The Assisi Diocesan Museum, in the city of Assisi, Italy, was founded in 1941 by bishop Giuseppe Placido Niccolini to preserve the most important works of art of the Assisi Cathedral and of several oratories of Assisi's confraternities. The museum is located underneath the piazza of the cathedral and has a collection consisting of about 300 works of which 100 are on display, exhibited in the museum's nine sections.
The museum was founded in 1941, by bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini. Its original location was on the ground floor of the parish office, and consisted of four rooms and an annex of historical archives. Entrance was through the cathedral itself and the museum could be visited only by appointment. In the 1990s bishop Sergio Goretti, in addition to encouraging the regular daily opening of the old exhibition spaces, began to consider a reorganization that would be more appropriate for the museum's objects. This gave rise to the project of expanding and refurbishing the museum's space to make it more suitable to the collection.
Following the reconstruction of the earthquake of 1997 and the Jubilee year the spaces underneath the palazzo dei canonici, the cloister, and the crypt were restored. The final exhibition space, now on two floors, was finished and opened to the public on 15 April 2006.[1] The museum now has two entrances, one still found in the cathedral itself (near the chapel of the Holy Eucharist) and a second in the piazza (at the entrance of the palazzo of the canons).
Exhibition spaces
Corridor
In the corridor are archeological displays of items found in the immediate area, including capitals sculpted in limestone, rediscovered in the crypt but originally from the cathedral, and datable to between the 8th and the 12th centuries.[1] Among the items from the Roman era is the front of the sarcophagus with Nikai Clipeofore and the libation rite dated to the 2nd century.
The corridor
Master of St. Clare room
In the St. Clare room are detached frescoes attributed to the Master of Santa Chiara, an anonymous artist of the 13th century that takes his name from an icon found in the Basilica of St. Clare in Assisi.[2] Originally these frescoes decorated an area above today's chapel of the Madonna del Pianto which corresponds to the old left apse of the cathedral that was separated from the rest of the church with the modifications of Galeazzo Alessi in the 16th century.
Nicolò Alunno room
This room has the polyptych of San Rufino (1462) by Foligno artist Nicolò di Liberatore (also known as l'Alunno). In the predella are scenes of the martyrdom of San Rufino, the patron of the city of Assisi, including the miraculous finding of his body and its transfer into the walls of the city. Also in this area are two predellas by Dono Doni (1563) as well as sacred vessels and liturgical vestments from the 17th through the 19th centuries.[1]
Crypt of San Rufino
The Romanesque crypt of San Rufino (11th century) is divided into three naves with an apse and has vaulted arches supported by columns resting on arches. The symbols of the four evangelists are carved into the vaults and are dated to the middle of the 11th century. Inside the crypt is a Roman sacrophagus from the beginning of the third century depicting the myth of Selene and Endimone in which the body of San Rufino was originally placed. Also visible in the crypt is part of a Roman wall in opus quadratum, that was rediscovered underneath the cathedral. The crypt is one of the places that Francis of Assisi went to pray when preaching in the cathedral.
Crypt of San Rufino - 11th century
Cloister
The cloister (11th century) is surrounded by old portico with arches and capitals, and has at its center a well from the Roman era, known as the pozzo della Mensa.
Diocesan room
This room houses objects from the churches and monuments of the diocesan territory. Of special interest is the work of Matteo da Gualdo.[3]
Confraternity room
This room contains objects from the oratories of the confraternities of Assisi and a few processional banners, the oldest of which dates to 1378 and belonged to the Confraternity of St. Francis of the Stigmata. The frescoes in this room recount the story of Christ's passion, and were removed from the oratory of the Confraternity of San Rufinuccio and were painted by Puccio Capanna and Pace di Bartolo. Of particular historical interest is the banner painted by Orazio Riminaldi (1593-1630) for the Confraternity of Santa Caterina that depicts on one side the martyrdome of St. Catherine and on the other side the figures of St. James and St. Anthony the Abbot.[1]
Engraved stone tablets
This section contains engraved tablets, including gravestones, discovered during the excavations surrounding the cathedral.[1]
Sermei room
This room was inaugurated in 2014 and contains liturgical objects, silver smithery, and paintings attributed to the Umbrian painter Cesare Sermei. Among the works conserved here is the silver bust reliquary of San Rufino made by Paolo Spagna, and the large, recently restored painting by Sermei of St Francis blessing the city of Assisi at his death.
Perkins room
This room displays works donated to the Diocese of Assisi by the American art collector Frederick Mason Perkins,[4][5] who lived for many years in Assisi and died there in 1955. Exhibited are 32 works of Italian artists including: a Madonna attributed to the circle of Francesco di Giorgio Martini, a wooden sculpture attributed by some critics to Jacopo della Quercia, and 14th century Dormitio Virginis attributed to Jacopo Avanzi which was stolen by Nazi soldiers from Perkin's villa in Sassoforte a Lastra a Signa and was recovered by the carabinieri and returned to the museum in 2015.[1]
Assisi is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio.
Luca Signorelli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona, in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the Last Judgment (1499–1503) in Orvieto Cathedral are considered his masterpiece.
Pietro Lorenzetti or Pietro Laurati was an Italian painter, active between c. 1306 and 1345. Together with his younger brother Ambrogio, he introduced naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimensional and spatial arrangements, the brothers foreshadowed the art of the Renaissance.
The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in central Italy, where Saint Francis was born and died. It is a papal minor basilica and one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy. With its accompanying friary, Sacro Convento, the basilica is a distinctive landmark to those approaching Assisi. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.
Cagli[ˈkaʎʎi] is a town and comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, central Italy. It c. 30 kilometres south of Urbino. The Burano flows near the town.
The basilica diSan Pietro is a Catholic basilica and abbey in the Italian city of Perugia.
The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels is a papal minor basilica situated in the plain at the foot of the hill of Assisi, Italy, in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
Assisi Cathedral, dedicated to San Rufino, is a major church in Assisi, Italy. This stately church in Umbrian Romanesque style was the third church built on the same site to contain the remains of bishop Rufinus of Assisi, martyred in the 3rd century. The construction was started in 1140 to the designs by Giovanni da Gubbio, as attested by the wall inscription visible inside the apse. He may be the same Giovanni who designed the rose-window on the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore in 1163.
Vitale da Bologna, also known as Vitale di Aymo de' Cavalli or Vitale degli Equi, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance.
Bernardino Lanini or Lanino was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Milan.
Lorenzo di Bicci was an Italian painter of the Florentine School considered to be one of the most important painters in Florence during the second half of the 14th century. He is believed to have learned his trade from his father, about whom little is known. Lorenzo’s style, as well as that of his contemporaries Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, was influenced by the artist Andrea di Cione. Lorenzo's paintings made use of bright colors and his compositions avoided complexity. The figures he painted tended to have round faces and were often expressionless. Another one of Lorenzo's distinctive characteristics was his precision of execution. He was known for exceptional talent in drawing, an ability that he put to use at the initial stages of his painting. Unlike many celebrated Florentine artists of this period, Lorenzo mostly received commissions from the country clergy and from the lower-middle-class Florentine guilds. His successors, Bicci di Lorenzo and Neri di Bicci, continued to serve these groups.
Mariotto di Nardo di Cione was a Florentine painter in the Florentine Gothic style. He worked at the Duomo of Florence, the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Orsanmichele. He created both frescoes and panel paintings, and was also active as a manuscript illuminator.
The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, also known as Sanctuary of the Spoliation, is a church in Assisi, Umbria, central Italy.
The Master of Staffolo was an anonymous late-Gothic style painter active in the region of Marche and Umbria.
The Diocesan museum of sacred art in Arezzo was founded in 1963 but opened regularly to the public only in 1985, and was housed in several rooms above the sacristy of the Cathedral of San Donato. In 2011 it was relocated to the first floor of the bishop's residence. The museum exhibits works of art and liturgical items, from the 12th to the 19th centuries, that come from the cathedral and other churches in the diocesan territory, significant for their religious and cultural significance to Arezzo and the surrounding area. Highlights of the museum include several works of Giorgio Vasari and the Pace di Siena.
The Diocesan museum of Genoa is located in Genova in the region of Liguria. It is found inside the old residence of the canons of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and is accessible through the cloister of San Lorenzo. The cloister, built in the 12th century, is characterized by two levels of arches resting on double Romanesque columns with leaved capitals. In the 17th century two sides of the building were modified, with the double columns substituted with heavy pilasters in order to support the above two floors constructed for additional space. The museum houses objects from the diocese of Genoa and the surrounding area, including sculptures, paintings, frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, and a series of liturgical items, as well as an archeological area.
Frederick Mason Perkins was an American art historian, critic, and collector.
The Oratory of the Compagnia di San Bernardino is a place of worship in the Piazza San Francesco in Siena. Elevated to minor basilica status in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, it adjoins rooms housing the diocesan museum. It is notable for its frescoes from various 16th- and 17th-century Sienese painters like Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi. The oratory is almost adjacent to the Basilica of San Francesco, Siena.
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