The Gallery

“Room for walking and in which there are pictures and items of value”: it was thus that a seventeenth-century edition of the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca defined the space of the gallery, an architectural type which comes into existence in France in the middle of the seventeenth century, then passing, with variations to Italy and other European countries.

The Gallery of Giovanni Andrea Doria, although up to now ignored by literature on the subject, is of great interest as regards the diffusion in northern Italy of features of this type, which, according to a definition given to it by Vincenzo Scamozzi at the beginning of the eighteenth century, suited “only gentlemen, and great persons” (Scamozzi 1615).

It is elongated in form (ca. 33 x 7.2 m.), open on two sides with a succession of windows, from which it was possible to enjoy the view of the spacious gardens of the palace and built over an open arcade (blocked up in the 1930s to provide an apartment); it corresponds precisely to the most up-to-date canons of a gallery “alla francese”, started in Italy with the gallery of the Palazzo Rucellai Ruspoli in Rome (ca. 1580) and repeated in the “Galleria degli Antichi” built by Vespasiano Gonzaga at Sabbioneta in 1583-84, considered the most important structure of this type in northern Italy. Given the international diffusion of this architectural “type”, it is important to emphasize that even Gonzaga, like Doria, was for a long time in the service of the king of Spain, Philip II: inspiration from the galleries of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial cannot be excluded in this choice of commission.

As far as Giovanni Andrea is concerned, in particular, mention must be made of the famous “Gallery of the Battles”, the walls of which were frescoed between 1585 and 1591 by the Genoese artists Fabrizio Castello, Nicolò Granello, Lazzaro Tavarone and Orazio Cambiaso.

A document in the State Archive of Genoa supplies us with important particulars concerning the construction of the gallery of Palazzo del Principe. On Friday 2 September 1594, maestro Battista Cantone and maestro Luca Carlone, son of maestro Domenico, builders, undertook with the prince Giovanni Andrea to carry out the following works: “Attach to the Palazzo di Fassolo on the west side a Gallery 103 palms long, 25 clear palms wide and 24 high, and above it rooms which are understood to conform to the model made, with the rest of this construction to be continued following the height and proportion of the rest of said palace. At the head of said Gallery, on the west, will be constructed a loggia, covered with its own columns and balustrade in white marble…; to the east of said loggia, a room, with a Chapel all in the form of the model signed by Petro Serra , which he gave him” (Alfonso 1985).

Pietro Serra, a nobleman, who signed the model in acceptance, is the representative of the prince and is mentioned in many of the contracts of this type, amongst which is the documentation regarding the works at Villa Doria at Pegli and at the church of San Benedetto, next to the Palazzo del Principe. The document continues by specifying that a pre-existing “wall” on the north side will be reused, whereas on the south side will be inserted supporting pilasters in the “small garden”, and that the “astreghi” (the paving stones) will have to be “beaten” (the present flooring is marble date to the nineteenth century) in the internal spaces, while in the loggia and on the terrace will be positioned “black octangles and white squares”, which still exist, although partly restored.

The contract establishes furthermore that the works must be completed within July 1595. The use of slaves is specified, paid 10 soldi each in summer and 8 in winter. The vault of the Gallery is characterized by a decorative structure based on central “filled panels”, lunettes and wide corbels: it is therefore adapted to the dimension and the specific shape of the room by the typical division of the rooms added at the time of Giovanni Andrea on the two sides of the Palace. The initial portion of the vault, on the east side, was destroyed during the Second World War in the course of a bombardment. The architectural restoration has recently been carried out; unfortunately most of the decoration in this area has been irreparably lost.