Palazzo de'Rossi. Una storia pistoiese

110. Alessandro Gherardesca, Fronte della palazzina o “Casino de’
Rossi”, secondo il progetto del 1828.
111. Stemma in rilievo Rossi-Magnani, in terracotta un tempo
dipinta, entro la lunetta di corona mento della porta-finestra
mediana, al primo piano della palazzina ottocentesca, eretta
su disegno di Alessandro Gherardesca del 1828, attigua al
settecentesco palazzo de’ Rossi.
106. Palazzo de’ Rossi, seconda stanza verso destra dopo
l’ingresso, al primo piano est, in origine camera da letto
matrimoniale. Affresco sul soffitto, con l’Allegoria della
Fama che vince il Tempo. Bartolomeo Valiani, firmato e
datato al 1824.
107. Particolare dell’Allegoria della Fama, con ritratto
del personaggio femminile impersonante la Fama. Stato
antecedente al restauro, luce radente.
108. Particolare dell’illustrazione precedente, con firma e
data segnate dall’artista.
109. Particolare dell’affresco precedente, con la figura del
Tempo. Stato antecedente al restauro.
one belonging to his son, which remained in the “old house.” The later series of interventions,
between 1836 and 1837, regards the “fixing up of two rooms of the good quarters,” i.e. on the
east side of the third floor, given that the second floor on that side had remained for the use of
Girolamo. At that time the expenditure for the works of the stonecutter, mason and a certain
“painter Capponi” were recorded. 280 These could have been the interventions preliminary
to the new painted decoration of the two rooms with medallions framed with “tracery” and
volutes on the vaults, with small views of the park of the Villa di Scornio and small figures from
classical mythology respectively, datable in my view to that same period, the end of the 1830s. 281
A series of artistic interventions to modernize the main apartment, on the piano nobile, must
have been carried out in the 1820s. Still visible on their ceilings are paintings by some of the
most highly regarded decorators and painters in Pistoia at the time: probably commissioned
first by Francesco, then by father and son together, and finally by Girolamo.
The two allegories of Justice Illuminating Truth (figs. 100-103) and Fame Overcoming Time
(figs. 104-107), painted on the vaults of the first two rooms after the original entrance to
the eastern “quarters,” signed by Bartolomeo Valiani and dated 1824, are likely to have still
been commissioned by Francesco, both for their representation of themes dear to him and
above all for the reference to an artistic culture of a distinctly academic character, essentially
predating the neoclassicism prevalent at the time. 282
The allegories allude to events, about which we know nothing, that could have been conducive to
Francesco’s career as a public figure. The year 1824 was the one in which Leopold II took the place
of the deceased Ferdinand III as grand-duke and Francesco expected from him a due recognition
of his loyal activity in the service of the throne: which must sometimes have earned him the
criticism, when not the downright hostility, of detractors. The subjects of the two paintings, on
the other hand, were not suited to his son Girolamo, who was only twenty-two at the time.
By 1828, however, the situation of the cohabitation of the son (married for four years) and
his parents must have changed. Francesco, since 1825 at least, had been moving with the rest
of his family 283 into other rooms in that residence, leaving the “good” apartment on the east
side of the second floor to Girolamo and his wife Luisa. But by 1828 the couple had already
commissioned the plans for a new home from Alessandro Gherardesca (figs. 110, 111). 284
Monti and Bezzuoli’s paintings fall into the period between 1828 and 1831, attesting to the
young couple’s intention to go on using those elegant rooms in the ancestral Palazzo de’
Rossi, if only for official occasions. 285
The ceilings of several more rooms in the building were decorated with other figures, which
can in my opinion be assigned to the same period of time and to Ferdinando Marini. That of
the allegory of Music (figs. 112-115), 286 a figure with a witty smile surrounded by flying cupids
holding musical instruments on the vault of the drawing-room adjoining the main hall, and
those of Zephyrus and the Dawn (figs. 116, 117), respectively on the vaults of the entrance
room and the adjoining one on the ground floor, to the east. 287
Girolamo de’ Rossi’s passion for music is well known: he was the patron of Teodulo Mabellini
(1817-97) at the beginning of his career. 288 Nor could he have failed to notice the perfect
acoustics of the hall, which was probably used to hold concerts, initiating a tradition that was
revived in the second half of the 20th century and continues to this day. 289
The elegant and sinuous image of Music, in the way that it suggests almost figuratively the
“stirring of the emotions” that music, like poetry, produces, seems to be a sister of the other
and equally alluring female figures painted between 1819 and 1823 in Palazzo Puccini by the
then rising star Ferdinando Marini for Domenico and his brother Niccolò. 290
The other two figures painted in the two rooms on the ground floor facing onto the garden
probably imply a different use (which is not known at present) that they were supposed to
reflect. The subjects—although fairly generic—seem in fact more suited to boys or girls than
to a man already getting on in years like Francesco was at the time: however, we know nothing
about which rooms in the building were used by Girolamo as a boy and by Francesco’s two
daughters, Giulia born on November 16, 1803, 291 and Maria Giuseppa born on October 2, 1805. 292
112 113