Museo Diocesano e Gallerie del Tiepolo

Udine’s Diocesan Museum and Tiepolo Galleries occupy the Patriarcal Palace. Its rooms preserve Giambattista Tiepolo’s frescoes for Patriarch Dionisio Dolfin and a collection of about seven hundred works from the parishes of the diocese, including paintings, wood sculpture and goldsmithery.

Why it matters

The palace’s decoration and collections bring together the history of the patriarchs of Aquileia and Udine and the artistic heritage of the diocese. Tiepolo began work for Dionisio Dolfin in 1726, painting the monumental staircase, the Galleria degli ospiti and the Sala rossa. The museum’s collection of parish works, especially its wooden sculpture, reflects its role in preserving art from across the diocese.

What to notice

The staircase, designed by Domenico Rossi from 1725, is crowned by Tiepolo’s 1726 fresco of Saint Michael driving the rebel angels from Paradise, surrounded by eight monochrome scenes from the story of Adam and Eve. Stucco framing was made by Giovanni Maria Andreoli’s workshop. In the Galleria degli ospiti, Tiepolo painted episodes from the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, framed by painted architecture by Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna. The Rachel scene includes a family portrait, with Tiepolo represented as Jacob. The Sala rossa once served as an ecclesiastical tribunal. In the Sala azzurra, vault grotesques are traditionally attributed to Giovanni da Udine. The palatine chapel contains an altarpiece by Palma il Giovane and two tondi by Tiepolo and his workshop, made in the 1730s.

Context and history

The palace served the patriarchs of Aquileia and, after 1751, the archbishops of Udine. Dionisio Dolfin’s renovation in the 1720s was a major phase in the palace’s history. The museum also preserves patriarchal and archiepiscopal portraits, the stuccoes of the Sala gialla and the patriarchal library. Together, the palace and its collections document the region’s ecclesiastical and artistic history.