ROOM 8 – THE CLOTHING ROOM

The clothing room houses the uniform of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institute of France, to which Spontini was admitted on 15 June 1839.

The uniform, which the composer used to wear on official occasions, is made of embroidered silk and consists of trousers, a jacket, a sash, a feluca and three waistcoats.

In the central display case, you can see the white trousers embroidered with floral decorations, the jacket with green olive leaf decorations, an embroidered satin waistcoat and the marbled silk and feather bonnet.

The hanging cabinet, made of inlaid wood and featuring a medallion with the profile of the maestro, contains two silk waistcoats, the fabric sash and a second feluca with its hat box. The inlaid wardrobe was made in 1842, as indicated by the French inscription on the bronze medallion at the top: ‘Gaspard Louis Pacifique Spontini reconquis par l’Instituta’ la France 1842.’ All the clothes, dating from the first half of the 19th century, were restored in 1995.

On the left is also preserved the sword with a metal and mother-of-pearl hilt which completed the Academy uniform together with its metal blade cover and leather sheath.

On the wall hangs the diploma received from King Louis XVIII in 1818, with which the maestro was appointed Officer of the Knights of the Legion of Honour.

Next is the inscription attesting to Spontini’s admission to the class of patricians and nobles of the city of Jesi for universal merits, which took place during a public assembly on 22 July 1822. Next to it is the same document printed in French and German, produced to publicise in France and Germany the honours that the Jesi nobility decided to bestow upon him. A copy of this inscription was donated to the museum by Colonel Darcy, a descendant of Celeste Erard.

On the left there is also a portrait of Pope Gregory XVI who in 1845 awarded the Spontini couple the title of Count and Countess of Sant’Andrea, and of Pope Pius IX, who in 1854 proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, to which Celeste Erard dedicated the statue now standing in Parco Colle Celeste.