Why go
Choose the Palatine Gallery for paintings seen in the setting for which a court collection was made, rather than in a chronological museum sequence. The gallery includes works by Raphael, Titian, Perugino, Correggio, Rubens and Pietro da Cortona. Its rooms make the ceiling frescoes, furnishings and hang of the paintings part of the experience, especially in the Planetary Rooms and the Sala della Stufa.
What to look for
- See how paintings are displayed in palace rooms rather than arranged by school or chronology.
- In the Sala della Stufa, look for Pietro da Cortona's Four Ages of Man fresco cycle.
- Compare the Planetary Rooms' painted ceilings with works by Raphael, Titian and Rubens.
Useful to know
- Allow time to look upward as well as at the paintings; the decoration is integral to the collection's setting.
- Use the room names as a slow route through the gallery rather than trying to impose a chronological order.