "Scala di Bramante".

It can be seen from the room behind the Gabinetto dell'ATLETA.

It is spiral structure with granite columns in the four registers, built in the first decade of the 16th c.

From the round vestibule, you emerge, on the left into the "Cortile Ottagono", (21) an eight-sided courtyard designed by "Bramante" and renovated in the 18th c., which features remarkable works of art, set inside the cabinets at the four corners of the portico.

In the 1st cabinet on the left, note the remarkable "Apollo del Belvedere", copied during the Roman Empire from a 4th-c. original attributed to Leochares, discovered at the end of the 15th e. near the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli (or Grottaferrata, or Anzio).

The next cabinet takes its name from the celebrated Laocoonte, a copy, carved in Greek marble by Agesandro and by his sons Polidoro and Atenodoro in the 1st c., from a Hellenistic original.

The group of the LAOCOONTE was rediscovered in the Domus Aurea in 1506, and exerted considerable influence upon Michelangelo Buonarroti and on Renaissance art.

The Hermes, too, which was originally believed to be Antinous (hence the name, "ANTINO DEL BELVEDERE), in the 3rd cabinet, is a copy from the reign of Adrian taken from a Greek original.

By Antonio Canova, in the 4th cabinet, is the Perseo.

The next hall, the "Sala degli Animali", (25) features sculptures with groups and figures of animals, extensively restored by Francesco Antonio Franzoni and, in the floor, 4th-c. mosaics.

Note in the left wing, a statue of Meleagro, a copy done in Roman times (ca. 150) from an original by Skopas, and in the right wing, two small mosaics from the Villa Adriana.

The "Galleria delle Statue", (24) or gallery of statues, is decorated with frescoes from the school of Pinturicchio and embellished by:

-- 85
Eros di Centocelle, also known as the Genio del Vaticano, a Roman copy from a Greek original

-- 80
Bust of a triton, a piece of Greek art from the 2nd c. B.C.;

-- 62,
Apollo Sauroctono, a Roman replica of a bronze by Praxiteles.

Between the splendid Candelabri Barberini (10 and 13; 2nd c.)

-- 11, Sleeping Ariadne, from a Hellenistic original dating from the 2nd c. B.C.

Adjoining the gallery are the "Sala del Busti", (22) with busts of Roman emperors and deities; and the "Gabinetto delle Maschere", (23) with ancient polychrome mosaics set in the floor and, at the center, 37, the lovely Venus of Cnido, a refined replica of the statue by Praxiteles.

The following hall, the "Sala delle Muse", (26) contains numerous Roman copies of portraits of philosophers and poets, and the renowned "Torso del Belvedere", signed by Apollonios of Nestor (1st c. B.C.).

The Torso del Belvedere, uncovered in the early-15th c., influenced the artists of the Renaissance, and, in particular, inspired Michelangelo Buonarroti for his figures of "ignudi" in the Cappella Sistina.

After the round hall (27) - you can admire:

-- 3, the Jove of Otricoli, 1st-c. copy from a Greek original of the 4th c. B.C.;

-- 8,
colossal statue of ERCOLE in gilt bronze, a Roman work from the 2nd c., based on Greek models from the 4th c. B.C.

You then reach the "Greek-cross hall", (28) dominated by two large 4th-c. sarcophagi, in red porphyry.

On the right is the sarcophagus of Constantina*, from the Mausoleo di S. Costanza.

On the left is the sarcophagus of St. Helena.

Founded in 1837 by Gregory XVI, the MUSEO GREGORIANO ETRUSCO (29-39) includes Etruscan artifacts found largely during digs done in Latium in the first half of the 19th c., and a substantial collection of Greek and Italic vases.

After the 1st hall, which is

devoted to the early Etruscan-Latial Iron Age (9th/8th c. B.C.), you enter the 2nd hall, which contains the material found in the tomb, or Tomba Regolini-Galassi (ca. 650 B.C.), discovered intact at Cerveteri in 1836 and abounding in furniture and precious objects in a Eastern style, resulting from three separate burials.

Also worthy of note is the Urna Calabresi, a cinerary urn dating back to the second half of the 7th c. B.C.

The "Sala del Bronzi", orhall of bronzes, the 3rd hall, contains the famed Marte di Todi, a bronze statue of Mars from the end of the 5th c. B.C..

The 4th hall is devoted to stone monuments, the 9th hall to the collection of Benedetto Guglielmi, who donated to Pope Pio XI in 1937 his collection of materials from the necropolis of Vulci, dating back to the 7th/5th c. B.C.

A renovation should result in the unification of the Guglielmi collection, which is now in part on display in the Appartamento di S. Pio V.

In the "Hall of Jewels" (10th hall) note the remarkable collection of goldsmithery, while in the succeeding halls (11th-22th halls) is a series of Roman antiquities, the Falcioni collection (Etruscan and Roman objects from the area around Viterbo) and the collection of ceramics donated by Mario Astarita to Pope Paolo VI in 1967, with interesting specimens of Greek ceramic production.

This splendid "SALA DELLA BIGA" "hall of the chariot" (40), has a circular plan, in Carrara marble (Giuseppe Camporese), and takes its name from the "biga", or chariot, in the center, reassembled by Francesco Antonio Franzoni in 1788 with pieces dating back to Roman times, including a chest from the 1st c. used as a bishop's throne in the church of S. Marco.

About 80 m. long, the GALLERIA DEI CANDELABRI (41) is named after the pairs of marble candelabra beneath each arch.

Te vaults were frescoed in 1883-87.

The materials found here date from classical times.

The GALLERIA DEGLI ARAZZI (42) takes its name from the tapestries ("arazzi," in Italian), woven in the 16th c. in Brussels by Pieter van Aelst, which replaced the tapestries by Raphael, now in the picture gallery.

The "GALLERIA DELLE CARTE GEOGRAFICHE" (43) is adorned by maps, frescoed in 1580-83;.

Note the vault, decorated with stuccoes and paintings by Girolamo Muziano and Cesare Nebbia.

The "APPARTAMENTO DI S. PIO V" (44) comprises the "Galleria di S. Pio V", two small halls, and the "Cappella di S. Pio V", this suite of rooms temporarily houses the Giacinto Guglielmi Collection, which features artifacts made by Etruscans, arid a set of Attic ceramics.

The "STANZE DI RAFAELLO" are part of the Appartamento di Niccolo V.

These rooms feature the splendid decorative arrays, among the most noted and significant in the history of Italian art, commissioned by GIULIANO DELLA ROVERE (pope Julius II) from the young Raphael in 1508, and by him completed, with assistants, between 1508 and 1525.

The "Sala di Costantino" (hall of Constantine) (47) was completed in 1525 by Giulio Romano, Raffaellino del Colle, and Giovanni Francesco Penni, in accordance with drawings and instructions left by the late Raphael.

On the wall facing the windows, note the Victory of Constantine over Maxentius by Giulio Romano.

Continuing clockwise amidst figures of pontiffs enthroned and virtues, note the Baptism of Constantine and Donation of Constantine by Penni, arid Apparition of the Cross to Constantine by Giulio Romano.

From the Sala di Costantino, you pass into the "Sala del Palafrenieri", also known as the "Sala del Chiaroscuri", (49) a vast room with apostles and saints, by Federico and Taddeo Zuccari.

The "Cappella di Niccolo V", (50) which features frescoes of the stories of the martyrs Stephen and Lawrence executed by Fra Angelico between 1448 and 1450, marks the beginning of one of the oldest areas in the papal palace.

A short passageway leads to the "Stanza di Eliodoro", (51) which was frescoed by Raphael, between 1512 and 1514, in accordance with an iconographic program designed to glorify the church, and probably developed by Pope Julius II.

On the wall dividing this room from the Stanza della Segnatura, note the Meeting of St. Leo the Great and Attila.

If you continue counterclockwise, you can see the Mass of Bolsena, dramatic and powerful, the Expulsion of Heliodorus, executed with the collaboration of Giulio Romano and Giovanni da Udine, and the Liberation of St. Peter, with innovative light effects.

Next is the "Stanza della Segnatura" (52).

The name refers to the fact that important official documents were signed in this room.

With the exception of a number of decorations in the vault, by Sodoma and Bramantino - was entirely painted by Raphael between 1509 and 1511.

The frescoes, in which the ideals of Humanistic culture linked to the classical tradition converged with the results of research into perspective

during the 15th c., are considered among Raphael's absolute masterpieces.

Proceeding to the left, from the wall closest to the "Stanza dell'Incendio di Borgo", you will find the famous Disputation of the Sacrament*; on either side of the window, Gregory IX Approves the Decrees* and Justinian Consigns the Pandects to Tribonianus (in the lunette around the window, Strength, Prudence, and Temperance).

On the wall facing the Disputation, note the renowned "School of Athens" (a number of the figures bear the features of famous men of the time: the figure with the compass bears a resemblance to Bramante, while the seated figure with its head on its arm has the features of Michelangelo).

On the wall with the window overlooking the Cortile del Belvedere, note Mt. Parnassus, completed in 1511.

The chiaroscuro paintings on the socle that runs around the walls were executed to replace the wooden facing, by Perin del Vaga; the depictions of the Sciences and the Arts in the vault, on the other hand, were done by Raphael.

In the "Stanza dell'Incendio", (53) completed during the papacy of Leo X, the frescoes on the walls were for the most part done by pupils, to cartoons and drawings by Raphael, in accordance with a program based on episodes concerning other popes named Leo: on the facing wall, the Fire in Borgo* which was put out by Leo IV making the sign of the cross; on the right wall, the Coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III; on the left wall, the Victory, of Leo IV over the Saracens; on the wall with the window, note the Oath of Leo III. The paintings in the vault are by Perugino.

Loggia di Raffaello (48)

With special permission from the head office, or Direzione, you can enter the Loggia di Raffaello, begun by Bramante and completed by Raphael (1512-18) who entrusted its direction to his pupils, including Giovanni da Udine, Giulio Romano, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and Perin del Vaga. Of the 13 bays, 12 are decorated with episodes from the Old Testament, the last one with scenes from the New Testament; set upon pilaster strips and pillars, on the other hand, is a minute decoration made up of grotesques, interweaving fantastic, naturalistic, and architectural motifs, as well as small mythological figures and festoons.

Appartamento Borgia (55-60)

Set beyond the Cappella di Urbano VIII, which features frescoes by Pietro da Cortona and rough models by Antonio Canova, this apartment was splendidly frescoed by Pinturicchio and assistants, commissioned by Alexander VI Borgia, between 1492 and 1495 (note the remarkable wealth of decoration in hall V, known as the Sala dei Santi, which may be the artist's greatest work).

his apartment contains part of the vast Collezione d'Arte Religiosa Moderna (61),

a collection of modern religious art, inaugurated by Pope Paul VI in 1973, and comprising a vast array of sculptures, paintings, and drawings (ca. 800), by Giacomo Manzu, Auguste Rodin, Henry Matisse, Felice Casorati, Giorgio Morandi, Emilio Greco, Carlo Carra, Marino Marini, Georges Rouault, Vasily Kandinsky, Otto Dix, Umberto Boccioni, Giorgio De Chirico, Oskar Kokoschka, Ottone Rosai, Paul Klee, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Giuseppe Capogrossi, and Renato Guttuso, among others.

Cappella Sistina* (63)

or Sistine Chapel. One of the most noteworthy works of Renaissance art, this chapel was built at the behest of Sixtus IV between 1475 and 1481. It is a rectangular room lit by six large windows on each long side, and covered by a depressed barrel-vault; the 15th-c. floor is made of polychrome marble; an elegant marble screen, by Mino da Fiesole, Andrea Bregno, and Giovanni Dalmata (they also designed and executed the balustrade of the choir chancel) divides the room into two parts.

Between 1481 and 1483 Sixtus IV commissioned several of the best-known artists of the time — including Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, Piero di Cosimo, Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pinturicchio — to do the frescoes on the side walls and the walls facing the altar; in 1506 Pope Julius II continued the project of decorating the chapel, assigning the task to Michelangelo who, between 1508 and 1512, frescoed the vault and, under the papacy of Paul III, the far wall.

Frescoes on the side walls and the walls facing the altar. In the lower area, there are fake draperies, upon which were applied the tapestries by Raphael, now in the picture gallery. In the central area, on the right, note the episodes of the life of Moses; in particular, note the second panel which depicts The Burning Bush, Moses Killing the Egyptian and Chases the Madyanites from the Fountain, The Daughters of Jethro, and a fifth panel, with The Punishment of Kore, Dathan, and Abiron, both by Sandro Botticelli; on the left, episodes from the life of Christ, and among them in particular note the second (Purification of the Leper and Temptation of Christ) by Domenico Ghirlandaio, and the fifth (Handing Over the Keys), one of Perugino's greatest masterpieces. In the upper area on the side facing the altar, between the windows, note 24 portraits of popes.

Frescoes of the vault. This enormous pictorial series, restored between 1981 and 1990, occupies the entire surface, in a remarkable fusion of architectural elements and plastic depictions, underscored by brilliant colors.

The immense composition is organized into three stacked registers: in the central area are nine stories from Genesis*, illustrating, from the panel of the altar: the separation of light from darkness, the creation of the stars, the separation of the waters, the magnificent Creation of Adam*, the creation of Eve, the original sin, the sacrifice of Noah, the universal deluge, and the drunk-enness of Noah; between the panels, in a marble structure, are depicted pairs of "ignudi", or nudes, bearing large medallions. The register below that contains the powerful figures of sibyls and prophets, enthroned. In the triangular gores at the corners of the vault in the lower register, other Bible stories are portrayed, while in the webs and the lunettes above the windows, note the ancestors of Christ.

Frescoes on the far wall (restored in 1993). Between 1536 and 1541, transcending the iconographic ideals and the perspectival relationships of Renaissance art, Michelangelo portrayed the magnificent and appalling Last Judgment*

as a vast scene in movement in a limitless space. Dominating it all is the majestic and implacable figure of Christ the Supreme Judge*, with, seated next to him, the Virgin Mary, and, all around them, saints, patriarchs, and martyrs crowding into Paradise; on the right the blessed souls ascend to heaven, and on the left damned souls are hurled down into Hell, where they are welcomed by Charon and Minos. At the bottom is depicted: on the left, the Resurrection of the Dead, at the center, the angels sounding the Last Trump, and, on high, in the spaces of the lunettes, angels with the symbols of the Passion (the figures, originally nude, were covered with bits of cloth in 1564 by Daniele da Volterra because Pope Pius IV judged them to be scandalous).

Special permission is required in order to tour the Cappella Paolina (64),

by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger; this chapel contains the last frescoes painted by Michelangelo (Conversion of St. Paul

and Crucifixion of St. Peter).

Sala delle Nozze Aldobrandine (67)

Beyond the Sala degli Indirizzi di Pio IX, which contains religious artistic objects in ivory and metal, and a collection of Roman glass, this room takes its name from a splendid fresco*, probably dating from the reign of Augustus, and depicting the preparations for the wedding of Alexander the Great and Roxana, discovered in 1605 near the arch of Gallienus. The frescoes on the ceiling are by Guido Reni.

A single room, set directly after the Sala del Papiri, constitutes the Museo Sacro (65-67),

founded by Benedict XIV to contain precious Christian antiquities (note the Byzantine mosaic with St Theodore, dating from the mid-14th c.).

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (65-74)

Established by Sixtus IV in 1475 (already, however, Pope Nicholas V had selected the site, on the ground floor of his own palazzo), this library has accumulated manuscripts and printed texts over time; it now possesses 75,000 manuscript volumes and 70,000 archive volumes, more than 100,000 separate hand-written texts, and about 800,000 printed volumes.

The rooms that make up the long gallery are: the Galleria di Urbano VIII (the planispheres date from 1529); the Sale Sistine; the Biblioteca di Sisto V (small gallery), in which the largest and the smallest codex from the library are on display; periodically materials of the institution are put on exhibition; the splendid Salone Sistino* (70),

by Domenico Fontana in 1587-89, lavishly decorated under the supervision of Giovanni Guerra and Cesare Nebbia.

From the Albani and Carpegna collections, and, in part, from excavations done between 1809 and 1815, come the materials from Etruscan. Roman, and medieval times found in the Museo Profano (74).

Pinacoteca Vaticana* (5)

This remarkable collection of paintings was inaugurated by Pius VI in 1816, after Antonio Canova had recovered 77 works of art that had been given to France with the treaty of Tolentino.

It was later expanded with specimens of various origin.

Beyond the vestibule and hall I (Sala del Primitivi; note the St. Francis of Assisi

signed by Margaritone d'Arezzo), hall II features work by Giotto and his followers: at the center, note the Stefaneschi polyptych,

painted in Rome by Giotto and his assistants, and intended for the Basilica di S. Pietro; on the walls, note works by Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini, Gentile da Fabriano,

and Sassetta.

In hall III, you can

admire works by Filippo Lippi,

Benozzo Gozzoli

and Fra Angelico,

in hall IV, note two masterpieces by Melozzo da Forli:

the fragments of the fresco depicting the Ascension* and a large fresco of Sixtus IV Appointing the Prefect of the Biblioteca Vaticana* (1477).

Next come: hall V, with the Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer by Ercole de Roberti,

and the Pieta by Lucas Cranach the Elder Vecchio;

hall VI, dedicated to polyptychs (note the Pieta'

by Carlo Crivelli); and hall VII, devoted to the 15th-c. Umbrian school.

Hall VIII is one of the most sumptuous and interesting in the picture gallery;

in it, aside from the 10 tapestries commissioned from Raphael by Pope Leo X for the Cappella Sistina, or Sistine Chapel (1515-16), are: the Transfiguration,

assigned to Raphael in 1517 but completed by Giulio Romano and Giovanni Francesco Penni, the splendid Madonna di Foligno,

painted by Raphael between 1512 and 1513, and the Coronation of the Virgin Mary,

the first large composition by Raphael (1503).

After you Cross hall IX, note the St. Jerome by Leonardo da Vinci (ca. 1480),

you enter halls X and XI, which contain artworks from the 16th c.: note the magnificent Madonna dei Frari (1528)

and the portrait of the doge Nicolo Marcello by Titian, the Sacrifice of Isaac, attributed to Ludovico Carracci,

and the Annunciation, signed by the Cavalier d'Arpino (1606). Of special interest, in the hall XII, is the Deposition* by Caravaggio (1602-1604),

the Communion of St. Jerome by Domenichino

(signature; 1614) and the Crucifixion of St. Peter by Guido Reni.

The 17th and 18th c. are represented in halls XIII (note the St Francis Saverio by Antonie Van Dyck and the David and Goliath by Pietro da Cortona),

XIV, and XV, which feature works by Carlo Maratta

and Sebastiano Conca,

as well as portraits.

Halls XVI, XVII, and XVIII conserved models by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and specimens of Byzantine, Greek, and Russian religious art.

Museo Gregoriano Profano* (4)

This museum was established by Gregory XVI in 1844 in the Palazzo Lateranense, while the transfer to the current site dates from 1970.

The rich series of pagan epigraphs became part of the collection at the end of the 19th c., while the Greek and Roman artifacts come from excavations done in the papal state. Of the four sections into which the museum is split up, the first is dedicated to Greek originals, represented here by the Stele del Palestrita*,

an Attic relief dating from the middle of the 5th c. B.C., by fragments of sculptures from the Parthenon and by a head of Athena*, in the style of Magna Graecia (mid-5th c. B.C.).

The second section concentrates

on Roman copies and variations on Greek originals: one important example is the Niobide Chiaramonti*,

probably derived from a group done by Skopas or Praxiteles. The Tomb of Vicovaro, on the other hand, probably dates back to about A.D. 30/40.

A relief with personifications of the Etruscan cities of Tarquinia, Vulci, and Vetulonia documents, in the third section, Roman sculpture of the 1st and 2nd c., which has two other noteworthy instances in the relief of the altar, or Ara dei Vicomagistri*

(ca. A.D. 30-40) and in the 39 fragments* of the tomb of the Haterii.

The fourth section is devoted to sarcophagi; and the fifth is dedicated to Roman sculpture of the 2nd and 3rd c.; note in particular the torso of a loricate statue, possibly of Trajan or Hadrian.

Museo Pio Cristiano (4)

This museum was founded

by Pope Pius IX in the Palazzo Lateranense to contain the material found in catacombs and in the earliest churches of Rome.

It was transferred to its present location in 1963, and it preserves architectural and sculptural elements (note the fragment of the inscription of the Cippus of Abercio dating from the reign of Marcus Aurelius) as well as mosaics; the adjoining section of inscriptions can be toured by requesting permission in the head museum office (Direzione).

Museo Missionario-Etnologico (4)

Objects of the applied

arts and documents concerning non-European civilizations come in part from the Missionary Exhibition assembled in the Jubilee Year of 1925 (the institution was founded in 1926 in the Palazzo Lateranense), to which the donations of congregations and private individuals have been added over the years.