The Frieze of the Art of War
The project concerns the new set up of the panels of the Frieze of the Art of War in the Ducal Palace in Urbino, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. The 72 bas-reliefs - sculpted by Ambrogio Barocci, partly from drawings by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and partly from drawings by Roberto Valturio - depict machines, technological devices and instruments of war, and are a synthesis of Federico da Montefeltro's talent and interest in mathematics, exact sciences and technology.
The panels, originally placed on “the winged façade” and along the façade of San Domenico, decorated the benches where visitors and residents of Urbino still sit today. In 1756, to limit their deterioration due to atmospheric agents, the Apostolic Legate Giovan Francesco Stoppani had them and the collection of Roman inscriptions walled into the four sides of the soprallogge on the piano nobile. In 1944, under the direction of Pasquale Rotondi, the panels were dismantled and placed in storage, only to be moved in the 1980s to the two rooms adjacent to the Ducal Library on the ground floor of the palace.
The limited space and poor lighting in these rooms did not allow the work to be appreciated in its entirety and in the details that characterise it; the management of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche decided to move the frieze to the soprallogge again.
The new arrangement enhances the overall view: the panels are arranged along three of the four sides of the soprallogge, restoring the original scansion on the three sides of the façade, as seen in a view of the Ducal Palace engraved in 1724, accompanying the volume by Bernardino Baldi, Memorie concernenti la città di Urbino. In the same volume, Francesco Bianchini gives a precise description of the panels, illustrated with engravings to facilitate their recognition: this sequence is the basis of the current arrangement. Exactly three hundred years later, the new segmental arrangement is intended to recall the original outdoor location, where the series of bas-reliefs was interspersed with the portals of the winged façades.
The installation is characterised by a backdrop of modular metal panels, whose structure is designed to re-proportion the work within the vast spaces of the Ducal Palace. The height of the backdrop, the horizontal elements and the positioning of the bas-reliefs reproduce the original proportions of the works outside, thus recreating the visual impact of the frieze in its original context.
The system has been designed as a dry construction, using metal uprights transoms and infill panels that can be completely dismantled in the future. This configuration allows the integrity of the work to be preserved and facilitates the handling of individual panels in the event of loans or restoration work: the bas-reliefs can be removed individually without affecting the entire exhibition.
Below each panel, a horizontal element houses an explanatory caption with a reproduction of the 1724 engravings. This element serves both as a support for the didactic apparatus and as a spacer, allowing the work to be admired from the correct vantage point. In the 18th century, one of the 72 panels was destroyed during a move; the new display has a blank frame to indicate the gap, and the caption and reproduction of its drawing explain its content.
A detailed study of the materials present in the palace, such as stucco, plasterwork, windowsills and thresholds, guided the choice of the background colour of the installation, ensuring chromatic harmony with the surrounding architectural context and avoiding the dominance of the works.
The choice of positioning the frieze in the soprallogge ensures that the works are in a barycentric position to the museum's itinerary; moreover, the large amount of natural light enhances the bas-reliefs and accentuates their chiaroscuro.
