The gallery is located inside Palazzo Barberini, an edifice built in the period which approximately spans from 1625 to 1633. The building once used to be the palace of the Sforza family. It has now been enlarged by the construction of the gallery, which has given it a Baroque feel and an H-shaped structure, characterized by a spectacular atrium in a “ninfeo” shape. The atrium serves as a diaphragm between the open gallery at the entrance and the garden at the back. Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini were two of the directors of the construction work.

One of the most beautiful paintings is the Madonna and Child Enthroned, by Filippo Lippi, which dates back to 1437. The more substantial nucleus of paintings of the 16th century contains works such as the Fornarina, which is the famous portrait Raphael painted of his lover, or pieces by Andrea del Sarto, Beccafumi, Sodoma, Bronzino, Lotto, Tintoretto, Titian and El Greco. The pictures accompany you through to the end of the century beautifully represented by Caravaggio’s splendid Judith decapitating Holofernes.

The 1600s are represented by works by Reni, Domenichino, Guercino, Lanfranco, Bernini, Poussin, Pietro da Cortona and Gaulli. The section of works of the Seventeenth century blends perfectly well with the decoration and the architecture of the palace, offering a very rich testimony to one of the most fertile periods for art and culture, thanks to its completeness and to its homogeneity.

The late 16 and 17 hundreds are represented by Mattia Preti, Canaletto, Batoni, Pannini, the Lemme Collection and many others. Belonging to the same period, there is also a rare collection of French paintings which are part of the collection of the Duke of Cervinara, exhibited in new rooms, on the second floor of the building.