The Doria Pamphilj Gallery, in Rome is a large privately owned art collection housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. (pronounced Doreeya Pamfeelee). It is situated between the Via del Corso and Via della Gatta. The principal entrance is on the Piazza del Collegio Romano.

The large collection of paintings, furniture and statuary which includes works by Jacopo Tintoretto, Tiziano, Raffaello Sanzio, Correggio, Caravaggio, Guercino, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Parmigianino, Gaspard Dughet, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Velázquez and many other notable artists has been assembled since the 16th century by the Doria, Pamphilj, Landi and Aldobrandini families now united through marriage and descent under the simplified surname Doria Pamphilj.

As the fortunes of the family grew so did the collection, thus the Palazzo was almost continuously extended accordingly; the palazzo is the largest in Rome still in private ownership, and provides a worthy setting for the collection. Much of the collection is displayed in a series of state rooms, including the chapel, complete with the mummified corpse of the family saint. However, the bulk is displayed in a series of four gilded and painted galleries surrounding a courtyard. An extensive suite of further rooms have now been converted to permanent well-lit galleries, containing the more medieval and Byzantine art in the collection.

The piece de resistance of the collection is generally held to be Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X. The pope previously known as Giovan Battista Pamphilj had become pope in 1644; in the portrait the artist does not idealize the pope's countenance, yet the portrait is not unflattering; Innocent X's features were by his contemporaries believed to symbolise a despotic lifestyle and vindictive character. The portrait painted circa 1650 to commemorate the Holy year was commissioned by his hedonistic sister-in-law Olimpia Maidalchini who was his close confidante and adviser, and some say mistress. In 1927 Velázquez's Innocent X was placed in a specially designated small room devoted entirely to the pope, and it is still displayed there today.

It was Olimpia Maidalchini's son Camillo Pamphilij who defying his powerful mother, renounced the Cardinalship conferred on him by his uncle the Pope, to marry the widowed Olimpia Borghese . Born an Aldobrandini it was she who brought the palazzo, then known as the Palazzo Aldobrandini, into the Pamphilj family. Following a period of exile in the country, to avoid confrontation with the Pope and Olimpia Maidalchini, the newly married couple took up permanent residence in the Palazzo Aldobrandini which from 1654 Camillo began to expand on a large scale; neighbouring houses and a convent were bought and demolished as the Palazzo grew, in spite of local opposition from the neighbouring Jesuits at the Collegio Romano. The architect in charge of this lengthy project was Antonio Del Grande . The façade facing the Via del Corso, however, is by Gabriele Valvassori . Following Camillo Pamphilj's death in 1666, the building continued under the auspices of his two sons Giovanni Battista (his heir) and Benedetto.

One of Camillo and Olimpia's daughters, Anna Pamphlij, married the Genoese aristocrat Giovanni Andrea III Doria Landi in 1671, and it was their descendents who inherited the Palazzo when the Roman branch of the Pamphlilj family ended in 1760. In 1763 Principe Andrea IV combined his Genoese and Roman names to the present Doria-Pamphilij-Landi. In 1767 the ceilings of the state rooms were frescoed in the baroque manner seen today.

The collection was first opened to the public by the half-English Orietta Pogson Doria Pamphilj (correctly titled Princpessa del Sacro Romano Imperato di Torriga Donna Orietta Doria-Pamphilj-Landi, 4th Principessa di Melfi, 8th Principessa di San Martino al Cimino e di Valomontone, San Martino, Valditarom and Santo Stefano d'Aveto, 8th Duchessa di Auigliano e di Montelancio, Marchessa di Montecalvella, di Croce, di Val Trebbia e di Ottone, di Carbagna, di Grondona, di Vargo, di Carrega, di Cremonte, di Cabella e di Fontanarossa etc. Principessa Doria-Pamphilj-Landi) whose English husband Frank Pogson adopted her name.

The Principessa did much to restore the collection and the Palazzo, following her death in 1998 the guardianship of the collection was taken over by her adopted son, the next prince - Don Jonathan Doria Pamphilj, he and his family still reside in the palazzo.

Note: The Palazzo housing the Gallery Doria Pamphilj should not be confused with the Palazzo Pamphilj, in Rome's Piazza Navona.

External Links

Galleria Doria Pamphilj