The Colonna Gallery of Rome was inaugurated by Lorenzo Onofrio’s son, Filippo II, in the year 1700. The original project is by the Architect Antonio del Grande; it was then integrated, in the last decades of the 1600s, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Paolo Schor, and Carlo Fontana.
From the very beginning, the Gallery was conceived as a grand representative hall, meant to suitably celebrate the victory of the Christian fleet over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Marcantonio II Colonna was the true victor of the Battle of Lepanto of 1571: it is to him that the entire decoration of the Gallery is dedicated.
This historically significant event is depicted in the frescoes of the Great Hall, and their splendor is due to the mastery of painters such as Coli and Gherardi. The frescoes of the Passage Hall, with the marvelous “Allegory of the Battle,” date instead to the 18th century. The Column Hall, then, is a genuine celebration of Marcantonio II and his apotheosis.
It must be said that the entire Gallery was designed to be seen as an artistic jewel itself: the pictorial masterpieces are countless, and the fact that the talents of Tintoretto, Guido Reni, Pietro da Cortona, and many others were employed adds to it. Ancient marbles and frames with a vague and sensual Baroque flavor complete the splendid collections of the Colonna family. Very interesting, within this apartment, are finally the chests of the Passage Hall, truly magnificent and precious, a genuine treasure of wood and precious stones (a true triumph of ebony and ivory craftsmanship).
The other genuine marvel of the Colonna Gallery is undoubtedly the apartment of Princess Isabelle. It is essentially a wing of the palace dating back to the 15th century and still reflects the important residence of Pope Martin V, who lived here until 1431.
The main attractions of this apartment are certainly awakened by the frescoes by Bernardino di Betto, a painter better known as Pinturicchio, capable of making the Fountain Hall a true masterpiece. In the 1500s, it was Cardinal Borromeo who stayed in these rooms, the period of maximum prestige and splendor for the building: the greatest artists and painters of that era passed through here and breathed the Baroque air of the halls. The rich and vast decoration of the subsequent period is owed to Gaspard Dughet and Carlo Cesi.
Even Northern painting finds an adequate place in this apartment: paintings by Brueghel the Elder and views by Van Wittel have been jealously and preciously preserved, and today all visitors benefit from them. The name of the apartment derives from the fact that Princess Isabelle Colonna stayed here until 1984: her grandchildren wanted to dedicate this refined and historically important wing to her memory.
