This event is the opening episode of the second canto of Jerusalem Delivered: in order to save the Christians of Jerusalem, the innocent Sophronia accuses herself of having stolen from the mosque a sacred icon – clearly shown by the angels in the heavens –and for this she is condemned to burn at the stake. Olindo, secretly in love with her, accuses himself of the crime and is condemned to death alongside her. Clorinda, however, in “uncouth arms yclad and strange disguise/from countries far”, saves their lives. Moved by pity, she offers her support to the king in the war against the crusaders in exchange for the young pair’s freedom. Like The Struggle between Perseus and Phineus, this majestic painting is also of the finest, most sumptuous quality: the brush moves with ease from silvered whites to the palest of pinks, from cadmium yellows to opulent, velvety purples, skilfully bestowing a highly effective lighting composition on the whole.

This large painting portrays a crucial episode in the myth of Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae, told in the fifth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which he saves his bride Andromeda. She had been first promised to Phineus who, to avenge his rejection, burst into the wedding banquet with a group of warriors. Perseus, depicted on the right of the scene, defends himself against the attack by holding up the head of the Gorgon Medusa, whose gaze turns the enemies into stone. In front of him is Phineus, attempting to defend himself with his shield. At his feet are some of his fallen followers, and in the background the guests cover their eyes to avoid the same fate. Luca Giordano’s imposing composition, signed bottom left, is filled with spectacular contrivances and theatrical effects, such as the two columns at the centre of the scene around which is wound a dark red cloth, dividing the scene.

This work of tragic grandeur depicts Christ on the cross against a livid sky, emphasising the desolate solitude of the ordeal of his execution and death. A cold light strikes his nude body and the ample cloth wrapped elaborately around his waist, twisting as if blown by the wind. He is still alive, his suffering, blood-streaked face turned to the sky.

Blood also pours from the wounds at his wrists and feet. Light flares around his head, crowned with thorns. In the sky can be seen the solar eclipse described by Luke in his Gospel.

The barren, rocky landscape around the cross, disappearing into the darkness of the background, expresses the dramatic dimension where the sorrowful emotion of Christ echoes.

The painting was purchased by Carlo Felice in 1821. Its attribution to the Flemish artist has never been doubted; on the contrary, some critics believe it to be the only surviving authentic crucifixion of Van Dyck’s Italian period.

The depicted woman is at the centre of the painting, her piercingly intense face in three-quarter profile, facing the observer with a confident gaze. A red rose to the side of her face accentuates her pale complexion. Her right hand is resting on the basin of a Baroque fountain supported by a merman. Her left hand, resting by her side, holds a closed fan. The sumptuous gown enveloping her figure is part of a complex Spanish-style dress, and her hair is pulled back and gathered in a chignon, around which is wrapped a diamond tiara and a bunch of black feathers. The woman is Caterina Balbi Durazzo, painted by a twenty-five year old Van Dyck, skilled at bringing out the inner character of the person portrayed, proving himself to have fully absorbed the teachings of his master Rubens: the lady retains, alongside the marks of aristocracy, a certain fresh, youthful tenderness. The portrait came to the Palazzo in 1689 and has been at the Via Balbi residence ever since.

Painted between 1532 and 1535 for the chapel of San Gerolamo in the Genoa church of San Domenico, the altarpiece originally included a predella with four Mysteries of the Passion and was enclosed in a lavish architectural frame of carved gilded wood. The work shows a consideration of the Flemish works present in the city, particularly the “Deposition” painted by Jos Van Cleve for the church of Santa Maria della Pace, now at the Louvre, and a knowledge of the new approaches in 16th-century painting which had recently reached Genova.

The painting by Gaston Roullet, a French painter who died in Paris in 1925, is the introduction to the room dedicated to the collection of the  ship owner Paolo Clerici. Over 100 paintings all with a maritime subject, in which it is possible to see a common thread: human labour, be it that of fishermen, as is the case of this painting by Roullet, or that of the crew of the cargo steamships, the large ocean liners or the ships of war. Stevedores, moorers, crane operators, carters, those "people of the docks" who crowd the numerous images of European ports that visitors can admire.