Palazzo Chigi Saracini - Accademia Musicale Chigiana
Portrait of Alessandro Saracini (1826)
Pietro Benvenuti (1769-1844) Oil on canvasAn exponent of Tuscan neoclassical painting and its greatest representative during the Napoleonic period, Benvenuti studied in Florence where he became Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1804. In 1826 he portrayed the brothers Alessandro and Marco Saracini, sons of Galgano, an art collector and expert, who lived in the family palace, enriching it with notable works of art.
An episode from Fabiola's life (1870)
Cesare Maccari (1840-1919) Oil on canvas The painting is inspired by the episode of Fabiola, a novel by Cardinal Wieseman, where the rich Roman patrician discovers the lifeless body of her faithful slave Sira. The work marks the painter's emancipation from Mussini's purism towards the naturalism of Morelli and the luministic virtuosity of Mariano Fortuny.
Harmony and Melody (1917)
Fulvio Corsini (1874-1938) Bronze After learning the art of carving in his father's workshop, he perfected the use of materials and techniques linked to the artisan tradition at the Academies of Fine Arts in Rome and Florence. His mastery of sculpture in wood, terracotta, bronze and marble earned him a chair at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Siena. The two bronze sculptures in Art Nouveau style were made to decorate the Concert Hall of the Palace, which was inaugurated in 1923.
The Battle of Montaperti (1917)
Arturo Viligiardi (1869-1936) Fresco In the central ceiling of the so-called Concert Hall, the return from the Battle of Montaperti (1260) of the Sienese army is depicted in allegorical form and with Tiepolo-like boldness, welcomed by the people who waved olive garlands in their hands as a sign of victory. Considering the historical period in which we find ourselves, it is clear how there was a need among the people to narrate historical moments of this type where the exaltation of the battle and the faith in victory could be read. In the center, with the red cloak, Bartolomeo Saracini, who returns from the battle applauded by the people.
Museum of Musical Instruments
The Museum of Musical Instruments, open to the public and an integral part of the guided tour of Palazzo Chigi Saracini, was formed, starting in 1906, with the instruments owned by Count Chigi. Enriched over time through new acquisitions and generous donations, it now has about one hundred examples. In addition to numerous bowed, wind, keyboard and folk instruments, the following stand out among the instruments preserved in the Museum: - the exceptional harpsichord built in 1515 by Vincentius, to date the oldest instrument of its kind known in the world. Built in Rome, it belonged to the Florentine Tempo family and to Pope Leo X; - a cello built in 1682 by Antonio Stradivari, the greatest violin maker in history. Thanks to further donations, the collection of instruments continues to grow. For example, two notable acquisitions are very recent: the Erard piano, ca. 1837, which belonged to the great composer Pietro Mascagni, and a Pleyel harpsichord from 1912, built according to a model desired by the famous pianist-harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.
Cello (1682) - Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari (Cremona, between late 1643 and 1649 – Cremona, 18 December 1737)
Madonna Piccolomini (15th century)
Collaborator of Donatello in Siena Marble Probably made in the Sienese workshop of Donatello, perhaps at the request of one of the nephews of Pius II, the Madonna bearing the coat of arms of the ancient Sienese family had a significant success among the domestic Marian reliefs of the fifteenth century. The image was the prototype of at least twelve replicas and variants that engaged in an assiduous and fruitful game of exchanges in numerous workshops active in the same period also in Florence and Rome.
Table (16th century)
Florentine manufacture. Black stained wood with gold highlights. The creation of this particular type of furniture, in use in Florence at the end of the sixteenth century at the Medici court, was proposed as an alternative to the use of inlays of precious materials. The particular decoration was called “Indian style” because of its ornaments which, executed with gold painting on a gold background, was inspired by Persian and Indian art known thanks to the fruitful trade exchanges of the Grand Dukes with the East.
Madonna and Child, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine of Siena (c. 1490)
Neroccio di Bartolomeo (1447-1500) Oil on panel Neroccio de' Landi was a skilled wood sculptor and a refined painter. The work combines the Sienese Gothic tradition, with its taste for gold, sinuous design and thin layers of colour, alongside the reworking of some innovations of the Florentine Renaissance. The athletic pose and the classicising anatomy of the Child derive from Donatello, as does the taste for realistic details: the shadow cast by the child and the brackets that secure the stone slabs of the parapet.
Madonna with Child and Angels (circa 1490)
Sandro Botticelli's Field Oil on panelThe work derives from the famous Madonna and Child with Two Angels from the Fine Arts of Vienna and also from the Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist from the Dresden Museum, both attributed to Sandro Botticelli who painted them around 1490. The scheme proposed by the Florentine painter, that is, that of the Virgin depicted in an intimate relationship with her son while behind her two angels observe and comment on the scene, illuminated by the open window that acts as a backdrop to the background.
Madonna Adoring the Child (circa 1480)
Biagio d'Antonio (1440-1445) Oil on panel Count Guido Chigi Saracini purchased the work in 1950, snapping it up at the Parisian auction of the Galerie Charpentier. The painting was later attributed by Mario Salmi to Biagio d'Antonio, an emulator of Ghirlandaio and in general of the Florentine culture of the end of the century that strictly followed Verrocchio. The crenellated hut with Saint Joseph feeding the animals in the background appears particularly original. The road behind the characters finally leads to a turreted city that vaguely recalls Florence.
Portable altar (circa 1518)
Andrea del Brescianino (documented in Siena from 1506 to 1524, in Florence in 1525) Painted wood The small, elegantly decorated portable altarpiece is placed above the Rococo console and was made by Andrea del Brescianino at the end of the second decade of the 16th century. Inside, there is a bronze Crucifix attributable to Ferdinando Tacca resting on a painted panel with the Magdalene, Saint John and the Virgin Mary. Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome are depicted on the doors of the cabinets. The tabernacle was made for some representative of the Sozzini family of Siena, as shown by the coat of arms painted on the back.
Chivalric episode (19th century, first half)
Giovanni Bruni (1804-1864) Fresco A protagonist of purist painting of Nazarene inspiration in Siena in the thirties and forties, the painter trained in Siena under Giuseppe Collignon and Francesco Nenci and in Florence with Benvenuti; he taught drawing at the Institute of Fine Arts from 1837 until his death, aligning himself, almost in a partnership, with Nenci's position regarding the revaluation of the "primitives", and in agreement, later, with the ideas of Luigi Mussini. Alessandro Saracini turns to Bruni, from whom he had already commissioned The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula in 1840 for the family chapel in Castelnuovo Berardenga, to paint one of the rooms hosting his collection that his father Galgano, already in 1898, had frescoed by the painter Antonio Castelletti. The narrated episode probably refers to Paul III who grants the Duchy of Parma to his son Pierluigi.
Japanese vases (19th century)
Satsuma Style Painted porcelain On the gilded pedestals leaning against the wall are placed two Satsuma-style porcelain vases, which are among the most famous Japanese productions of the 19th century. The name derives from the denomination of the original production area, at the time the domain of the Shimazu clan and today the southern part of the island of Kyushu. The origin of Satsuma porcelain is traced back to Korean workers who arrived in the area in the mid-16th century, but it was only from around 1790 that local production changed radically, becoming the best-known and most exported manufacture in Japanese history. Our examples date back to this period.
Liszt's Piano (1860)
Bechstein Company Berlin One of the most valuable instruments preserved in the Accademia Chigiana is the grand piano that the great Franz Liszt (1811-1886) had built especially for himself in 1860 by the Bechstein company of Berlin. At first the musician kept this instrument in his residence in Weimar. When in 1861 he moved to Rome, where, having taken minor orders, he settled in the convent of Santa Francesca Romana, he took it with him. From then on the maestro divided his time between three main residences: Weimar, Rome and Budapest, but the piano always remained in the capital of the Papal State. Upon the composer's death, it was donated to his greatest Italian pupil, the Roman Giovanni Sgambati, who lived in a noble family palace in Piazza di Spagna. After Sgambati's death in 1914, the instrument was probably purchased by engineer Roberto Almagià, who was its owner in 1938, when he met Guido Chigi Saracini and in December of that same year decided to donate it to him. This exceptional instrument has been restored by the Accademia Chigiana, which has also held concerts there and allowed the recording of a CD (Brilliant label) by Michele Campanella, entirely dedicated to Liszt's music.
Madonna with Child and Saints (1450)
Sano di Pietro (1405-1481) Painted table The precious panel with an unusual shape was painted by Sano di Pietro around the fifth decade of the fifteenth century. The painter's hand is clearly recognizable in a period in which his creative vein was running out, leaving behind a true uniformity of style. The devotional image represents the Madonna with Child of Martinian inspiration surrounded by two saints in prayer: Saint Jerome and Saint Bernardino of Siena. The latter was canonized exactly in 1450.
Plate with musical instruments
Bottega eugubina of Giorgio Andreoli Painted majolica The peculiarity of this majolica is the rich decoration that distinguishes it: large trophies of ancient weapons, helmets of various types, combined in no particular order with musical instruments including a drum, a portable organ, a lute. The grotesques and the trophies were among the first decorative motifs used by the Bottega eugubina of Giorgio Andreoli, the master who used to sign himself after 1531 with the letter N which is in fact placed on the back of the plate, in ruby red lustre.
Snuffbox Suite
The great Bolognese composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) was a guest of Count Guido Chigi Saracini several times. His stays in Siena often resulted in meetings with other eminent personalities from the world of music, such as in 1928 with the pianist Wanda Landowska, at that time one of the pioneers of the rediscovery of the harpsichord. Or, already in 1926, when he performed as a pianist in a concert together with his wife, the singer Elsa Sangiacomo. It was in August of that year, during the days of the Palio, that the Respighis, surprised by a heavy rain, took refuge at the count's house. Once there, the musician noticed on a small table an old porcelain snuffbox with musical themes by an ancestor of Guido Chigi Saracini printed on it: he was so struck by them that he transcribed them and created a suite for wind instruments and piano for four hands. The first performance of this work, naturally dedicated to the founder of the Chigiana, was on 22 November 1930, the opening night of the winter concert season "Micat In Vertice". On that occasion, another work by Respighi was created, also dedicated to the count: the Lauda per la natività del Signore, on a text by Jacopone da Todi. Both autographs of these pages are preserved at the Accademia Chigiana.
Portrait of a Gentleman (circa 1640)
Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644) The Genoese painter, an emulator of Rubens, from whom he drew a very personal interpretation, moved to Venice around 1630 where he had the opportunity to get to know Venetian painting of the sixteenth century more deeply, especially the work of Titian. It was probably in that period that he executed the painting, where one can notice such a psychological characterization that it makes one think of a Self-portrait. The work is based on a chromatic range of dark colors on which the points of light given by the shirt collar and the letter that the man is holding in his hands stand out.
Annunciation (15th century)
Mariotto di Nardo (news between 1394 and 1424) Oil on panel Mariotto di Nardo, who trained in the famous workshop of his father and uncles Andrea - known as Orcagna - and Jacopo, later adapted to the international Gothic of Starnina and Lorenzo Monaco. Our painting was transformed into a diptych in the nineteenth century when, probably dissecting a polyptych, Galgano Saracini tried to adapt his 'primitive' works to the museum rooms he was setting up in the very early years of the nineteenth century. Here we note, in the figures of the angel and the Virgin, the recovery of a compositional balance and a neo-Giotto-esque severity, enlivened by the chromatic range and the bold combinations, and by the profusion of gold.
Empire style furniture (1841)
Agostino Fantastici (1782 - Siena, 1845) Carved woodThe “Queen's Chamber” takes its name from the fact that Elizabeth I of Belgium, a close friend of the Count, stayed there for about twenty years. The room is furnished with furniture made during the first decades of the nineteenth century in the style that in Siena links the neoclassicism of eighteenth-century tradition to the Empire taste, recognizable in decorative elements such as swans or fasces, as well as in the Egyptian-style ornaments that distinguish the Secretaire for its executive excellence. All the furniture: the canopy bed with golden swans, the console table, the Secretaire with the decorative motif inspired by the scenography of Rossini's Semiramide, the mirror with classical references, the dressing table in the shape of a resting column, the chest of drawers and the console table were designed by Agostino Fantastici who was an architect, set designer and interior designer. The artist, who was above all among the most important exponents of neoclassical culture in Tuscany, worked between 1830 and 1835 for Alessandro Saracini both in the Palazzo di Siena and in the villa of Castelnuovo Berardenga.
Saint Jerome (circa 1663)
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 - 1680) Terracotta The work is a rare preparatory sketch for the marble sculpture commissioned by Pope Alexander VII (Fabio Chigi) to Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the Cappella del Voto in the Siena Cathedral. Chronologically, it dates back to the second half of the seventeenth century and, more precisely, around 1663 . The figure of Saint Jerome, conceived as an old hermit adoring the crucifix, is a motif that often recurs in the artist's artistic production. The features of the face and the anatomy, which increasingly distance themselves from the regular proportions and typologies of classical statuary, mark a notable turning point in Bernini's style.
Saint Jerome Penitent (circa 1530)
Domenico Beccafumi (1486 - 1551) Terracotta The terracotta has the characteristics of a model worked on the fly as a preliminary to the creation of a larger statue. It is in fact the autonomous elaboration of a masterpiece by Michelangelo, the Victory, sculpted between 1532 and 1534 for the imposing project of the tomb of Julius II in St. Peter's, never finished in its original form; the sculpture was donated by his nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti, to Duke Cosimo I in 1565 after an attempt to place it on his uncle's tomb in Santa Croce, which was opposed by Vasari. Destined for the Bargello in 1868, the statue returned to Palazzo Vecchio in 1921, taking the place of that of Savonarola transferred to the square of the same name.
Portrait of Pier Maria Romolo Saracini (1624)
Rutilio Manetti (1571 - 1639) Oil on canvasThe portrait depicts an ancestor of the family, Pier Maria Romolo Saracini Balì di Sant'Eufemia, depicted by Rutilio Manetti in 1624 while he shows himself wearing the robes of the order of the Knights of Malta. The painting clearly shows the signs of Caravaggio's luminism that Manetti interprets at its best by depicting the character in the shadows and illuminating him with the white insignia of the Order that stand out against the brown robes.
Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena (1528)
Domenico Beccafumi (1486 - 1551) Oil on panel The altarpiece is remembered in the church of Santo Spirito in Siena where it was painted in 1528 for a chapel that belonged to the Saracens. Originally equipped with a predella, now dismembered and dispersed, some fragments are known today in the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa (Kress collection), two in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and two formerly in the Scharf collection in London and now in the Getty Museum. Two sketches exist in the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints at the Uffizi. The work represents a canopy supported by angels under which Mary is depicted enthroned, at the top of a staircase looking at her infant son who is ringing Saint Catherine of Siena, kneeling on the right. On the sides are depicted some saints arranged in an orderly symmetry, among which we can recognize in the foreground the saints Peter and Paul, Saint Sigismund, Saint Dominic, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Bernardino of Siena and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, namesake of the Sienese saint from whom the iconography of the "mystical marriage" derives.
Allegory of Heavenly Love (circa 1504)
Giovanni Antonio Bazzi known as "Il Sodoma" (1477 - 1539) Oil on panel The Allegory of Celestial Love was a theme particularly dear to the Neoplatonic circles of 15th-century Florence. The subject derives from an engraving by Nicoletto da Modena, well-known among the intellectuals of the time, and is generally influenced by Florentine culture. In a classicizing setting, a female figure is depicted, dressed in ancient style, vaguely reminiscent of both Minerva (the helmet and the dress) and Venus (the nudity), and she is pouring water from a jug. Behind her, there is a sign with the word Celestes, and on the column the words Stinsi terenas, which means "I have extinguished earthly things". The allegory can therefore be interpreted as celestial love conquering earthly love.
Ariadne Abandoned (circa 1520)
Girolamo del Pacchia (1477 - 1533) Oil on panel A pupil of Giacomo Pacchiarotti and co-protagonist of painting in Siena in the early sixteenth century, the painter stands out for an advanced interpretation of Raffaello's art brought to Siena by Girolamo Genga. The panel was probably the front of a wedding chest. The subject represents the story of Ariadne, daughter of the king of Crete Minos and Pasiphae. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of wool (the proverbial thread of Ariadne) to be able to mark the path taken in the labyrinth and thus escape easily. She then fled with him and the other Athenians to Athens, but Theseus put her to sleep and then abandoned her on the island of Naxos (also called Dia).
Sleeping Herdymion and Selene (16th century)
Giorgio di Giovanni (documented from 1538 - 1559) Oil on panel The work is a fragment of an ancient backrest depicting the sleeping Endymion who abandons himself in a dilated landscape horizon which, described with care and naturalistic attention, recalls the pendant of Orpheus in the Prague castle of Šternberk: the acute characterization of Selene's horses, who abandon Endymion, and of the animals, enchanted by the musician, are evidently indebted to the decorative imagination of Giovanni da Udine.
Vase (circa 1730)
San Quirico d'Orcia and Bartolomeo Terchi Manufactory (1691 - 1766) MajolicaThe vase is part of a pair that bears the author's autograph signature "Bar: Terchi Ro[mano]" and can be dated around 1730. The style is the one that characterized the production of the majolica factory of San Quirico d'Orcia that was founded by the Chigi family at the end of the 17th century thanks also to the collaboration of the best decorators and ceramic painters of the time, such as the roman Bartolomeo Terchi and Ferdinando Maria Campani. The "historiated" majolica draws inspiration from the 17th century engravings of Raphaelesque origin and the subject represented is inspired by the legend of the Argonauts.
Holy Family with the Infant Saint John and an Angel (circa 1560)
Bartolomeo Neroni known as Il Riccio (1505 - 1571) Oil on panel The painter was a multifaceted artist who created numerous works in various fields during his life, painting, sculpture, miniature. He also enjoyed great fame as a military engineer, scenographer, architect. In this room there are several autographed paintings of private destination which reveal the owner of the house's strong interest in sixteenth-century painting of Michelangelo's influence.
Self-Portrait as a Warrior (circa 1643)
Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) Oil on canvas The painting, a masterpiece of portraiture by the Neapolitan master, must be dated to the Tuscan period of the artist who spent almost the entire fifth decade of the seventeenth century in Florence. The canvas depicts, on the basis of certain comparisons, almost certainly the painter in the act of unsheathing a sword, facing a wall, with a flag behind him. His features are proud and haughty and his face emerges from the background due to the intensity of his eyes framed by an imposing raven head. The tone is almost monochrome and in general one senses a sober tone given by the Spartan setting.
The Probatica pool (circa 1731)
Sebastiano Conca Oil on canvas The canvas is the preparatory sketch for the fresco in the apse of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, executed by the artist in 1732. The events surrounding the execution are linked to the commissioning of the rector Galgano Saracini dè Lucarini, who became Rector of Santa Maria della Scala in 1730, and who commissioned Conca, who was at the height of his career at the time. The Gospel story of John about the healing of the paralytic is set in the Bethesda neighborhood in Jerusalem. In that area, near a pool (a basin for collecting rainwater), a large number of sick and paralytics always stopped, waiting for a miraculous event to heal their infirmities. Jesus and the paralytic are depicted facing each other. The artist highlights Jesus' deep participation in the drama of the sick man by depicting him in the center of the composition with his palm facing upwards as if he wanted to act as a channel for the light that comes from the eternal in glory and from the angelic hosts represented in the upper part.
Casket (15th century)
Bottega degli embriachi (late 14th century - early 15th century) Ebony and ivory inlay The object is part of a series whose workmanship can be traced back to the production of the Bottega degli embriachi, a family of carvers active first in Florence (late 14th century) and then in Venice (early 15th century) who also distinguished themselves for the production of artefacts in various woods, natural bone (ivory had become rare and precious), horn, metal alloys, inlaid and/or carved which held the family jewels and were generally important wedding gifts. The inlays were called “alla Certosina” and have a series of ivory panels along the sides with scenes of courtly life and subjects taken from the allegorical repertoire according to a typical style of the International Gothic, of which the Bottega degli embriachi was one of the centres of diffusion in Italy.
Holy Family with the Infant Saint John and Saint Catherine of Siena (circa 1590)
Alessandro Casolani (1552-1606) Oil on canvas The canvas depicts Saint Catherine of Siena giving the Virgin and Child the lily of purity while at the same time showing the stigmata. Watching the scene are Saint John the Baptist and Saint Joseph behind them. Alessandro Casolani, one of the most representative painters of Counter-Reformation painting in Siena from the 1570s onwards, is the protagonist of a workshop of artists who work for numerous public and private institutions in Siena. Characterised by a chromatic sweetness and graceful forms, the figures that animate his paintings are plastic and calm while the nuanced tones take into account both the Venetian chromaticism and the narrative vivacity typical of sixteenth-century Roman painting.
Portrait of a young man (circa 1600)
Francesco Vanni (1564-1610) Oil on canvasFrancesco Vanni can be considered one of the most representative artists of Italian Counter-Reformation painting, summarizing in himself, to the point of making them his own, a large part of the most heterogeneous inventions of Tuscan-Roman culture of the late 16th century. This portrait of a young man was executed by the artist in full artistic maturity when, having extinguished the echoes of Barocci, he began to show a certain interest in Emilian painting. The young man, with Spanish features and pronounced ears, is elegantly dressed, with precious and refined fabrics. Chromatically luminous, the painting takes light from the embroidered and woven “a bobbin lace” lapel, a very ancient technique widespread in Flanders starting from the 15th century and from the handkerchief that the boy is holding in his hand.
Self-portrait (circa 1610)
Francesco Rustici (1592-1625) Oil on canvas Francesco Rustici, known as “il Rustichino”, after having begun his career in his father Vincenzo's workshop, stood out for his full adherence to the naturalistic art of Caravaggio's origin, characterised by the play of light in nocturnal visions, interpreted in particular by Nordic artists working in Italy, such as Gherardo delle Notti. The painter's self-portrait is part, as can be seen on the wall, of a series of four canvases, made on commission, which well represent Sienese painting of the early seventeenth century: Francesco Rustici, Alessandro Casolani, Rutilio Manetti and Domenico Manetti. Before entering the Galgano Saracini Collection, the paintings were part of the Gallery of Mario Tolomei, a Sienese nobleman and patron of many works of the time.
Pietà (circa 1590)
Rutilio Manetti (1571-1639) Oil on panel A student of Ventura Salimbeni and Francesco Vanni, the painter was also among the first artists to be influenced by the innovations of Federico Barocci, in particular with regard to the study of affections and the graceful rendering of sfumato. This large canvas, created for a church in Siena, belongs to the first period, so much so that it is considered one of his first works. The Virgin in Pietà, with her arms outstretched and her gaze turned towards the sky, seems torn as she presents the diaphanous body of her son embraced by two angels and lying on the ground. The chromatic range is an alternation of cold and iridescent tones taken from Barocci's painting. Very early on he approached Caravaggio's naturalism, with which he perhaps came into contact during a trip to Rome, creating, in addition to religious subjects, canvases with typical Caravaggio-style themes, such as banquets and concerts.
Apollo (circa 1650)
Raffaello Vanni (1590-1663) Oil on canvas The artist was the son of Francesco Vanni, of whom he was initially a pupil. After an initial apprenticeship in Siena, upon the death of his father in 1610, he moved to Rome and became a follower of Pietro da Cortona. In 1655 he became a member of the Accademia di San Luca and was appointed Prince from 1658 to 1660. The young Apollo, with his head crowned with a laurel wreath, is depicted in three-quarters and with his eyes turned to the sky. The parchment support suggests that the object, perhaps a fragment, is a study test. The painting, with broad brushstrokes of a thick and luminous colour, is typically Cortona-esque.
Crucifixion (1580)
Cristoforo Roncalli known as “il Pomarancio” (1552-1626) Oil on panel The painting comes from the former suppressed Monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli where it was exhibited together with its 'pendant', a Transfiguration also painted in 1580 by Roncalli. Both were purchased by Bernardino Saracini in 1783 and have since been placed in the room where they are now. The large panel is characterised by the very long figure of the crucified Christ in the foreground which acts as a watershed between the two groups of figures that are crowded together on the sides of the scene. The characters' clothes are made with a bright chromatic range, with a leaden, dark-toned sky in the background. The artist trained in the workshop of Niccolò Circignani, a Mannerist painter with whom he shares the nickname. The style of his early period remains strongly influenced by him, even if contemporary sources say he was attentive to the study of Raphael and ancient sculpture.
Fragments of a carriage (early 19th century)
Roman manufacturing Painted wood The series of consoles and corner cabinets that we find in the corners of the room are part of the ancient collection set-up. In reality, these pieces of furniture are the result of the adaptation, made at the beginning of the nineteenth century for Galgano Saracini, of four fragments of a gala carriage, perhaps the work of Roman craftsmen active around the middle of the eighteenth century, of which the doors were transformed into the current corner cabinets and the front and back parts into the two consoles. Inside the tables, in fact, where the marble tops of Seravezza breccia are placed, there are strips of a fabric covering, while in the two consoles you can see traces of the seat structure. The bases, in carved and gilded wood, are decorated with classical landscapes.
St. John the Baptist (1678)
Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644-1725) Terracotta The terracotta shows a careful and finished workmanship like those made to serve as models for larger works. In fact, it is considered the compositional model for the marble Saint John the Baptist that the artist sculpted together with another Saint John the Evangelist for the high altar of the Roman church of Gesù e Maria al Corso inaugurated in August 1680 with the two statues already placed in niches on the sides of a canvas by Giacinto Brandi. After a youthful training in his father's workshop, Mazzuoli was introduced to the studio of Ercole Ferrata where he worked closely with Melchiorre Caffà. In Rome, moreover, he can be found among the sculptors engaged in the decoration of the portico of St. Peter's as a collaborator of Gianlorenzo Bernini. Despite his Roman commitments, he became a point of reference for the Sienese who, in the last twenty years of the seventeenth century, commissioned sculptures from him destined for the baroque renovation of the main churches of the city.
Players and Musicians by Candlelight (1620)
Rutilio Manetti (1571-1639) Oil on canvas The theme of players and musicians gathered around a table is dear to Caravaggio's painting in Rome in the second and third decades of the seventeenth century. Manetti's interest in these subjects shows how the painter paid attention to the innovations introduced in Rome by Gherardo delle Notti in his works that he probably had the opportunity to admire in person at the time of the artist's passage through Florence. In Rome at the beginning of the seventeenth century, concerts were widely represented by Caravaggio's painters who loved to include the figures of musicians, with their instruments, within real genre scenes. Rutilio Manetti stood out in the Sienese cultural panorama for his attentive research into luministic-chromatic values in perfect harmony with Francesco Vanni and Ventura Salimbeni but more suited to Caravaggio's methods.
Bathsheba (1650)
Bernardino Mei (1612-1676) Oil on canvas The painting depicts a passage from the Old Testament (Psalm 51) which tells the story of King David who, walking on the terrace of his palace, saw, and fell in love with, the young and beautiful wife of one of his brave soldiers, Uriah the Hittite. Bathsheba, who would later become the mother of King Solomon, receives a note from a servant while she is getting dressed after a bath. The canvas is characterized by a high-quality chromatic research that uses very intense colors such as the blue of the woman's clothes. After an apprenticeship with Rutilio Manetti who undoubtedly influenced his early style, the painter developed an independent style based on the thoughtful use of light, which would evolve over the years with the comparison with the Roman painting of Andrea Sacchi. In this period the progression of the light that lingers, golden and with exact calculation, on the turned figures is perfected, merging with a soft painting and bright, cold chromatic tones, on which the cobalt blue stands out. These tests, which have led to calling into question the Bernini results of his circle, constitute the prelude to the unsurpassed and highly original creations of the Fifties.
Triumph of David (1648)
Raffaello Vanni (1587-1673) Oil on canvas According to recent studies, the painting was executed in series with the Judgement of Solomon by Mei and the Triumph of Hagar by Domenico Manetti, executed around 1648. It represents the moment when David with the head of Goliath makes his entrance into Jerusalem amidst a cheering crowd. Throughout the lively composition, a certain Cortonism can be felt, especially in the richness of the colours, in the multiplying and overlapping planes, in the large, moving draperies and, in general, in the lively atmosphere of the painting, closer to the representation of a country celebration than a biblical scene.
Galgano's Study
The gallery is closed by a room decorated with a “mirror compass” placed in line with the other doors of the rooms starting from the Vivaldi Hall and is decorated with a fresco by Antonio Castelletti with “Ceres in her chariot pulled by Dragons and four celestial cupids representing the Seasons”. Inside are preserved, almost as if in a treasure chest, the works then considered precious: small paintings, small pictures in inlay of semiprecious stones depicting flowers and birds, excavation objects, medals, ceramic plates. On the shelves of the walls is the collection of archaeological and Renaissance bronzes, alternating with small busts of emperors and terracotta sketches while on the table are displayed numerous artefacts that intend to demonstrate the eclecticism of Galgano Saracini's interests.
Ceres in her chariot drawn by dragons and four celestial cupids representing the Seasons (19th century)
Antonio Castelletti (1764 - 1840) Ceiling fresco
Adoration of the Magi (1440)
Stefano di Giovanni known as Sassetta (1400-1450) Oil on panel Together with the Journey of the Magi, now at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, this fragment was part of a panel that was probably cut during the nineteenth century. From a stylistic point of view, the great precedent that Sassetta kept in mind for this work is the famous Strozzi altarpiece, painted by Gentile da Fabriano for the church of Santa Trinita in Florence in 1423, a true masterpiece of International Gothic painting in Italy. Some scholars have indicated that the face of the grey-haired Magus King, who prostrates himself before Christ and who we see in a slightly foreshortened form, is a portrait of Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg, who between 1432 and 1433 had the opportunity to stop in Siena before being crowned in Rome. And the reference to this important political event would still be present in the depiction of a young falconer wearing a curious, large fur hat, in the Bohemian fashion, similar to those that could be seen in Siena on the occasion of the arrival of the imperial procession.
Cross of St. Martin (circa 1433)
Stefano di Giovanni known as il Sassetta (1400-1450) Oil on panel Thanks to local eighteenth-century art historiography we know that in 1820 in the church of San Martino in Siena the friars were sawing a cross “to make doors” painted in 1433 and preserved in the reflector. It was probably in that year that the three surviving fragments entered the collection of 'primitives' of Galgano Saracini: Mary in Sorrow, Saint John in Sorrow and Saint Martin and the Poor, considered an important example of Sassetta's style influenced by Masaccio.
Etruscan Urn
Terracotta
Portrait of Marco Saracini (1826)
Pietro Benvenuti (1769-1844) Oil on canvas
Lorenzo de Medici and his court
Amos Cassioli (1832 - 1891)
Portrait of Fabio Chigi Saracini (1906)
Fulvio Corsini (1874 – 1938) Bronze
Portrait of Guido Chigi Saracini (1946)
Vico Consorti (1902 - 1979) Carved marble
Woman of the House of Chigi (circa 1520)
Andrea del Brescianino (circa 1486 – circa 1525) Oil on panel
Japanese cabinet (18th century)
Pharmacy jars (16th century)
Castelli Manufacture Porcelain
St. Francis in Ecstasy (circa 1640)
Bernardo Strozzi (about 1640) Oil on canvas
Snuffbox with musical score (18th century)
French manufacture Porcelain
Battle (17th century)
Filippo Napoletano (1589 - 1629) Oil on copper
Pietà (circa 1542)
Giorgio Vasari (1511 - 1574) Oil on panel
Garland of flowers
Giovanni Stanchi (1608 - 1675) Oil on canvas
Madonna with Child and Saints (16th century)
Follower of Giovanni Bellini Oil on panel
Angel
Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644 - 1725) Terracotta
Heroines (1505)
Domenico Beccafumi (1486 - 1551) Oil on panel
Ship
Agostino Tassi (1580 - 1644) Oil on canvas
Case with Saints
Carved wood
Saint Catherine (1610)
Pietro Sorri (1556 - 1622)
Caesar (mid-17th century)
Alessandro Algardi (1598 - 1654) Burnished terracotta
Annunciation (about 1350)
Giovanni di Agostino Marble high relief
Faith (1596)
Bernardino Mei (1612 - 1676) Oil on canvas
Risen Christ (1550)
Bartolomeo Neroni known as Il Riccio (circa 1505 – 1571) Oil on canvas
Chess Game (1640)
Rutilio Manetti (1571 - 1639) Oil on canvas
Susanna at the Bath (1600)
Jacopo Negretti known as Palma il giovane (1549 - 1628) Oil on canvas
Cabinet (18th century)
Painted wood
Ship
Agostino Tassi (1580 - 1644) Oil on canvas
Trompe l'oeil (1695)
Carlo Sferini (1652 - 1698) Oil on canvas
Angels
Gano di Fazio (13th century – 1317) Carved marble
