It is difficult to trace the Pesaro painting to a specific Baroque prototype despite it having evident similarities with two portraits of a young woman painted by Barocci himself. The painting would depict Maddalena Giron, Duchess of Ossuno and woman loved by Duke Francesco Maria II della Rovere during her stay at the Spanish court and before her marriage to Lucrezia d´Este. According to this hypothesis, the canvas could therefore have been commissioned by the duke himself during the Spanish years or immediately after his return to his homeland in 1568.

From the Mazza collection comes a small masterpiece of plastic art by Alessandro Algardi, a famous Baroque sculptor of Bolognese origin and of Roman training. The artist's poetics can be recognized in the characteristic drapery, with large wavy surfaces, which create effects of brightness and softness. Another stylistic feature is the torsion of the elongated and agile bust, a sign of a strong sense of volume and space. Some details, such as the lion's head in the sword handle or the medusa's head in the lorica, are modeled with accuracy; others, such as the belt, are barely mentioned. The terracotta, in fact, was not born as a work in itself, but as a preparatory model for the reproduction of Attila in the marble altar of St. Peter's Basilica, depicting the meeting of Pope Leo I and Attila (1646-1653).

In the nineteenth century the painting was considered the work of Andrea Mantegna and in 1894 Berenson temporarily attributed it to Giovanni Bellini. The attribution to the young Vivarini has been independently suggested and it is undeniable that the painting is strongly influenced by Giovanni Bellini, whose works were still marked at the time by the style of Andrea Mantegna, his brother-in-law. However, the more angular forms, the tendency of the volumes to writhe like green wood in the fire, the poses and even the expressions of the faces of the figures are comparable to Alvise's early paintings such as the polyptych of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, made in 1476 .

It is assumed that the work was found in the Olivieri collection in pendant with the canvas of identical format and dimensions by Berentz. It is not improbable that the intentions of those who bought them was precisely to display the evidence of the two famous painters in the genre. The realization of this work was probably placed close to the end of Tamm's Roman stay, around 1695. The painter associates the unmistakable mastery, as a true virtuoso of color, with the optical clarity in illustrating the floral species. in the chromatic passages. The majestic floral trophy well exemplifies the decorative splendor of the Roman late Baroque season and confirms the fame of Tamm as a florist who, together with his fellow countryman Berentz, can be considered the heir to the iconographic tradition of monumental still lifes en plein air, inaugurated by Abraham Brueghel.

Still life is one of the most executed and appreciated pictorial genres especially during the seventeenth century and among the most present in private collections. The work of Berentz, exponent of the Roman school of the late seventeenth century, follows the typology of the Baroque still life. Flowers, fruit and vegetables, furnishing objects - in this case some very refined crystals and metal trays - and classical architectural elements, create an extremely rich and elegant composition. The search for the multiplicity of colors, the combination of shapes and lines, the study of elaborate light effects on the surfaces are evident, demonstrating his great attention to aesthetic purity and decorative perfection.

The painting belongs to the extreme production of the life of Elisabetta Sirani, who died twenty-seven on 29 August 1665. In fact, it bears the words "Elisa Sirani 1664" on the edge of the neckline of the Virgin's robe. Preceded by a drawing now in the Louvre, devoid of the figure of San Giovannino and with some other variations, the work welcomes that tenuous renewal that marked Sirani's last years of work, reinvigorating the chiaroscuro contrasts and thus marking her suave baroque balance of paternal and renian descent. A copy is kept in the Rimini Civic Art Gallery.

After a period of stalemate, around 1540, the Pesaro majolica returns to its former glory. The transfer of the Della Rovere court from Urbino to Pesaro in 1538 helped fuel an urban and artistic renewal and thus the representation of 'stories' arrived in Pesaro, where it was performed mainly in the workshops of Girolamo and Giacomo Lanfranco Dalle Gabicce. Dated to 1541, the cup is one of the earliest examples of Pesaro's historiato. The scene, painted with bright chromatism, denotes an almost childlike hand. The characters are defined in an essential way and animated by an intense dynamism. Elements that will become constant in the historical Pesaro area also appear in the cup, such as the approximate buildings in the distance, and above all the insertion of the mythological event in a naturalistic landscape, which is therefore preferred to the architectural setting.

The majestic altarpiece executed around 1475 is one of the undisputed masterpieces of the Renaissance. Painted for the Pesaro church of San Francesco, it was built in Venice and, since its arrival in Pesaro, it immediately became an object of devotion by the faithful. The table depicts the Virgin enthroned, being crowned by Jesus assisted by Saints Peter and Paul on the left, Jerome and Francis on the right; behind a window reveals a realistic landscape image, with a fortress, a real picture within the picture. Framed by pillars with two rows of saints, the central scene suggests an eternal immobility, while the story becomes dynamic and almost theatrical of the predella below, with the lively hagiographic stories. The work was brought to Paris by Napoleonic troops in 1797 as war booty and then returned to the papal government thanks to the mediation of Antonio Canova. Dismembered and sent back to Pesaro by sea, it is deprived of the top panel depicting the embalming of Christ, kept for the collection of the newly established Vatican Pinacoteca.

Large painting from 1637, in which the artist's typical figurative composure gives way to a composition with vigorous movements and violent features, intended to evoke the mythical clash between the giant sons of the earth and the gods of Olympus. Struck by the wrath of Zeus, the giants fall overwhelmed by huge boulders. The scene is set according to a bold perspective that suggests the decoration of a ceiling, probably in a private residence. The work arrived in Pesaro with the Bolognese collection of the Hercolani acquired by the museums thanks to the legacy of Gioachino Rossini More than the other great Bolognese painters of the seventeenth century, Guido Reni represents a fundamental model for the Pesaro figurative culture of that period. A decisive influence for local artists, including the young Simone Cantarini.

The sculpture depicting a reclining winged putto is a refined example that recalls similar models by Algardi; it comes from the collection of the Marquise Vittoria Toschi Mosca of Pesaro. With regard to the acquisition of the piece by the Civic Museums of Pesaro, it was chosen to generically indicate as terminus post quem the year of death of the marquise (1885), although it should be noted that since 1877 the illustrious town drew up a will in which she left to the city the Palazzo Mazzolari which she purchased to place her own artistic collection there with the express obligation to immediately establish a public museum aimed at the scholarly youth.

Created for the altar of the Church of the Holy Trinity of the Hospital in 1759, the work is designed for the suffering faithful and presents an elaborate devotional setting in which, in addition to the Trinity, the theme of the deposition and that of the expulsion of Adam and Eve. Abbot Lazzarini is one of the most interesting exponents of Pesaro culture in the eighteenth century: painter, architect, art theorist, critic, poet and theologian, he embodies the figure of the scholar in an exemplary manner. He was a friend and collaborator of the scholars Giovan Battista Passeri and Annibale degli Abbati Olivieri, and with them an exponent of the academic classicism that characterized the cultural production of the period.

The triptych depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned between two angels and the blessing Redeemer, between Saints Michael the Archangel and Francis and in the predella, Saint Jerome, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint John the Baptist, the Flagellation of Christ, Saint John the Evangelist , San Ludovico da Tolosa and Santa Chiara. An attempt was made to identify the Franciscan saint of the predella with the Blessed Sante da Mombaroccio, but the traditional identification with Sant´Antonio da Padova seems preferable, as indicated by the burning flame and the inscription on the open book. The painting was kept from ancient times in San Giovanni Battista degli Zoccolanti in Pesaro. The presence of San Francesco and three Franciscan saints in the predella, however, indicates that its original location must have been a church of the minor friars. The work is a manifesto of the contemporary Florentine artistic situation and the neo-Giotto trend shines through in the archaic rigor. On the other hand, numerous elements show that Mariotto has not forgotten late Gothic experimentalism and in the monumental figures, wrapped in large draperies, the contour line struggles in increasingly convoluted serpentines, as in the mantle of the Madonna or in that of San Michele.

The large "pompous" plates, that is to say exclusively for ornamental purposes to hang on the walls or to display in the cupboards, are one of the most sought-after expressions of Italian majolica and undoubtedly represent one of the evident signs of Renaissance culture. The subject depicted, a beautiful woman, is inspired by the Umbrian painting of the time and in particular by that of Pinturicchio, who had an undoubted influence on Deruta ceramics. The adjective "beautiful woman" that accompanies the name of the person to whom the offer is addressed frequently recurs in the majolica of a loving subject both in Deruta and in other centers where this genre spread, sometimes with the expression of other qualities that correspond to the Renaissance feminine ideal.

The basin bears the coat of arms of the Veterani family of Urbino in the center, supported by two winged cherubs; the remaining surface is occupied by a thick "Raphaelesque" decoration with fantastic figures and animals, cameos and masks. This decorative typology derives from the wall paintings of the palaces of ancient Rome, especially the Domus Aurea, whose underground rooms looked like caves to Renaissance visitors and motivated the term "grotesque" to define this decorative collection. The most fortunate results were achieved by Raphael and his circle in the Farnese residences and in the Vatican Loggias, hence the term "Raphaelesque" to designate the "grotesques" on a white background. Starting from 1560 the "Raphaelesque" conquered also the majolica pottery, especially in the Urbino area, where the workshop of Orazio Fontana excelled with the production of superb services, upholstered by a rich and refined universe of bizarre creatures and references to antiquity.

Certainly there are not a few ceramics made by Ferruccio Mengaroni, but the Medusa is certainly the most famous and fascinating one. The large majolica, whose diameter abundantly exceeds two meters, now finds its place along the staircase that leads to the Civic Museums of Pesaro. He stands there, in profile, as if for an ambush, as if on purpose he wanted to send his heart to bump into the goiter. And in short, it will be for the skill used by Ferruccio Mengaroni who seems to make the Medusa alive, for the subject represented in itself, or perhaps for the incredible story of the work: the fact is that a glance is enough to feel a series of shivers on the back. , to get the feeling that a small insect has mistaken our backbone for its playground and is having a lot of fun walking it, first back and forth. On repeat.