The gallery, established in 1936, is housed in the rooms of the Palazzo d’Accursio, inhabited until 1859 by the papal legate. The exhibition arrangement was overseen by Guido Zucchini, an engineer and art historian who had organized the exhibition dedicated to 18th-century Bolognese art in those spaces the previous year (1935), also aimed at promoting the museographic use of the legate’s apartment. The taste for environmental reconstruction prevails in the exhibition layout, where a rich heritage of works received by the municipality in the post-unification period (Palagi inheritance, 1860; Baruzzi, 1878) and in the early 20th century (Pepoli, Pizzardi, Rusconi bequests) has found a place, in addition to 18th-century furnishings already preserved in the Palazzo d’Accursio.
It is possible to admire the group of eighteen paintings by Donato Creti gifted to the senate in 1744 (Stories of Achilles, Virtues), grouped in the Vidoniana Gallery frescoed by Mengazzino and Caccioli in 1665. More than two hundred works are exhibited in the twenty rooms of the Collections (including the Farnese Room, the Coat of Arms Room, the Verdela Room, Room II with paintings by the Gandolfis) where, alongside nationally significant paintings—by Signorelli, Tintoretto, Artemisia Gentileschi, Nuvolone, Pietro Longhi—the Emilian figurative production predominates with Vitale da Bologna, Lippo di Dalmasio, Jacopo di Paolo, Francesco Francia (Crucifixion), Ludovico Carracci, Cittadini, Cagnacci, Giuseppe Maria Crespi (Portrait of Lambertini), Ubaldo and Gaetano Gandolfi (Andromeda and Perseus). The Rusconi rooms are dedicated to decorative arts from the 16th to 18th centuries, culminating in the famous country room by Valliani and Martinelli (early 19th century); one room documents Palagi as an artist and collector.
The 19th-century section showcases works by Hayez (Ruth), Fantuzzi, Serra, Mancini, Faccioli. The culture of Alfonso Rubbiani is featured in the third room, represented by restoration projects and Aemilia Ars embroidery. Of great importance and beauty is the Farnese Chapel with frescoes by Prospero Fontana (Stories of the Virgin). Among the furnishings are the famous Bentivoglio Cassone and the Clock Automata.
Information on Civic Museums of Ancient Art: Bologna Municipal Art Collections
Piazza Maggiore, 6,
40121 Bologna
0512193631
museiarteantica@comune.bologna.it
https://www.comune.bologna.it/iperbole/museicivici
Source: MIBACT
