Chiaramonti Museum

Take in the repeated faces along this long gallery. A portrait bust isolates a head and shoulders, so a turn of the neck or a crease around the mouth can carry much of its expression. The Chiaramonti Museum brings Roman portraits together with other kinds of ancient sculpture, including figures made for tombs. The gallery occupies the long passage joining the Belvedere to the Vatican Palaces. It opened in 1806 and takes its name from Pope Pius VII Chiaramonti. The sculptor Antonio Canova helped arrange the collection. He placed sculpture alongside architectural fragments used as supports and frescoes painted by younger artists. Look beyond the carved figures to see those other parts of the display. One painted scene in panel XXI commemorates the return of Vatican works that had been taken to France. Canova also worked to recover those objects after Napoleon’s defeat. The New Wing, built later for classical sculpture, belongs to this collecting history but has its own gallery and works, including Augustus from Prima Porta.