National Gallery of Ancient Art
You’ve just stepped into Rome’s Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica—the National Gallery of Ancient Art—a museum devoted to *older paintings*, mostly before 1800. It’s a bit unusual: it’s a national collection focused on paintings and it does not hold any antiquities. The museum’s story is tied to grand family residences, because it’s split across two sites: the Palazzo Barberini and the Palazzo Corsini. The Palazzo Barberini itself was designed for Pope Urban VIII—a Barberini—by Carlo Maderno, on the former site of Villa Sforza. In the central salone, the ceiling was decorated by Pietro da Cortona with the allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power. As a national gallery, it took shape from acquisitions: major collections like the Torlonia and Monte di Pietà arrived in 1892, Henriette Hertz’s gift followed in 1915, and the Chigi collection was purchased in 1918. …
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