"Per far un tutto, che servir dovesse alla cultura delle arti". I progetti di Giuseppe Valadier del 1807

This article offers a critical reassessment of Giuseppe Valadier’s Progetti architettonici (1807), a volume of engraved projects largely neglected by scholarship and usually interpreted merely as a repertoire of architectural models. The study focuses in particular on three innovative museum projects, a Museum of Sculpture, a Picture Gallery, and a Museum of Drawings, that reveal Valadier’s ambition to outline a coherent and programmatic vision of an integrated system for the preservation, education, and promotion of the fine arts. Although these projects remained unbuilt, they demonstrate the architect’s engagement with contemporary debates on museography and his awareness of the museum’s strategic role in shaping artistic culture. By situating Valadier’s designs within the broader Roman and Parisian contexts, the article highlights their theoretical significance and their contribution to early nineteenth-century discussions on museum architecture.