Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon
Encyclopedia
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
, southern France. It opened in 1976 and has an exceptional collection of Renaissance paintings of the Avignon school as well as from Italy, which reunites many "primitives" from the collection of Giampietro Campana
Giampietro Campana
Giampietro Campana , created marchese di Cavelli , was an Italian art collector who assembled one of the nineteenth century's greatest collection of Greek and Roman sculpture and antiquities. The part of his collection of Hellenistic and Roman gold jewellery conserved in the Musée du Louvre...
. It is housed in a 14th century building at the north side of the square overlooked by the Palais des Papes.
Building
Named Petit Palais to distinguish it from the Palais des PapesPalais des Papes
The Palais des Papes is a historical palace in Avignon, southern France, one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe....
, it was built before the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
by Cardinal Bérenger Fredoli the Elder
Berenger Fredoli
Bérenger Fredoli was a French canon lawyer and Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati.-Celestine V:...
c.1318-20, with four wings around a cloister and a service court. The palace and a few neighbouring buildings were bought on de Frédol's death in 1323 by Cardinal Arnaud de Via, nephew of the reigning Pope. However, de Via then died in 1335 and the building remained vacant until Pope Benedict XII
Pope Benedict XII
Pope Benedict XII , born Jacques Fournier, the third of the Avignon Popes, was Pope from 1334 to 1342.-Early life:...
bought it for use as the bishopric.
The building suffered was attacked and bombarded during its use from 1396 to 1411 as a fortified citadel during the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
, and was a wreck by the time the war ended. In the second half of the 15th century, Bishop Alain de Coëtivy
Alain de Coëtivy
Alain de Coëtivy was a French prelate from a Breton noble family. He was bishop of Avignon, Uzès, Nîmes and of Dol, titular cardinal of Santa Prassede, then cardinal-bishop of Palestrina and cardinal-bishop of Sabina....
and his successor, Giuliano della Rovere (the future Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
) carried out restoration work, giving the Palace more or less its present appearance by 1503. Della Rovere arrived in Avignon in 1474, having been made bishop of Avignon and papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
of Avignon by his uncle Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
. He added new south and west facades in Italian Renaissance style (with oculi
Oculus
An Oculus, circular window, or rain-hole is a feature of Classical architecture since the 16th century. They are often denoted by their French name, oeil de boeuf, or "bull's-eye". Such circular or oval windows express the presence of a mezzanine on a building's façade without competing for...
, a west-facing door surmonted with a triangular pediment, window drip-moldings and his insignia facing south) and, in 1487, a tower (which collapsed in 1767). The Palace became known as the Palace of the Archbishop when the city was promoted to an archbishopric soon after della Rovere took office.
During the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the palace was nationalised and sold off, becoming a Catholic secondary school in the 19th century and (from 1904 to 1976) a professional and technical school.
Collection
- Many works by italian and french primitive or early-renaissance painters such as Sandro BotticelliSandro BotticelliAlessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
(Madonna with Child, c. 1467), Vittore CarpaccioVittore CarpaccioVittore Carpaccio was an Italian painter of the Venetian school, who studied under Gentile Bellini. He is best known for a cycle of nine paintings, The Legend of Saint Ursula. His style was somewhat conservative, showing little influence from the Humanist trends that transformed Italian...
, Carlo CrivelliCarlo CrivelliCarlo Crivelli was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivarini, Squarcione and Mantegna...
, Benozzo GozzoliBenozzo GozzoliBenozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. He is best known for a series of murals in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi depicting festive, vibrant processions with wonderful attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence.-Apprenticeship:He was born Benozzo di...
, Raffaellino del GarboRaffaellino del GarboRaffaellino del Garbo was a Florentine painter of the early Renaissance.His real name was Raffaello Capponi; Del Garbo was a nickname, bestowed upon him seemingly from the graceful nicety of his earlier works. He has also been called Raffaello de Florentia, and Raffaello de Carolis or Karli...
, Lorenzo MonacoLorenzo MonacoLorenzo Monaco was an Italian painter of the late Gothic-early Renaissance age.-Biography:...
, Jacopo del Sellaio, Francesco BotticiniFrancesco BotticiniFrancesco di Giovanni Botticini was an Italian Early Renaissance painter. He studied under Cosimo Rosselli and Andrea del Verrocchio. He was born in Florence in 1446 and is mostly remembered for his painting entitled "Assumption of the Virgin"; he died in 1498...
, Enguerrand QuartonEnguerrand QuartonEnguerrand Quarton was a French painter and manuscript illuminator whose few surviving works are among the first masterpieces of a distinctively French style, very different from either Italian or Early Netherlandish painting...
or Josse LieferinxeJosse LieferinxeJosse Lieferinxe was a South Netherlandish painter, formerly known by the pseudonym the Master of St. Sebastian....
. - The effigy head from the tomb of Antipope Clement VIIAntipope Clement VIIRobert of Geneva was elected to the papacy as Pope Clement VII by the French cardinals who opposed Urban VI, and was the first Avignon antipope of the Western Schism.-Biography:...
; the rest of the tomb was destroyed during the French Revolution.