Vatican Museums

The present-day Gallery of the Tapestries was originally divided into two sections. Between 1788 and 1789, under the pontificate of Pius VI Braschi (1775-1799), the first of the two spaces, the one near the Gallery of the Geographical Maps, was subdivided to create three rooms which housed the first Vatican Pinacoteca. The current layout as a single gallery was realized at the behest of Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800-1823).
The ceiling decoration dates from the time of Pius VI. Between 1788 and 1789 he entrusted the task to the “figurist” painter from Lucca, Bernardino Nocchi, who, with the help of Domenico Del Frate, painted the scenes and figures, while the ornamental painter Antonio Marini created the decorative elements.
The iconographic plan, which celebrates the virtues and deeds of Pius VI, allegorically foreshadowed in those of some of the Roman emperors, develops three themes.
In the section adjacent to the Gallery of the Candelabra, the edicts promulgated by the ancient emperors that bear similarities to the policies of Pius VI are represented: Nerva establishes the alimenta, Trajan orders the opening of new roads and the expansion of the alimenta, and finally Alexander Severus, receiving the tributes of the provinces, orders that they be used for public buildings. The main scenes are surrounded by faux bas-reliefs depicting the Arts of Pallas.
The central part of the Gallery is dominated by the pontiff’s coat of arms, held by the personification of Architecture, who hands it to Painting to colour it, and to Sculpture to carve the ornamental parts. At the sides, in two large ovals, the Genius of the Arts in Augustus and the Magnificence of Hadrian are depicted.
Finally, in the section preceding the Gallery of the Geographic Maps, some episodes from the life of the Roman emperors that extol the moral virtues of a good ruler are illustrated: kindness, clemency and love of peace. At the centre of the vault there is the Clemency of Titus, flanked by two episodes: the peace sealed by Marcus Aurelius in the East and the figure of Antoninus Pius, praised by the sages of his time for his goodness, compared to that of the mythical king Numa Pompilius.
The Gallery now houses tapestries from the ancient pontifical collections.