The National Art Gallery of Bologna (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna) is a museum in Bologna, Italy. It is located in the former Saint Ignatius Jesuit novitiate of the city's University district, and inside the same building that houses the Academy of Fine Arts. The museum offers a wide collection of Emilianpaintings from the 13th to the 18th century and other fundamental works by artists who were in some way related to the city.
According to 18th-century Italian art historian Luigi Crespi, it was cardinal Prospero Lambertini, who would later become Pope Benedict XIV, the one who planned a Gallery for altarpieces in the churches of the city.
The gallery's first nucleus of works came from the acquisition in 1762 by monsignor Francesco Zambeccari of eight early 15th-century altarpieces, salvaged from the demolition of Saint Mary Magdalene's church. Bought for the Istituto delle Scienze, the art pieces were to be preserved by the Accademia Clementina, the Institute's artistic section. In 1776 a dozen of 13th-century altarpieces and Byzantine icons, which came from Urbano Savorgnan's legacy and formerly located at the Saint Philip Neri's Oratory, were also bought for the Accademia.
In 1796, with the fall the Pope's regime and the new republican laws, which suppressed many convents and all the guilds, and shut down the old regime's head offices, the Bolognese senate decided to merge the suppressed churches' and convents' paintings and Accademia delle Scienze's holdings into one single collection, gathering almost one thousand works, organized first at the former Convent of Saint Vitalis, then in 1802 at the former Jesuit novitiate of Saint Ignatius in the Borgo della Paglia, now called via delle Belle Arti 56, made by Alfonso Torreggiani in 1726 to house the newly created gallery of National Academy of Fine Arts.
19th and 20th centuries
With the fall of the Napoleonic empire in 1815, many works seized by the French were returned from the Louvre to the city. The first enlargement of the collection, carried out by Leandro Marcon dates back to this time. In 1826 Gaetano Giordani made the first catalog. The collection was enlarged again in 1844, when the museum now added the convent's chapel, which had ceiling frescoes depicting the Apotheosis of St Ignatius of Loyola. Between 1867 and 1868, many paintings coming from further suppressions were added. In 1875, the pinacoteca was opened regularly for the public, in 1882 the Gallery became autonomous and, in 1884 Zambeccari Collection was acquired.
In the first years of the 20th century another wing was built under the supervision of Edoardo Collamarini. In the late sixties under supervisor Cesare Gnudi and based on Leone Pancaldi's project, the Salone del Rinascimento was created to host the frescoes brought from the Sant'Apollonia di Mezzaratta church. In 1997 the Gallery was completely renovated to comply the European standards, and it is one of the best known Italian art galleries, internationally known and appreciated for its space dedicated exclusively to temporary exhibitions and for its educational activities.
Agostino Carracci was an Italian painter, printmaker, tapestry designer, and art teacher. He was, together with his brother, Annibale Carracci, and cousin, Ludovico Carracci, one of the founders of the Accademia degli Incamminati in Bologna. Intended to devise alternatives to the Mannerist style favored in the preceding decades, this teaching academy helped propel painters of the School of Bologna to prominence.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as (il) Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner contrasts with the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.
Annibale Carracci was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of the Baroque style, borrowing from styles from both north and south of their native city, and aspiring for a return to classical monumentality, but adding a more vital dynamism. Painters working under Annibale at the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese would be highly influential in Roman painting for decades.
Guido Reni was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but also mythological and allegorical subjects. Active in Rome, Naples, and his native Bologna, he became the dominant figure in the Bolognese School that emerged under the influence of the Carracci.
Pietro Perugino, born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil.
Domenico Zampieri, known by the diminutive Domenichino after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters.
Francesco Albani or Albano was an Italian Baroque painter who was active in Bologna (1591–1600), Rome (1600–1609), Bologna (1609), Viterbo (1609–1610), Bologna (1610), Rome (1610–1617), Bologna (1618–1660), Mantova (1621–1622), Roma (1623–1625) and Florence (1633).
Giacomo Cavedone was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School.
Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, also known as Giovanni Battista Salvi, was an Italian Baroque painter, known for his archaizing commitment to Raphael's style. He is often referred to only by the town of his birthplace (Sassoferrato), as was customary in his time, and for example seen with da Vinci and Caravaggio.
Simone Cantarini or Simone da Pesaro, called il Pesarese was an Italian painter and etcher. He is known mainly for his history paintings and portraits executed in an original style, which united aspects of Bolognese classicism with a bold naturalism.
Giuseppe Maria Crespi, nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo, was an Italian late Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. His eclectic output includes religious paintings and portraits, but he is now most famous for his genre paintings.
Carlo Maratta or Maratti was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition stemming from Raphael, he was not exempt from the influence of Baroque painting and particularly in his use of colour. His contemporary and friend, Giovanni Bellori, wrote an early biography on Maratta.
The Pinacoteca di Brera is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of the Brera Academy, which shares the site in the Palazzo Brera.
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena.
Vitale da Bologna, also known as Vitale di Aymo de' Cavalli or Vitale degli Equi, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance.
Ginevra Cantofoli (1618–1672) was an Italian painter. She was active in Bologna during the Baroque period.
Simone di Filippo Benvenuti, known as Simone dei Crocifissi or Simone da Bologna, was an Italian painter. Born and died in Bologna, he painted many religious panel paintings, and also frescoes in the churches of Santo Stefano and San Michele in Bosco, both at Bologna.
San Giovanni in Monte is a 15th-century Roman Catholic church in Bologna, Italy.
Santa Maria Lacrimosa degli Alemanni is a small church and sanctuary, built during the Renaissance era, and located on Via Mazzini number 65 in central Bologna, Italy.
The Pala della Peste or Pallione del Voto is an oil on silk Baroque-style altarpiece by Guido Reni depicts the Madonna and Child in Glory with the Patron Saints of Bologna: Petronius, Francis, Ignatius, Francis Xavier, Proculus of Bologna, and Florian.
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