Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria

The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria is the Italian national paintings collection of Umbria, housed in the Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia, in central Italy. Its collection comprises the greatest representation of the Umbrian School of painting, ranging from the 13th to the 19th century, strongest in the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. The collection is presented in 40 galleries in the Palazzo.

The origins of the collection lie in the founding of the Perugian Accademia del Disegno in the mid-16th century. The Academy had its original seat in the Convento degli Olivetani at Montemorcino, where a collection of paintings and drawings began to be assembled. With the suppression of religious houses imposed by the Napoleonic administration, and imposed once again by the united Kingdom of Italy, much of the heritage of Italian art that had come to be the property of the Church became the property of the State.

In 1863, the civic paintings collection was formally named to commemorate Pietro Vannucci, but the problem of establishing an appropriate site to house the collection was not solved until 1878, when it came to be housed on the third floor of the Palazzo dei Priori, in the center of Perugia. With the addition of acquisitions, donations and bequests, the pinacoteca became the Regia Galleria Vannucci in 1918, under the patronage of the king.

Collections

A brief overview of the museum in the official website lists:

First Floor

• Halls 1-4 13th and 14th-century paintings and sculptures, including Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, and Arnolfo di Cambio
• Halls 5-7 15th-century Sienese and Florentine painting, including Duccio di Boninsegna
• Halls 8-11 Renaissance masterworks: Beato Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, Piero della Francesca
• Halls 12-16 15th-century Marchigian and Umbrian paintings, including Benedetto Bonfigli
• Hall 17 The "Treasure" - 13th to 15th century jewelry and ivory
• Hall 18 Sala del Delegato - umbrian tapestry
• Hall 19 Agostino di Duccio sculptural fragments
• Hall 20 Arti minori (artisan work)
• Hall 21 Cappella dei Priori

Second Floor

• Halls 22-26 Renaissance masterworks: Perugino, Pintoricchio, and Francesco di Giorgio Martini
• Halls 27–30 First half of 16th-century Umbrian painting
• Halls 31-33 Umbrian Mannerism
• Sala dell’Orologio
• Halls 33-34 Martinelli Collection
• Halls 35-37 1500-1600: Classicism and Caravaggisti; Refectory of the Priors
• Hall 38 18th century
• Hall 39 19th-century topography of Perugia
• Hall 40 Luigi Carattoli Collection

External links

• Gallery website