The Golden Drawing Room

The ‘Salone d’Oro’ [‘Golden Drawing Room’] is situated on Palazzo Chigi’s second piano nobile, overlooking Piazza Colonna, and is a wonderful example of 18th century decorative art in Rome. This drawing room was decorated between 1765 and 1767 by a number of artists and craftsmen under the guidance of architect Giovanni Stern, to mark the marriage of Sigismondo Chigi and Maria Flaminia Odescalchi.

Among them was sculptor Tommaso Righi, whose bas-relief cherubs, gryphons and male and female figures bring the walls to life.

Righi is also credited with the large hunting nymphs above the doors, holding the paintings by Flemish artist Giovanni De Momper. 

The inlaid wooden flooring is the work of the ebony craftsman Andrea Mimmi. 

The ceiling panels and surrounding frieze were painted by artist Giovanni Angeoloni. In the centre of the ceiling is a 17th century painting by Giovan Battista Gaulli: ‘Diana spying on the sleeping Endymion’.

Lastly, the extraordinary leaf decorations made from gilded cast metal that frame the mirrors and form the base of the lamps were completed by Luigi Valadier. 

The ‘Golden Drawing Room’ and adjacent ‘Marine Landscape Room’ form part of the apartment of the President of the Council of Ministers.