La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna nasce nel 1808 come quadreria dell’Accademia di Belle Arti, l’istituto d’istruzione sorto dalle ceneri della settecentesca Accademia Clementina. L’antico nucleo, proveniente dall’Istituto delle Scienze, fu in seguito arricchito dalla straordinaria raccolta di quasi mille dipinti frutto delle soppressioni di chiese e conventi compiute dopo l’ingresso delle truppe napoleoniche a Bologna, tra il 1797 e il 1810, e nuovamente a seguito delle soppressioni del 1866 attuate dal nuovo stato italiano.
Nella sede distaccata di Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande è possibile ammirare le sale splendidamente affrescate dai principali protagonisti della grande decorazione bolognese tra la seconda metà del Seicento e gli inizi del secolo successivo: il Salone d’onore con la trionfale Apoteosi di Ercole di Canuti, la Sala di Felsina con le pitture composte e aggraziate dei fratelli Rolli, le sale delle Stagioni e dell’Olimpo, dove l’irriverente Giuseppe Maria Crespi contamina la decorazione celebrativa con i modi della pittura di genere, l’elegante classicismo della Sala di Alessandro di Donato Creti. Gli ambienti del piano nobile di Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande ospitano alle pareti alcuni dipinti della quadreria Zambeccari, la ricca collezione destinata alla pubblica fruizione a fine Settecento dal marchese Giacomo Zambeccari ed entrata a far parte delle raccolte della Pinacoteca nel 1884.
Avvisi ai visitatori
Per lavori di manutenzione l'ascensore non sarà in funzione dal 25 agosto al 08 settembre. Ci scusiamo per il disagio.
Dall’1 luglio 2024 Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande è chiuso al pubblico per lavori di ristrutturazione e adeguamento tipologico funzionale. La riapertura è prevista per la primavera 2026.
Notices to visitors
Due to renovation works, the Cesare Gnudi room theatre will be closed to the public from 14 to 18 July and from 25 August to 08 September. We apologise for the inconvenience.
For maintenance work the lift will not be in operation from 25 August to 08 September. We apologise for the inconvenience.
As of 1 July 2024 Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande is closed to the public for renovation and function-related upgrading. It is scheduled to reopen in spring of 2026.
In evidenza:
The monumental altarpiece with the Martyrdom of St. Agnes, commissioned by Pietro Martire Carli for the convent of Sant'Agnese in Bologna, was begun by Domenichino in 1619 and completed in Rome, where the artist had sojourned in 1621.
In this complex painting, the artist established himself as one of the most important representatives of the seventeenth-century classical ideal, beautifully expressed in the works he painted between Bologna, Rome and Naples.
The composition is set out on two levels, the earthly one and the celestial one, according to the traditional scheme. On the upper level, bathed in bright light, is the Trinity, surrounded by a choir of graceful musician angels.
The six different instruments played by angels, all illustrated in their minute details, bear witness to Domenichino’s great passion for music.
On the lower level is the martyrdom of the Saint, observed by some soldiers and women. In the background, various figures look on from the top of a loggia, between whose columns we can see the countryside in the distance.
The very young martyr is depicted as she is dying, pierced in the throat on the orders of Aspasio, vicar of the prefect, whose son had been rejected by Agnes, who had already devoted herself to chastity.
Domenichino, although portraying a violent scene of torture, avoids any excessively bloody tone and with his classical style, softens the turbulence of the drama: the idea of martyrdom is expressed by emphasizing the difference between the victim’s figure and the executioner sinking the dagger into the saint’s throat, while he forcefully pulls her long hair with his left hand.
The saint, on the other hand, with her ecstatic gaze, is already engulfed in the vision of paradise and the promise of eternal salvation, sealed by the presence of the angel who is receiving the palm of martyrdom from Christ's hands.
In the foreground, next to the stake, which the Saint had miraculously survived, the bodies of two men, probably identifiable with two executioners, lie on the ground.
