Ever since Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1550), in which he laid the groundwork for the modern discipline of art history, the label “primitive” has been ascribed to artists who lived before the affirmation of the “modern manner,” the name given to the style that was introduced between the 15th and 16th centuries by Pietro Perugino and Francesco Francia. This style reached its ultimate expression in the work of the Renaissance masters, Raphael and Michelangelo.
In rooms 5-10 works are arranged by cultural area and period from the 13th to the 18th century, according to modern principles of museum display. Each of the works on display combines an array of values and points of interest that go beyond an evaluation on purely stylistic grounds.
Each individual work has a larger significance within the framework of art history, collections, and dispersions, whether examining a masterpiece (as in the case of Vitale da Bologna), a piece produced by workshops or just a small fragment (both of which are widely present in this collection). Some works in this room were produced abroad or in Italian areas other than Bologna, like the “predella” by Cristoforo Moretti (no.28) or the two saints by Portuguese painter Alvar Pires (no.23).
However, some pieces that are more closely linked to Bolognese history, such as the small altar piece with the Adoration of the Child (no.14) or the 14th century Annunciation by Jacopo di Paolo (no.16), are yet to be more thoroughly analyzed.
The only 13th century work in this room is a Crucifix painted by the so-called "Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes". In the same room are also displayed three Crosses of strong emotional impact. On one of the crosses (no. 8) the Mourners on each side of Christ’s hands were painted by Simone dei Crocefissi, the most important figure in a movement of devotional painting that was particularly widespread in Bologna after the work of Vitale. Some of the other pieces, predominantly from the 14th century, are the oldest works by Bolognese and Emilian artists.
There are as well a number of works from other regional traditions, for example the triptych by the "Master from the Marches" (no. 3). The early 15th century is represented by late Gothic paintings and proto-Renaissance works, from Emilia and beyond. While considering the wall paintings, it is necessary to note that many of them had been saved from destruction during the Napoleonic age when various religious orders were being suppressed.
Thanks to the widespread devotion of the Bolognese people, many of them were transferred from their original churches to the monastery of San Girolamo della Certosa, which became a cemetery in 1801. Among these works, there is a fresco from the Church of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera, which was recently attributed to Jacopino di Francesco, a relatively well known local artist.
