The Gonzaga Collection or Celeste Gallery (la Celeste Galeria) was the large collection of artworks commissioned and acquired by the House of Gonzaga in Mantua, Italy, exhibited for a time in the Palazzo Ducale, the Palazzo Te, the Palazzo San Sebastiano and other buildings in Mantua and elsewhere.
The Gonzagas were inspired by the wunderkammer style of collecting practised by the princes of Bavaria, with Isabella d'Este in particular creating a noted private 'studiolo'. They set an example for other European courts, particularly in their patronage of contemporary artists, whilst their collecting increased the international profile of Mantua, a relatively small state. It reached its peak under Vincenzo I Gonzaga and his son Ferdinando, before the family's decline led to major losses from the collection, such as the long negotiations from 1625 onwards with Charles I of Great Britain, mediated by two members of the Whitehall Group – the Flemish art dealer Daniel Nys and Nicholas Lanier, Master of the King's Music. These culminated in 1627 with most of the Gonzaga collections being sent to London. This ensured their preservation, unlike the artworks still in Mantua when the city was sacked in 1630.
Its works are now split between museums and private collections across the world, as shown by the 2002–2003 exhibition Gonzaga. La Celeste Galeria. Il Museo dei Duchi di Mantova at the Palazzo Te and Palazzo Ducale, which included around ninety paintings from the total of approximately 2,000 originally in the collection. As well as paintings, the collection also included decorative work in gold and precious stones such as the Gonzaga Cameo along with natural history specimens or 'mirabilia'.
List
A
Anonymous
Gonzaga Cameo*, classical cameo
Lely Venus, classical sculpture
Cristofano Allori
Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1613, oil on canvas, 120x100 cm, Royal Collection Sofonisba Anguissola Bernardino Campi painting a portrait of Sofonisba Angiussola, , oil on canvas, 111×109.5 cm, Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale Self portrait at the easel (?), Lancut, Muzeum Zamet
B
Giovanni Baglione
Allegory of Justice and Peace, oil on canvas, 255.3×227 cm, Royal Collection
Apollo, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Calliope, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Clio, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Erato, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Euterpe, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Polymnia, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Terpsichore, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Thalia, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Urania, oil on canvas, 195×150 cm, Arras, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Jacopo Bassano
Christ in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, oil on canvas 98×126.5 cm, Houston, Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery
Pieter Bruegel the Younger
Wedding Feast, oil on panel, 89×112 cm, Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland
C
[[File:Carracci-Butcher's shop.jpg|thumb|The Butcher's Shop''', Annibale Carracci]] Annibale CarracciThe Butcher's Shop, 1582–1583, oil on canvas, 185×266 cm, Oxford, Christ Church Picture Gallery
Ludovico CarracciEcstacy of St Francis, oil on panel, 67×51 cm, Parma, private collection
CorreggioThe School of Love, (1527–1528) oil on canvas, 155.6×91.4 cm, London, National GalleryVenus and Cupid with a Satyr, (1523–1525) oil on canvas, 190×124 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvreAllegory of Vice , 1532–1534, oil on canvas, 149×88 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvreAllegory of Virtue , 1532–1534, oil on canvas, 149×88 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvreHoly Family with St Jerome, oil on panel, 68.8×56×1.8 cm, Royal CollectionDanae, (1531?), oil on panel, 161×193 cm, Rome, Galleria BorgheseLeda and the Swan, (1531?), olio su tavola, 152×191 cm, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu BerlinRape of Ganymede, (1531?), oil on panel, 163.5×70.5 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, GemaeldegalerieJupiter and Io, (1531?), oil on panel, 163.5×74 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemaeldegalerie
Lorenzo CostaReign of Comus, 1504, oil on panel, 160×192 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvreIsabella d'Este in the kingdom of Harmonia or Allegory of the coronation of Isabella d'Este, 1505, oil on panel, 164.5×197.5 cm, Paris, Musée du LouvrePortrait of a woman with a dog, , oil on panel, 45.5×35.1 cm, Royal CollectionMadonna and Child, , painting on panel, 71×55 cm, London, private collection
Lucas Cranach (after)Lucretia, oil on panel, 42×27.7 cm, Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale