THE FEDERICO MONTEFELTRO STUDIOLO · the replica of Duke Federico’s Studiolo based on images from national archives and its re-collocation to the original site in the Ducal Palace

Associazione Maggio Eugubino

THE FEDERICO MONTEFELTRO

STUDIOLO REPLICA

IN THE DUCAL PALACE AT

GUBBIO

Text and drawings by

Vincenzo Ambrogi Photographs Giampaolo Pauselli

Latin texts translation Filippo Mario Stirati

English translation Anna Lisa Rossetto

copyright © 2011 Vincenzo Ambrogi

The copy of the Studiolo (study chamber) of the Duke Federico da Montefeltro

has been reassembled in the Ducal Palace of Gubbio. This masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance was dismantled and spread around different museums of New York, London and Berlin. In this text the operation details, the object features and the solutions adopted in creating the replica are described.

The reasons of a replica

Is it worth investing such a great amount of money for the creation of a “Fake”? Wouldn’t it have been more logical to have reserved such important financial resources for the preservation of pre-existing works? What were the reasons for the creation of a replica?

The “peculiarity” of the manufacture. The Studiolo is considered “arredo strutturale” (structural furniture), and thus it cannot be neither integrally transported elsewhere nor fragmented it into pieces to be displayed separately. The Ducal Palace, although almost completely deprived of paintings, furniture and carved stone frames, still remains intact in its architectonical structure, and thus suitable to accept the new Studiolo with reciprocal advantages. To replicate the Studiolo and place it in the original position is the equivalent of displaying the original piece in an artificial background, such as that of the Metropolitan Museum.

The most logic solution. The wooden replica is undoubtedly the most logical solution. The legal action of claiming the restitution of the original Studiolo, has not only been too lengthy but also impracticable given the item was sold a few months before June 1, 1939, the day in which the Italian law relating to the protection of cultural works became effective. Even a temporary loan would be difficult to obtain given the complexity and the fragility of the object. During its stay at the Metropolitan, the Studiolo had been under restoration for a longer time than it had been on display.

The most effective solution. The replica, made in wood as in the original material, represents the solution that can best provide the idea of the manufacture and also the most durable one. A photographic replica of the wainscot was hypothesized in 1996. This solution was far easier and cheaper to achieve, but results would never have been acceptable and it would have rapidly deteriorated. The new techniques, based on multi projections of real size images, would surely result in a better outcome, but they could not be suitable, in this case due to the small room available.

Its reproducibility. With a clear photographic documentation available, the Studiolo would not have been impossible to reproduce. The specialized wood craftsmen of Gubbio, among the best “copiers” in Italy with their knowledge of Renaissance Wood inlays would have been able to create the perfect copy.

The impact on Gubbio and its people. Gubbio had lost its ties with this magnificent manufacture, to the extent that even the memory of the work had been cancelled. This was exactly according to the desires of the “miserable” who sold the masterpiece in 1874. Even though as a “clone” the re-birth of the Studiolo represents a firm mark in the history of Gubbio, real evidence of a new cultural and economical renaissance.

The impact on the touristic flow. Instead of a conservative restoration the Studiolo replica will become a new work of art to be added to the Italian artistic heritage. The marketing and merchandising of the replica will be another logical consequence of the operation, that if well-publicized, might also attract many tourists outside of Italy.

ASPICIS ÆTERNOS VENERANDÆ MATRIS ALVMNOS DOCTRINA EXCELSOS INGENIOQVE VIROS

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The Studiolo

The studiolo is the most important chamber in the palace of an Italian Renaissance prince, a secret space where he studies and meditates; but also a place to show off and surprise his most important guests. Usually the room is small and poorly enlightened, but richly decorated, covered by wooden inlaid wainscot creating visual illusions and painted panels.

This room is considered very important because it represents the perfect space where the real

world and the ideal one, theorized by the neoplatonic philosophy, dominant at that time, meet each other. The objects represented in the inlays have symbolic value and lead along the pathway of knowledge.

Bird’s eye view of the Studiolo. The Gubbio Studiolo together with the Studiolo in Urbino represents the most complete

example of a Renaissance Studiolo. Both works were commissioned by the Duke Federico da Montefeltro (Gubbio 1422 – Ferrara 1482), Renaissance prince, Lord of weapons, man of science and patron of the arts.

The Studiolo was created between 1475 and 1482 with the collaboration of Francesco di

Giorgio Martini, who projected the room, and the brothers Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano. The latter depicted the inlays of the wainscot, accomplished by local artisans. Justus of Ghent, a Flemish painter did the upper sited paintings.


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The Gubbio Studiolo wainscot presently readapted in a specifically created room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The photograph shows the appearance of the Studiolo room in Gubbio from 1874 to 2009.

Villa Lancellotti at Frascati. The arrow indicates the top room floor where the Studiolo was kept between 1874 and 1937.


The Disappearance of the Studiolo

The paintings of the Studiolo were removed in 1673 and shipped to Florence, where the Grand Duchess Vittoria, the last Montefeltro heir, lived. From Florence the paintings were dispersed all over Europe.

The inlaid panels were dismantled in 1874 and sold for 6,000 liras. This was a considerable amount, taking into account that at the same time the municipality of Gubbio bought the Bargello Palace for 4,000 liras. The purchaser was the Prince Filippo Massimo Lancellotti who wanted to use the panels to decorate the top floor room of the his villa in Frascati.

The Studiolo remained property of the Prince for more than fifty years. In January 1937 the curator of Lancellotti’s properties sold it for 150,000 liras to Adolph Loewi, a German antiquarian of Jewish origin, who at that time was working in Venice. With the advent of the racial laws and the incumbent World War II, Loewi felt somewhat unsafe about his activity in Italy and emigrated to the United States in February 1938. Here, he expected to sell the precious but “dangerous” object more easily.

The Studiolo was again packed and

shipped from Genoa via Marseille towards the United States. On April 21, 1939, after two months of navigation the Studiolo passed through customs in New York. Loewi proposed the purchase to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which bought the wainscot for 32,000 dollars: it was November 30, 1939.

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One of the panels during the workmanship.

The excavation of the wooden matrix by the shoulder knife.

The assemblage of the wainscot in the room.

September 11, 2009. The inauguration of the replica. The Italian Minister for Culture Mr. Sandro Bondi congratulates the authors.


The Rebirth of the Studiolo

After a gestation period of about five years, the Studiolo Rebirth Project was formally proposed in 2002 by the “Maggio Eugubino” Association to the “Cassa di Risparmio of Perugia” Foundation.

The Project outlined the realization of the replica of Duke Federico’s Studiolo based on images from national archives and its re-collocation to the original site in the Ducal Palace.

The Project obtained an initial funding for the execution of two out of the original thirteen inlaid panels. The Studiolo replica was commissioned to two brothers from Gubbio, the master craftsmen Marcello and Vincenzo Minelli, who had matured a great experience on the restoration and reproduction of old furniture.

According to the original technique, the inlays of different woods (walnut, pear, cherry, maple, poplar, oak, mulberry and spindle) were inserted in the panels by excavating the seasoned walnut matrixes with the coltello da spalla (shoulder knife). This tool was typically used by Renaissance woodcarvers for deeply incising the outlines of a design.

In December 2003, these first two inlaid panels were presented. Since that moment, the Project has obtained periodical endowments. Within the following five years all inlaid panels of the wainscot, as well as the carved ceilings and the painted tables were accomplished.

The tests for the re-adaptation of the replica in the original room started in January 2009, the same month when in 1874, the wainscot was dismantled. Everything was set in place at the beginning of September 2009.

Gubbio can now once again show its splendid Studiolo.

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The Inlaid Wainscot

The inlaid wainscot consists of 11 great panels and 2 small ones (above-door and under-window), which decorate the lower level of the chamber and represent the most particular feature of the Studiolo. The inlays create images based on three-dimensional effects that induce the observers into thinking these objects as real (in french trompe l’oeil = fool the eyes).

On the wainscot false benches and false cabinets with partially open doors are represented. Some false objects with a strong, symbolic meaning are depicted internally according to a prospective view and chiaro-scuro (dark-light) effects.

The 13 panels are distributed on the four walls of the chamber and are usually identified with roman numbers (I to XIII). The panels of the wainscot are entirely showed in the following map.

The Entrance Wall The Bottom Wall The Window Wall

The Long Wall I II III

XI XII XIII IV V

VI VII VIII IX X


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The ”mazzocchio”.


I II III The Long Wall. In the circles are evidenced the objects showed in the photographs.

The Long Wall

The Long Wall is formed by three panels, which are organized as a unique composition, with a single bench on which the mazzocchio is positioned. The mazzocchio is the wooden polygonal ring with black and white faces used as a support for fabric headdresses as well as the symbol of Geometry. On the backrests, we can find the ermine, the symbol of purity, and the ostrich swallowing a spearhead, the symbol of tenacity.

The ostrich, symbol of tenacity, with a spearhead in its beak; the german caption says “I can swallow a big iron”.

The ermine, symbol of purity, an animal that never (mai) wants to soil its coat, preferring to die instead.

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The hunting horn. The rebec and the relative bow. The ciphered letter.

The Garter with the french motto “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (evil be to him who evil thinks).

The horse wiskbroom.

The harp and the tambourine.

The tuning T-key.

The book opened on the song “O rosa bella”.


Inside the left cabinet (I) we can see the symbols of some muses: the rebec, old arc musical instrument, symbol of Thalìa (the Comedy) and the hunting horn, symbol of Melpòmene (the Tragedy). A ciphered letter written in a cryptic alphabet is hanging from a book: this expedient was often employed by the Duke to address secret tasks.

In the central cabinet (II) we can find two crucial symbols for the Duke; the Garter, honorific order issued to the Duke by the King of England, and the horse whiskbroom, the symbol for cleanliness also in the moral sense.

Inside the upper right cabinet (III) the tambourine and the harp, symbols of Erato (Lyric poetry) are represented. Inside the lower cabinet we find the accord T-shaped key, the symbol of Music, which evokes a small Egyptian ringed-cross. Until one century ago, in the open book the score of the song “O rosa bella” (Oh beauty rose), one of the Duke’s favorites was visible.

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The horse wiskbroom. The horse bit.

The compass, the citern, the square with plumb bob and the sand-glass.

The extinguished candle.

The box of granules.

The war tabor.


IV V

The Bottom Wall It is the first wall visible coming into the Studiolo. It embraces the space of two panels

joined by a unique bench without balusters. In the backrests the images of the horse whiskbroom and the horse bit are visible: the metaphoric instruments for the government available to the prince who should repay the obedient people and steer the rebel one.

The vase and the dagger.

Inside the left panel (IV) we can see the compass, the square with the plumb bob (other symbols of Geometry), the cittern (symbol of Terpsichore, muse of the Dance), the sandglass and the candlestick with an extinguished candle, all references to the passing of time.

Inside the right panel (V) we have the dagger pointed downwards (the symbol of Temperance), the two-handled vase (the symbol of Grammar), the military-tabor (the symbol of war) and the box of granules (the symbol of Arithmetic).

The Bottom Wall. In the circles are evidenced the objects showed in the photos.

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The sword.

The Duke’s helmet.

The mace.


The Window Wall

This wall hosts the niche of the window, which is compounded by two great lateral panels (VII and IX) and one small panel (VIII) sited below the windowsill. The niche is flanked by another two great panels (VI and X) each of them collocated just below one small splay- window.

In the left panel (VI) of the wall, the Duke’s sword (symbol of the Justice) rests on the bench. On the backrests, the fire-tongues and the monogram of the Duke FD are represented. Inside the cabinet the Duke’s armor and the mace (symbol of Fortitude) are kept.

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

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The crane with a stone in the claw.

The disks of the frame.

The device to draw the prospective.


The inkwell, the stilus and the penknife.

The lectern with the Virgil’s Aeneid opened on the Death of the hero Pallas.

The Guidoubaldo‘s circular mirror.

The fasces.

The armillary sphere.

The parakeet.

In the left panel inside the niche (VII) a crane (the symbol of watchfulness) is depicted in the backrest. In the above cabinet a parakeet (the symbol of Rhetoric) is kept inside a large octagonal cage. Notably, the entire cabinet is surrounded by a series of disks threaded on a single shaft creating precious, prospective motives.

The small panel under the window (VIII), lost during the voyage to New York, was reconstructed according to an old black and white photograph. A device to draw linear prospective is abandoned on the bench: it consists of a flat ruler joined to a string holding a butterfly-shaped object at the other extremity. The backrest represents the Order of the Garter circumscribing the eagle (symbol of the Montefeltro’s).

The right panel inside the niche (IX) is characterized by the lectern on which the Virgil’s Aeneid is placed. The book is opened at the passage describing the premature death of the hero Pallas in battle, an allusion to the glorious life and death of Federico da Montefeltro, who died before the completion of the Studiolo. Inside the cabinet hangs the circular mirror (the symbol of Prudence) with the inscription G.BALDO.DX (Guidoubaldo, the new Duke). In the bottom section of the cabinet the inkwell and the stylus, symbol of the muse Calliope (epic poetry), are represented.

In the right panel of the wall (X) the bench is occupied by two fasces, the symbol of Concorde, and on the backrest eagles of Montefeltro alternated to oblique bands are depicted. The great armillary sphere and the quadrant, both symbols of Astronomy, hang from the cabinet compartments.

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The Ermine Collar.

The closed shelf, the exploding petard, and the book.

The portable organ and the fiddle.

The coupled flutes of Euterpe.


XI XII XIII

The Entrance Wall

This wall is characterized by the niche leading to the sole access to the Studiolo. The niche is flanked by two narrow panels (XI and XIII) and covered by a small horizontal panel working as a lintel (XII).

In the left panel (XI) on the bench a book is depicted. The book is closed in the same way as the cabinet door of this panel: it is an allusion to the occult Hermetic knowledge, at that time introduced in western Europe. On the backrest is the exploding petard, the most modern weapon available to the Duke’s army.

In the lintel panel (XII) a

lute and the Ermine Collar are partially visible.

The right panel (XIII) is characterized by the portative organ (symbol of Polyhymnia, sacred music) lying on the bench. Inside the cabinet there are the coupled flutes (symbol of the muse Euterpe, the Music), a lute and a fiddle.

The Entrance Wall. In the circles are evidenced the objects showed in the photographs.

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ÀSPĬCĬS| ÈTĒR|NÒS VĔNĔ|RÀNDĒ| MÀTRĬS Ă|LÙMNŎS║ DÒCTRĬNĂ |ÈXCĒL|SÒS║ ÌNGĔNĬ|ÒQUĔ VĬ|RÒS ║

ÙT NŪ|DÀ CĒR|VÌCĔ CĂD|ÀNT ĀNT(E) |ÒRĂ PĂ|RÈNTĪS║ SÙPPLĬCĬ|TÈR FLĒ|XÒ ║PRÒCŬBŬ|ÈRĔ GĔ|NÙ ║

ÌUSTĬTĬ|ÀM PĬĔ|TÀS VĪN|CÌT RĔVĔ|RÈNDĂ NĔC|ÙLLŪM║ PÈNĬTĔT |ÀLTRĪ|CÌ║ SÙCCŬ BŬ|ÌSSĔ SŬ|È║

ASPICIS ÆTERNOS VENERANDÆ MATRIS ALVMNOS

DOCTRINA EXCELSOS INGENIOQVE VIROS

VT NVDA CERVICE CADANT ANTE ORA PARENTIS

SVPPLICITER FLEXO PROCVBVERE GENV

IVSTITIAM PIETAS VINCIT REVERENDA NEC VLLVM

POENITET ALTRICI SVCCVBVISSE SVÆ

You observe the inexhaustible pupils of the Venerable Mother

men exhalted in genius and learning

how they fall with bare neck in front of the parent.

They suppliantly prostrated on bended knee.

The reverend Piety prevails over the Justice and no one

repents for having yielded to his nursing mother.


The transcription of the inscription as reported in the l Gabrielli Codex (Fondo Armanni, MS. I.C. 10, fol.146v).

The Inscription

The latin inscription

is incomplete and it was redone according to the transcription found in the XVI century (Gabrielli Codex) and in 1873 by the German architect Laspeyres, one year before its removal.

The text describes pupils kneeling in front of the Venerable Mother and alludes to the contiguous paintings of the Liberal Arts. The Venerable Mother could be interpreted as wisdom, or better as philosophy, the highest expression of the human mind.

The last part of the inscription is even more obscure, and should be explained in the painting of the Oration, but a satisfactory explanation has yet to be provided.

The version of the inscription proposed for the Studiolo replica takes into account the transcription performed by Laspeyres in 1873. According to this version the diphthong Æ was preferred to E. Similarly, the word IVSTITIAM (accusative: prevails over the Justice) was chosen instead of IVSTITIÂ (ablative: with the help of the Justice) as transcribed in the Gabrielli Codex.

The inscription is written using the elegiac distich, a poetic meter used in classical elegies, with two alternate lines: a line of hexameter (six feet verse), followed by a line of pentameter (two-and-a-half feet repeated two times). This rule allowed the enigma experts to complete the missing part of the inscription around the window, (such as -ORA PARENTIS SVPPLIC-). Hereby, the metric lecture is reported.

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FEDERICVS MONTEFELTRIVS

EVGVBII ET DVX VRBINI MONTISFERETRI

SANCTÆQVE ROMANÆ

AC DVRANTIS COMES

SERENISSIMI REGIS SICILIÆ

CAPITANEVS GENERALIS

Federico from Montefeltro

of Gubbio and Duke of Urbino of Montefeltro

and Earl of Castel Durante

of the Magnificent King of Sicily

General Captain

and of the Holy Roman

ECCLESIÆ CONFALONERIVS Church’s Army Commander in Chief


Title transcription as reported in the document dated 1660 (SASG Fondo Comunale Riformanze, Reg:75, c.152v. Indice Rif III,c,196).

The Ducal Title It is most likely that the

inscription celebrating the Ducal Title was in the Studiolo, and thus it was re-proposed in the replica.

The presence of this Title is proven in a document dated 1660. It reports this inscription as sited in a “camerino remoto” (remote small room) with a golden ceiling in the main floor of the palace. It is very likely that this camerino is the Studiolo itself, because only this room on this floor presents these features. The Title was probably removed in 1673 to facilitate the dismantling of the paintings of the Liberal Arts.

On the contrary, some experts do not agree with the above, because the inscription of the Title is already represented on the paintings of the Liberal Arts.

The Title caption is very similar to that reported in the Urbino Studiolo, with one significant difference represented by the presence of the word EVGVBII (of Gubbio). It was positioned just beneath the ceiling, the same position as the Title in the Urbino Studiolo.

The Title defines the appointments, the territorial possessions and the military charges of the Duke. From the title we can also deduce his alliances with the King Ferrante of Naples, who bestowed upon Federico the Collar of the Ermine, and with the Pope Sixtus IV who conferred the title of Duke to him. This relationship was reinforced with the marriage of Giovanna, daughter of Federico, with Giovanni Della Rovere, the Pope’s nephew.

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The Astronomy (replica).

The Grammar (replica).

The Rhetoric (replica).

The Music (replica).


The Paintings of the Liberal Arts

The tables painted by Justus of Ghent, a Flemish painter operating at the ducal court, decorated the upper part of the Studiolo and were dismantled in 1673. There are no documents to show how these tables were arranged (see the dedicated section). The paintings depict a male figure kneeling in front of a seated woman who offers him a gift. Every woman is the personification of one Liberal Art. At present, there are only four of the seven tables of which this cycle was originally composed.

The Rhetoric, who the tradition identifies with Costanza Montefeltro, fourth daughter of the Duke, indicating the page of an open book to a young man, perhaps her half-brother Antonio.

The Astronomy, who is offering an armillary sphere to King Ptholomeus, with the aspect of Ferrante, King of Naples, who bestowed upon Federico the Collar of the Ermine.

The Grammar, personified by Agnesina the third daughter, who gives a book to the Duke himself.

The Music, played by Giovanna the second daughter of the Duke, who is pointing out a portable organ to a young man, which could be her husband Giovanni Della Rovere or her uncle Costanzo Sforza. An interesting detail is represented by the decorative motif of the throne arch. It is an Arabic inscription, written in kufic characters from right towards the left: “there is no other God than Allah; and Mohammed is prophet of Allah”

The two right-sided tables were purchased in 1821 by a Prussian merchant and reached the Kaiser Friedrich (today Bode) Museum in Berlin. They were exhibited until 1945, when they burned during the battle to conquer the city. The copies for the Studiolo replica, hereby showed, were re-created from black and white photographs.

The two left-sided tables were purchased in 1866 by the National Gallery of London, where they are still exposed.

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The Table of the Oration

The presence of this painting in the Studiolo is not acknowledged by many experts. This is mainly due to the differences both in dimensions (considerably less high than the other tables and of the available space) and in the subject to the paintings of the Liberal Arts. Besides, the text of the Title inscription and the presence of the Duke himself, are already represented in the paintings.

Evidences for the presence of this painting in the Studiolo are the subject, related to the Montefeltro environment, and the common hand with the other paintings of the Liberal Arts. Furthermore, there is a perfect correspondence between the columns and the underlying pilasters. Thus, the width rightly fits into the space. Besides, the prospective of the scene is depicted to be viewed from below, which coincides with the position of an observer inside the Studiolo.


The event represented in the painting is unknown. Some hypotheses have been formulated: 1) a meeting of the Assorditi Academy in Urbino; 2) a lecture being given by Lodovico Odasio or Paul of Middelburg or another invited humanist; 3) the investiture (1474) with the Order of the Garter, which the Duke showed on his chest; 4) the oration held by Antonio Bonfini (1477 or 1478) in defence of Leonardo Angelo, which was expropriated from the county of Controguerra in the Kingdom of Naples. The fragment of the Inscription IUSTITIAM PIETAS VINCIT (The Piety prevails over the Justice) could be related to this episode.

The painting is divided into three sectors by two columns sited in the front. This is a possible

allusion to Boaz and Jachin, the 2 columns of the temple of Jerusalem, a strong hermetic symbol. In the left sited sector we find the speaker over a pulpit with a lectern and a book. In the central scene the Duke Federico is sitting on the throne holding a book. In the original

painting the aspect of the Duke was very altered by the presence of many retouches. In the replica we preferred to represent the Duke according to a his true appearance. His son Guidoubaldo, the heir to the Duchy, stands at his right hand side. From the octagonal dome the light spreads towards them. This is an allusion to the God Revelation (the contemplative life described by the neoplatonic phylosophy) which favors the access to a higher level of knowledge.

In the right sector three gentlemen of the Ducal court are sitting in their stalls. It seems very likely that the central one is Ottaviano degli Ubaldini, best friend and co-worker of Duke Federico, as well as tutor of the infant Guidoubaldo, after his father’s death.

The table was removed in 1673 and similarly to the others was transfered in Florence.

In 1853 it was purchased by Queen Victoria. From that moment the Oration is kept in Hampton Court Palace in London.

The table of the Oration (replica).

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The Arrangement of the Paintings

It is not documented how the exact position of the paintings over the inlaid wainscot should have been. Every attempt of arranging the painting resulted unsatisfactory and even the one adopted in the present replica is probably incorrect. For over sixty years, various hypotheses of arrangements have been proposed according to some general principles.

1) The correspondence between paintings and inlaid wainscot: the paintings should be inserted in the space created by the imaginary projection of the inlaid balusters;

2) the correct sequence of the text of the Ducal Title written as segments in the upper section of the paintings. It thus implies that the painting figuring the Music should stay in last positions;

3) the correspondence in the prospective view between the painting (some oriented from the right, and others from the center, and some others from the left) and their setting on the wall;

4) the classic organization of the Liberal Arts in trivio (Dialectic, Rhetoric and Grammar) and quadrivio (Arithmetics, Geometry, Astronomy and Music);

5) the semantic correspondence between each painted table and the underlying inlaid wainscot. This last point is surely the less rigid, since the subject of each inlaid panel is rarely monothematic.


Fabiański M. Federigo da Montefeltro's "Studiolo" in Gubbio reconsidered. Its decoration and its iconographic program: an interpretation. Artibus et Historiae, Vol. XI, No. 21 (1990), pp. 199-214.

Cheles L. The Studiolo of Urbino: An Iconographical Investigation, Wiesbaden 1986, pp. 31-33.

Clough CH. Lo Studiolo di Gubbio. In: Federico di Montefeltro. Lo Stato, le Arti, la Cultura (Atti del convegno di Urbino-Gubbio 1982) Cerboni Baiardi G, Chittolini G, Floriani P (eds). Roma 1986; Vol.II, pp. 287-300.

Davies M. Early Netherlandish School. National Gallery Catalogues. London 1945.

DAVIS 1945 Pro. The most logic solution for the Long Wall. Cons. Astronomy is collocated in central position despite the left-oriented prospective and is isolated despite the two available places. Geometry and Arithmetic are positioned on a three space wall. Title sequence is not satisfying. Need for closing the upper half of the main window.

CLOUGH 1986 Pro. Introduction of the Oration which fits perfectly into the Entrance Wall. Cons. Astronomy occupies one position in a wall which has two spaces. The need for closing the two little windows and the upper half of the main window. Music is placed in an incorrect prospective position.

CHELES 1986 Pro. Correct Title sequence. Cons. An improbable prospective solution with two laterally-orientated paintings on the Bottom Wall. There are also two centrally-orientated paintings on the Window Wall over the two little splay-windows, which should be closed.

FABIANSKI 1990 Pro. Excellent solution for prospective vision and Title sequence. Cons. Need for closing the two little windows and the upper half of the main window. Need for hypothesizing a very complex Geometry, occupying two places with a dividing element in the middle to continue the inlaid central baluster of the Bottom Wall.

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CLOUGH 1995 Pro. Good solution for the Bottom Wall with two narrower paintings. Cons. Music is positioned with an incorrect prospective.

RAGGIO 1996 Pro. Correct division into Arts of trivio-quadrivio, with two centrally-orientated paintings on the Bottom Wall and laterally-orientated paintings over the entrance, leaving all the windows open. Cons. Title sequence incorrect. The improbable position of two paintings on Entrance Wall with three spaces.

RAGGIO 1999 Pro. Good solution for the Bottom Wall and the Title sequence. Correct division into trivio (sited on one unique wall) and quadrivio (on the two short walls) leaving open all the windows. Cons. Improbable solution of the Entrance Wall with two paintings one centrally-orientated and another laterally-orientated adapted in a three-section space.


Raggio O. The problem of the Liberal Arts. In: Gubbio Studiolo and its Conservation. Federico da Montefeltro’s Palace at Gubbio and its Studiolo. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1999, Vol.I, pp. 157-167.

Clough CH. Art as power in the decoration of the study of an italian Renaissace Prince: the case of Federico da Montefeltro. Artibus et Historiae, Vol. XVI, No.31 (1995), pp. 19-50.

Raggio O. The Liberal Arts Studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Gubbio. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol.LIII, No.4 (1996), pp. 5-35.

THE ADOPTED SOLUTION 2009

As demonstrated all the hypotheses previously presented are unsatisfactory. The ideal solution does not exist, unless new key-documents are found, or until the missing three paintings of Liberal Arts are discovered. It is evident that the adopted solution is slightly different from any of the previous ones.

In the adopted solution we tried to respect the three windows (two splay lateral and one main central) sited on the Window Wall. However, it is very probable that the presence of the windows did not represent a rigid rule for the arrangement of the paintings. The windows could have been opened later or they could have been covered by the paintings. Notwithstanding, we preferred to respect the present architectural features of the wall.

On the Entrance Wall, the painting representing the Oration was preferred to Music and Astronomy (hypothesis Raggio 1999). This is because it is more adapt to cover a three-fold space according to the division suggested by the inlaid balusters.

According to these bases, the only remnant space for Music and Astronomy was in the Bottom Wall. This solution was incoherent with the Title sequence and with the small room available. However, in this way there are no unsightly empty spaces in the room apart from the one for the first Art (the Dialectic).

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The major ceiling (replica).

The minor ceiling (replica).

The entrance ceiling (replica).


The Ceiling

The ceiling of the Studiolo is formed by three different sections: the major ceiling, the window ceiling and the entrance ceiling.

Worm's eye view of the Studiolo. The position of the three ceilings is evidenced.

The major ceiling

The major ceiling covers all the room with a trapezium-like shape. It is kept on site by a frieze with festoons and palms on a blue background. It is organized into 7 lines of octagonal coffers from which carved golden flowers hang. The octagonal coffers are separated by square lacunars with golden buds on a blue background, and by rectangles with inlays imitating green marble.

The minor ceiling or window niche ceiling

The minor ceiling is rectangular and covers the window niche. It repeats the same motif of the major ceiling, with a total of 6 octagonal coffers, surrounded by the frame with a golden grotesque on a blue background.

The entrance niche ceiling.

The entrance ceiling covers the entrance niche within the thickness of the wall. It is different from the other ceilings because it is structured as a single, flat inlaid panel. The arms of the Montefeltro’s family along with the monogram FE DVX (Federico Duke) are represented on it.

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Documents

THE FEDERICO MONTEFELTRO STUDIOLO · the replica of Duke Federico’s Studiolo based on images from national archives and its re-collocation to the original site in the Ducal Palace