Key to Umbria: Perugia
 

The important art collection of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia is housed in Palazzo Baldeschi Cennini.

Works Attributed to Matteo da Gualdo (15th century)

   

Two works that are attributed to Matteo da Gualdo form part of the collection:

  1. a damaged panel of the Madonna and Child with SS Mary Magdalene and Lucy, which could have come from the Monastero di SS Lucia e Maria Maddalena in Gualdo Tadino; and

  2. a panel of the Assumption of the Virgin with SS Thomas and Sebastian, which could have come from the chapel in San Benedetto, Gualdo Tadino that was dedicated to St Thomas in 1488.

Madonna and Child (ca. 1495) 

The provenance of this panel, which is attributed to Perugino, is unknown before 1847, when it belonged to Colonel George Lindsay Holford in London.  The foundation bought it in1987.  The panel depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned with two cherubs: the central figures are based on those of Perugino’s Decemviri Altarpiece (1495-6).




Pietà with saints (early 16th century)


This panel, which is attributed to Nicolò di Liberatore, l' Alunno and Lattanzio di Nicolò, might be the Pietà from San Bartolomeo di Marano that is mentioned in the will of the latter.  It depicts the dead Christ on his sarcophagus with the Virgin and SS Francis, John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalen and  two other female saints.

Martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria (1582)

This panel, which has been cut down at the sides, is dated by inscription but is of unknown provenance.  The arms next to the inscription seem to be those of the Zuccari family, and the work is attributed to Federico Zuccari.  It depicts St Catherine standing next to the broken wheel upon which she was supposed to have been martyred.  A number of her persecutors have been wounded by the miraculous destruction of the wheel, while others flee in terror.

St Martin and the Beggar (ca. 1630)

Giovanni Baglione records in his autobiography that Cardinal Gaspare Borgia commissioned this altarpiece for his chapel in the Chiesa della Madonna di San Giovannino, Rome.   It entered the collection in 1999.

Scenes from the Life of St Peter (early 17th century)

    

These panels, which are attributed to Avanzino Nucci, depict:

  1. St Peter and Simon Magi; and

  2. St Peter converting the centurion Cornelius.

Deposition (17th century)

This panel, which seems to have been painted in Naples, is attributed to Ippolito Borghesi.  It entered the collection in 1998 and was restored shortly thereafter.





Agony of Christ at Gethsemane (17th century)

This small panel, which is of unknown provenance, is attributed to Vincenzo Pellegrini.






Works by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (17th century)

The art collection includes three works that are attributed to Giovanni Domenico Cerrini, il Cavalier Perugino:
  1. Roman charity (a story told by ancient Roman authors in which Xanthippe fed her father Mycon with her own milk when his gaolers forbade him food) - illustrated here; and

  2. two scenes from the story of Abraham and Hagar:

  3. Abraham sends Hagar into the desert; and

  4. an angel instructs her to return.



Marsyas’ Challenge to Apollo (17th century)


The collection contains two panels that are attributed to Francesco Allegrini.  They depict:

  1. the taking of auguries that led to the foundation of Rome by Romulus and remus; and

  2. the satyr Marsyas challenging Apollo to a musical contest, a presumption that will lead to his flaying and death (illustrated here).

Cain killing Abel (17th century)


This panel is attributed to Andrea Camassei.

Soldiers in a Landscape (17th century)

This panel, which is of unknown provenance, is attributed to Pietro Montanini.


Scenes from the Life of Samson (1716)

   

These two panels, which are signed by Giacinto Boccanera, depict:

  1. Samson burns Philistine crops; and

  2. Delilah arranging the cutting of Samson’s hair.

Allegory of the New Testament (1745)

This panel, which is signed by Etienne Parrocel and dated by inscription, depicts a woman who represents the New Testament repelling heretics.

Preparatory Sketch (ca. 1803)

This sketch in oil, which is signed by Jean Baptiste Wicar, depicts Roman charity (a story told by ancient Roman authors in which Xanthippe fed her father Mycon with her own milk when his gaolers forbade him food).  The associated final panel was apparently submitted by Wicar to the Accademia di San Luca in 1803 to support his application for membership.  It has since disappeared.  The sketch, which was still in Wicar’s studio in Rome when he died in 1834, passed into a private collection and was bought by the Foundation in 2003.

Preparatory Sketch (ca. 1826)

This sketch in oil by Jean Baptiste Wicar was made in preparation for his last work, the altarpiece (1826-35) of the Baptism of Christ  for the Duomo, Foligno (above).  The work was protracted: the sketch and the incomplete panel were still in Wicar’s studio in Rome when he died in 1834.  His pupil, Decio Trabalza completed the panel, and it is still in the Duomo.  The sketch, which passed into a private collection, was bought by the Foundation in 2003.

Papal Forces at Porta San Costanza (ca. 1870)

This panel is attributed to Napoleone Verga.


Read more:

F. Mancini (Ed.),“Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia: Le Sedi e la Collezione”, (2003) Perugia


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