Historic seat of the Guild of Merchants and Money Changers

Between 1496 and 1500 Pietro Vannucci, known as il Perugino, at the height of his fame completed the frescoes decorating the Sala dell’Udienza (audience hall) of the Nobile Collegio del Cambio.

The complex iconographic scheme developed by Francesco Maturanzio, a Perugian humanist, takes its inspiration from classical texts: Cicero’s De officiliis and Valerio Massimo’s Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri. Further to these themes, the vault was inspired by Johannes Angelus’s text Astrolabium published in the 15th century (as corroborated by woodcuttings from that period), and the I Profeti e le Sibille painting in the lunette was inspired by De Divinis institutionibus the masterwork of the Christian writer Lattanzio.

The narrative theme adorning the walls can be broken down into three stories. The first, I Profeti e le Sibille illustrating the lunette pays tribute to male and female characters from the Old Testament whose prophesies announced the coming of the Redeemer. The second, on the end wall of the hall, develops and completes the initial theme and refers to Vangeli’s Nascita and Trasfigurazione di Cristo. The third theme running around the side walls depicts a number of virtuous characters from the ancient times including eight from the Latin world and four from Ancient Greece.