The Pinacoteca Stuard was opened in 2002 inside a wing of the ancient Benedictine monastery of St. Paolo, which was built starting from the 10th century. The art gallery was named affter the philantropist and collector Giuseppe Stuard (Parma, 1790 - 1834) to whom we owe the first unit of the museum's artistic collections, that are artworks which have been bequeathed to the Congregation of St. Filippo Neri, of which Stuard was administrator.
In addition to Giuseppe Stuard's personal collection, the heritage of the Pinacoteca also consists of some valuable religious works of the Tuscan 14-15th century that belonged to the Marquis A. Tacoli Canacci and which now open the museum itinerary. However, the symbol of the Pinacoteca has become a drawing of a greyhound attributed to Parmigianino, donated to the institution by a collector in 1926.
The exhibition path, that is organized around the small central twin cloister of the St. Paolo complex, starts from the 14th-15th century to reach the 20th century. It is structured in 22 rooms and two floors, and it includes works from various artistic and pictorial cultures. The itinerary passes through paintings, portraits, relics, period furniture, tapestries and various documentary evidence of the artistic history of Parma and the Stuard family itself.