List of artworks in the Gonzaga collection


The Gonzaga Collection or Celeste Gallery was the large collection of artworks commissioned and acquired by the House of Gonzaga in Mantua, Italy, exhibited for a time in the Palazzo Ducale, the Palazzo Te, the Palazzo San Sebastiano and other buildings in Mantua and elsewhere.
The Gonzagas were inspired by the wunderkammer style of collecting practised by the princes of Bavaria, with Isabella d'Este in particular creating a noted private 'studiolo'. They set an example for other European courts, particularly in their patronage of contemporary artists, whilst their collecting increased the international profile of Mantua, a relatively small state. It reached its peak under Vincenzo I Gonzaga and his son Ferdinando, before the family's decline led to major losses from the collection, such as the long negotiations from 1625 onwards with Charles I of Great Britain, mediated by two members of the Whitehall Group – the Flemish art dealer Daniel Nys and Nicholas Lanier, Master of the King's Music. These culminated in 1627 with most of the Gonzaga collections being sent to London. This ensured their preservation, unlike the artworks still in Mantua when the city was sacked in 1630.
Its works are now split between museums and private collections across the world, as shown by the 2002–2003 exhibition Gonzaga. La Celeste Galeria. Il Museo dei Duchi di Mantova at the Palazzo Te and Palazzo Ducale, which included around ninety paintings from the total of approximately 2,000 originally in the collection. As well as paintings, the collection also included decorative work in gold and precious stones such as the Gonzaga Cameo along with natural history specimens or 'mirabilia'.

List

A

;Anonymous
;Cristofano AlloriJudith with the Head of Holofernes, 1613, oil on canvas, 120x100 cm, Royal Collection
;Sofonisba Anguissola
  • Bernardino Campi painting a portrait of Sofonisba Angiussola,, oil on canvas, 111×109.5 cm, Siena, Pinacoteca NazionaleSelf portrait at the easel, Lancut, Muzeum Zamet

B

;Giovanni Baglione
  • Allegory of Justice and Peace, oil on canvas, 255.3×227 cm, Royal Collection
  • Apollo, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Calliope, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Clio, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Erato, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Euterpe, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Polymnia, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Terpsichore, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Thalia, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Urania, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
;Jacopo BassanoChrist in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, oil on canvas 98×126.5 cm, Houston, Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery
;Pieter Bruegel the Younger

C

;Annibale Carracci
;Ludovico Carracci
  • Ecstacy of St Francis, oil on panel, 67×51 cm, Parma, private collection
;Correggio
;Lorenzo Costa
;Lucas Cranach

D

;Domenichino
  • Rinaldo and Armida, oil on canvas, 121×167 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre
  • Sant'Agnese, oil on canvas, 212.7×152.4 cm, Royal Collection
;Ludovico Dondi
  • Julius Caesar in his triumphal chariot, oil on copper, 19.5×18.5 cm, Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • Men carrying booty and trophies of royal armour, oil on copper, 18.5×10 cm, Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • Men carrying booty, trumpeters and sacrificial bulls, oil on copper, 19.5×16.5 cm, Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • Prisoners and standard bearers, oil on copper, 19.5×19 cm, Munich, Alte Pinakothek
  • Trophies, war machines, inscriptions and representations of defeated cities, oil on copper, 20×18 cm, Munich, Alte Pinakothek

F

;Domenico Fetti
  • Christ in the Garden, oil on canvas, 90.5×55.5 Prague, National Gallery
  • Elijah Triumphing over the Prophets of Baal, oil on panel, 61.2×70.5, Royal Collection
  • Sage-seed greenhouse, oil on panel, 60.8×44.5, Prague, Castle Gallery
  • Margherita Gonzaga receiving the model of the Church of S.Orsola, 1619–1623, oil on canvas, 245×276 cm, Mantua, Museo del Palazzo Ducale
  • Portrait of an astronomer, oil on canvas, 98×73.5, Dresden, Gemaldegalerie
  • Posthumous portrait of Federico II Gonzaga, I Duke of Mantua, oil on canvas, 99×88, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaeldegaleire
  • Vision of St Peter, oil on panel, 66×51, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
  • The Penitent Magdalene, 1617–21, oil on canvas, 98×78.5 cm, Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilj
;Lavinia Fontana

G

;Lorenzo Garbieri
;Garofalo
;Guercino

L

;Lorenzo Lotto

M

;Andrea Mantegna
;Michelangelo
;Domenico Morone

P

;Pietro Perugino
;Frans Pourbus the Younger

R

;Guido Reni
  • The Labours of Hercules, 1617–1621, a series of four canvases commissioned by [Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua|Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga], Paris, Musée du Louvre:
  • *Hercules on fire
  • *Hercules and Archelaus
  • *Hercules and the Hydra
  • *Nessus raping Deianira
;Guido Reni
;Giulio Romano
;;Workshop of Giulio Romano
  • Fortune, 1520–1546, oil on canvas, 96.2×49.8 cm, Royal Collection
  • Jupiter and Juno taking possession of the throne of Paradise, 1530, oil on canvas, 111×135.5 cm, Royal Collection
  • The Theatre of the Caesars: Nero plays while Rome burns, 1536–1539, oil on canvas, 121.5 x 106.7 cm, Royal Collection
;Pieter Paul RubensThe Gonzaga Family Adoring the Holy Trinity, 1604–1605, oil on canvas, 381×477 cm, Mantua, Museo del Palazzo DucaleSelf-portrait with friends in Mantua, 1602–1604, oil on canvas, 78×101 cm, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum of Fine ArtsCouncil of the Gods, oil on canvas, 204×379 cm, Prague, Castle GalleryAeneas prepares to lead the Trojan survivors into exile, 1602–1603, oil on canvas, 146×227 cm, Fontainebleau, Musée National du Chateau Portrait of Eleonora I aged two, 76×485 cm, Innsbruck, Ambras CastlePortrait of Eleonora Gonzaga aged three,, oil on canvas, 76×49.5 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches, GemaeldegaleriePortrait of Ferdinando Gonzaga, oil on canvas, 112×87×12 cm, Bowral, Australia, private collectionPortrait of Isabella d'Este, 101.8×81 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, GemaldegaleriePortrait of Maria de' Medici, oil on canvas, 80×60 cm, London, private collection Portrait of Vincenzo II, oil on canvas, 67×51.5 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaeldegalerie

T

;Domenico TintorettoTancred baptising Clorinda,, oil on canvas, 168×115 cm, Houston, Museum of Fine ArtsMary Magdalene, Rome, Pinacoteca Capitolina
;Jacopo Tintoretto Prince Philip II's Entry into Mantua, oil on canvas, 211.7×330 cm, Munich, Alte PinakothekFederico II Gonzaga at the siege of Parma, oil on canvas, 213×276 cm, Munich, Alte PinakothekFrancesco II Gonzaga at the Battle of Fornovo on the Taro, oil on canvas, 269×421 cm, Munich, Alte PinakothekCoronation of Marchese Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, oil on canvas, 272×432 cm, Munich, Alte PinakothekRape of Helen, oil on canvas, 186×307 cm, Madrid, Museo del PradoEsther Before Ahasuerus,, oil on canvas, 59×203 cm, Royal CollectionThe Muses of Music, Royal Collection
;TitianPortrait of Suliman the Magnificent, 99×85 cm, Innsbruck, Ambras CastleWoman with a Mirror,, oil on canvas, 99×76 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvreTarquin and Lucretia,, oil on panel, 84×68 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistoriches Museum, GemaeldegaleriePortrait of Isabella d'Este, 1536, oil on canvas, 102×64 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistoriches Museum, GemaeldegaleriePortrait of Federico II Gonzaga,, oil on canvas, 125×99 cm, Madrid, Museo del PradoPortrait of Giulio Romano, oil on canvas, 102×87 cm, Mantova, Palazzo TeMan with a Glove,, oil on canvas, 100×89 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvrePortrait of a man,, oil on canvas, 118×96 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvreThe Madonna of the Rabbit,, oil on canvas, 71×85 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre

V

;Various artists
;Veronese Judith with the Head of Holofernes, oil on canvas, 111×110 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
;Antonio Maria VianiAnnunciation to the Virgin Mary, oil on canvas, 54.5×42.5 cm, Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale