Priors' chapel

The Cappella dei Priori (Priors' chapel) on the third floor of the National Gallery of Umbria is perhaps the most distinctive space in Perugia’s palazzo communale (Town Hall). Its decoration, completed in the second half of the 15th century, was designed to celebrate the city’s cultural, religious and political identity. Following its construction, begun in 1450, a glazed majolica floor was made by Giacomo di Marino, known as il Cavalla and the wooden choir was the work of Gaspare di Giacomo of Foligno and Paolino da Ascoli.

Benedetto Bonfigli painted a cycle of frescoes dedicated to the lives of two of the city’s patron saints Sant’Ercolano (Herculanus) and San Ludovico di Tolosa (Louis of Toulouse). San Lorenzo and San Costanzo, the other two patron saints of the city were portrayed in stained windows at the back of the chapel. In 1495 Pietro Perugino’s Pala dei Decemviri (Decemviri altarpiece) was installed depicting the Madonna and Child surrounded by the city’s four protectors, now on display in the Vatican Museums, and on the cymatium his Cristo in Pietà, now displayed in another section of the National Gallery of Umbria

Bonfigli’s frescoes in the Cappella dei Priori (Priors' chapel) are his masterpiece and must be numbered among Umbria’s foremost works of early renaissance art. The decorative cycle begins with stories from of the life of San Ludovico in the right-hand angle of the chapel’s western wall and continues clockwise with the scenes la Vestizione e professione nell’Ordine francescano di San Ludovico alla presenza di Bonifacio VIII (San Ludovico’s ordination), il Miracolo del mercante che ritrova il denaro perduto nel naufragio (The miracle of the money found after a shipwreck), il Miracolo della guarigione di Giovanni figlio di Filippo VI di Francia (The miraculous cure of the son of Philip VI of France) and finally on the eastern wall le Esequie del santo (Burial ceremony of the Saint).

The stories of the life of Ercolano di Perugia begin on the right-hand side of the western wall portraying the dramatic events which resulted in his martyrdom (Tradimento del chierico [The cleric’s betrayal], Presa di Perugia da parte di Totila [Totila conquers Perugia], Decapitazione di Sant’Ercolano [Beheading of Saint Herculanus] and Ritrovamento del suo corpo incorrotto [Discovery of his uncorrupted corpse]). The western wall has Prima traslazione del corpo di Sant’Ercolano dal luogo del ritrovamento alla Chiesa di San Pietro [First removal of Saint Herculanus’s corpse to San Pietro]; the southern wall features the final scene of the cycle Seconda traslazione del corpo di Sant’Ercolano verso la nuova Cattedrale di San Lorenzo (second removal of Saint Herculanus’s corpse and inhumation in the new San Lorenz Cathedral). Although the episodes Bonfigli recounts took place in the 6th century he places them in topographically correct views of 15th century Perugia which accurately portray and are clearly intended to celebrate the opulent urban landscapes of the city.