The Room of Paris

The vault of the room, recently restored, was badly damaged by the bombardments of the Second World War. The central part of the stucco decoration represented the Judgment of Paris: the composition of the scene was inspired by an engraving of Marcantonio Raimondi, taken from a design by Raphael. The decoration, of which survive in part the figured lunettes, may probably be attributed to Marcello Sparzo, a stucco-moulder from Urbino, and artist of the stuccoes which embellish the Galleria Aurea and the other rooms added to the palace at the end of the sixteenth century.

The textile furnishings of the room, consisting of panels of silk taffeta in alternating colours which cover both the walls and the bed, is based on the description of the walls contained in the Inventory of the Possessions of Prince Giovanni Andrea I (1606): the palace was famous for the richness of the precious fabrics which covered its walls, displayed in rotation according to the season or to the occasion (for “royal guests”, when the prince received sovereigns and emperors, the most refined cloths were displayed, naturally).

In this room there are paintings, documents and objects which record the significant moments in the history of the Dorias. The large picture dominated by the image of a galley packed with allegorical figures is traditionally called the Triumph of Andrea Doria, but more exactly is the Passage of the handing over of power. In this painting, whose author is unknown, is represented the old prince Andrea, who makes a sign to Liberalitas to place a crown on a young man: this is the nominated heir, Giovanni Andrea I, indicated as “Genuae spes altera magnae”, that is to say “the second hope of great Genoa”. After his father Giannettino had been killed in 1547, it fell to him to manage the fortunes of the family on the death of Andrea (1560).

There are important mementoes in the nineteenth-century showcase under the painting, held up on two magnificent gilt eagles - heraldic symbol of the Doria family and sculpted in the last years of the seventeenth century by Filippo Parodi. This famous Baroque painter was also responsible for the rich intaglio of the console standing against the opposite wall of the room, in which are portrayed two tritons (the top in false marble is restored), and the four gilt volutes, notable for their liberty of invention and execution. At the centre of the showcase we see the Golden Fleece; this highly-prized honour, which is symbolized by the golden fleece of a ram, was conferred on Andrea I by Emperor Charles V in 1531. In the following centuries, two more members of the Doria family were thus honoured by the Spanish Royal family. Of particular interest are the nautical map dating to the beginning of the seventeenth century and the series of sixteenth century diplomas with the great imperial seal, mostly relating to the investiture of the feudal lands of the family.

Some of the printed texts on display, relating to genealogical and religious themes, have valuable bindings decorated with the arms of the family. Over the door, in the position indicated by an eighteenth-century inventory of the furnishings of the palace, are placed three paintings executed by Giovanni Piola in 1671 on the occasion of the marriage between Giovanni Andrea III Doria and Anna Pamphilj, Roman princess and niece of Pope Innocent X.

The encounter between the Pamphilj dove and the Doria eagle, surrounded by putti holding musical instruments which allude to the hoped-for conjugal harmony, is an allegory of this marriage; in the other two canvases, the eagle is instead portrayed amongst the symbols of virtue in war and of the arts, and serves to glorify the family. Almost a century later, as result of the extinction of the direct line of the Pamphilj, the Doria were recognized as the heirs of the Roman family and added the Pamphilj name to their own.