Pinacoteca Civica Bruno Molajoli

The Bruno Molajoli Civic Art Gallery in Fabriano presents local painting and sculpture from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. Its collection includes a triptych by Allegretto Nuzi, Antonio da Fabriano's Dormitio Virginis and Flemish tapestries, displayed in the former hospital of Santa Maria del Buon Gesù.

Why it matters

Founded in 1862, the gallery grew from works transferred from religious institutions after Italian unification. It documents the Fabrianese school of painting and the city's artistic history. Since 1994, the collection has occupied the fifteenth-century hospital of Santa Maria del Buon Gesù, founded in 1456 to bring the city's charitable hospitals together.

What to notice

The gallery's eight rooms follow themes from thirteenth-century painting and fourteenth-century frescoes to the Fabrianese school, later centuries and sculpture associated with Allegretto Nuzi. Works include Nuzi's triptych and Antonio da Fabriano's Dormitio Virginis. Flemish tapestries from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries entered the collection from the cathedral chapter in 1911. Other holdings include medieval polychrome wooden sculpture, a Crucifixion by the Maestro di Sant'Agostino and a processional cross dated 1560.

Context and history

The gallery first opened in 1862 at Palazzo Chiavelli, then the municipal seat. In 1911–1913 the cathedral chapter deposited works including the Flemish tapestries, and the collection later moved to the bishop's palace. It was dedicated to Fabriano-born art historian Bruno Molajoli in 1986. Since 1994 it has been housed in the former hospital of Santa Maria del Buon Gesù. The same complex includes a church with early seventeenth-century frescoes by Andrea Boscoli and a cloister with an octagonal well dated 1483.