The

FIRENZE
MVSEI
ENGLISH
Uffizi
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE
1 Archaeological Collection 27 Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino
2 Giotto and the 13th century 28 Titian and Sebastianodel Piombo
3 Sienese Painting 29 Dosso and Parmigianino
of the 14th century 30 Cabinet of Emilian Painting
4 Florentine Painting of the 16th century
of the 14th century 31 Veronese
5-6 International Gothic 32 Bassano and Tintoretto
7 Early Renaissance 33 Corridor of the 16th century
8 Lippi 34 Lombard Painting
9 Pollaiolo of the 16th century
10-14 Botticelli 35 Barocci and the tuscan
15 Leonardo Counter-reformation
16 Geographical Maps 36-37 Atrium Exit
17 Hermaphrodite Room 38 Archaeological Collection
18 Tribune 41 Rubens
19 Perugino and Signorelli 42 Niobe Room
20 Durer 43 Caravaggio
21 Giambellino and Giorgione 44 Flemish Painting
22 Flemish and German Renaissance of the 17th century
23 Mantegna and Correggio 45 Painting of the 18th century
24 Cabinet of Miniatures A Lorraine Atrium and ticket check
25 Michelangelo B Belvedere
26 Raphael and Andrea del Sarto C Loggia del Lanzi Terrace

Second Corridor

mn

Second Floor. Gallery

 FIRENZE
MVSEI

The Uffizi
Gloria Fossi

GIUNTI
This book is dedicatedfirst of all to the victims of the bomb of27 May 1 993.
I would like to thank all the staff of the Uffizi Gallery and the Fine Arts and His-
toric Works Commission ofFlorence, Pistoia and Pratofor their collaboration in
the preparation ofthis guide. In particular, for their trust, advice and helpfulness,
I would like to thank thefollowing: Head ofthe Fine Arts andHistoric Works Com-
mission Antonio Paolucci and his deputy Cristina Acidini Luchinat; Head ofthe
Environmental and Architectural Works Commission Mario A. Lolli Ghetti; the
Director ofthe Uffizi Gallery, Annamaria Petrioli Tofani; the Director ofthe De-
partment of Paintings from the Medieval to the Early Renaissance, Alessandro
Cecchi; the Director ofthe Department ofPaintings from the Renaissance, Man-
nerism and Contemporary Art, Antonio Natali; the Director ofthe Department of
Paintingsfrom the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century and of Tapestries, Cate-
rina Caneva; the Curator ofthe Archaeological Collections, Giovanni Ago sti; and
the Director ofArchitecture at the Uffizi Gallery, Antonio Godoli. From the Fine
Arts andHistoric Works Commission: the Administrative Director Giovanni Lenza
and the Secretary Pas quale Sassu together with Marco Fossi. Also, Roberto Zanieri
from the Secretariat ofthe Uffizi and all the technical staff of the Gallery. In ad-
dition, for their help, Sara Bettinelli and Morgana Clinto.

Graphics: Franco Bulletti

Cover design: Laura Belforte and Fabio Filippi

Managing editor: Claudio Pescio

Editing: Augusta Tosone
Translation: Harriet Paterson, Marina Pugliano

Photographs: Giunti Archive / Foto Rabatti-Domingie, Florence

© 1998 Ministry of Artistic and Environmental Heritage - Superintendence for

Artistic and Historical Patrimony for the districts of Florence, Pistoia and Prato
No part of this publication may be reproduced in anyform or by any means

Editorial production of Giunti Gruppo Editoriale, Florence

Sixth edition: April 2000
ISBN 88-09-21447-1
Contents

The Uffizi: its Origins and Collections 7

The Hall of San Pier Scheraggio 14
Archaeological Collections 16
Cabinet of Prints and Drawings 18
First Corridor 20
Room 1 (see Archeological Collections)
Room 2, Giotto and the IS'*" century 22
Room 5, Sienese Painting of the 14'^ century 27
Room 4, Florentine Painting of the H'*" century 51
Room 5-6, International Gothic 55
Room 7, The Early Renaissance 58
Room 8, Lippi 48
Room 9, Pollaiolo 54
Room 10-14, Botticelh 59
Room 15, Leonardo 76
Room 16, Geographical Maps 84
Room 17, Hermaphrodite Room 85
Room 18, Tribune 86
Room 19, Perugino and Signorelli 94
Room 20, Diirer 97
Room 21, Giambellino and Giorgione 100
Room 22, Flemish and German Renaissance 104
Room 25, Mantegna and Correggio 107
Room 24, Cabinet of Miniatures 111
Second and Third Corridor 112
Room 25, Michelangelo and the Florentine Painting 114
Room 26, Raphael and Andrea del Sarto 119
Room 27, Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino 122
Room 28, Titian and Sebastiano del Piombo 125
Room 29, Dosso and Parmigianino 129
Room 50, Cabinet of Emilian 16'^ century Painting 152
Room 51, Veronese 155
Room 52, Bassano and Tintoretto 154
Room 55, Corridor of the 16'*" century 155
Room 54, Lombard Painting of the 16*^ century 157
Room 55, Barocci and the Tuscan Counter-reformation 159
Room 41, Rubens 140
Room 42, Niobe Room 142
Collections of the 17*^ and 18"^ century 145
Vasari Corridor 151
Contini Bonacossi Collection 154
Index 156
Michelangelo, Doni Tondo (detail)
Enough BOOKS have been written about the public museums in Florence run
by the Fine Arts and Historic Works Commission tofillalarge library. This is
hardly surprising when one considers that the artistic heritage preserved in
our museums has beenfamous throughout the worldfor centuries. For hun-
dreds ofyears writers, scholars and travellers ofevery nationality and coun-
try have been attempting to describe all that the Florentine museums contain.
They have made great efforts to explain why these museums are so fascinat-
ing, and to lead a path through paintings and sculptures for both the unin-
formed but willing visitor and the refined and jaded intellectual.
Over time, however, the museums have altered their aspect and their lay-
out, the exhibitions have been arranged in new ways, the collections have
been enriched (or impoverished). Attributions of works in the museums have
also changed, restorations have transformed the appearance ofmany pieces,
the rise and fall of aesthetic tendencies have led to reorganisation and the
exhibition of differing works. All these things are constantly taking place
within the public collections because muscology and the history of art, like
any intellectual endeavour, are in a constant state ofprogress and transfor-
mation. This explains why the literature surrounding the Florentine mu-
seums (like that of any of the world's great art collections) is so immense,
and in a process of continual updating and change.
The perfect, definitive guide to a museum, any museum, does not and can-
not exist.
The premise seems obvious, but is nonetheless necessary in order to un-
derstand the point ofthe publication introduced by these lines. From the mo-
ment when, in accordance with the application oftheRoncheylaw 4/93, the
Giunti publishing house group took over the running ofthe support services
within the Florentine museum system, it was decided to start at once on a
standardised series ofillustrated guides. These guides, displaying the cuneiform
flower o/'Tirenze Musei'' on the cover, guarantee that at the year ofpubli-
cation the state of each museum is exactly that described in the guide.
Certain things are obviously necessary if a museum guide is to aspire to
reliability, official standing and at the same time enjoy a wide distribution:
accuracy ofinformation, high quality reproductions, an easily manageable
format, a reasonable cost and - not least - a clearly written text (without,
naturally, being banal or lacking in precision). Readers will judgefor them-
selves if the guide which follows this introduction reaches these standards.
I have no doubt that this will be a serious and committed judgement, just as
myself and the Publisher of this guide have been serious and committed in
attempting to meet the cultural needs of whoever visits our museums in the
best way and with every possible care.

Head ofthe Fine Arts

and Historic Works Commission
ofFlorence, Pistoia andPrato
(Antonio Paolucci)
Sandro Botticelli, Pallas and the Centaur
The Uffizi: its Origins and Collections

One of the world's most important museums, the Uffizi Gallery was one of the
Europe to emerge in accordance with the modern idea of a museum, that
first in

is to say as a systematically organised exhibition space designed for public view-

ing. Two centuries before it was officially opened in 1 765, the Gallery was in fact
open on request: in 1591, a guide to Florence written by Francesco
to visitors
Bocchi describes it as: "amongst the most supremely beautiful sights... in the

World... filled wdth ancient statues, with noble paintings and extremely pre-
cious objects". It is worth remembering that it was created in a city which had
long since been the first to revisit the disused term museum, which for the an-
cient Greeks signified a space dedicated to the Muses: in Florence it was used
to describe the collection of antique sculptures which Lorenzo the Magnificent
(1449-1492) established in the garden at San Marco. Artists such as Leonardo
and Michelangelo gathered here "for beauty, for work and for recreation", as
Giorgio Vasari relates. This latter was not only the architect of the Uffizi but al-

so the author of the Lives of the Artists published in 1550 and in 1568, a work
which will frequently be referred to in this guide.
The origins of the Uffizi date back to 1560, when at the request of the Medici
duke Cosimo 1 (1519-1574), Vasari designed a grand palazzo with two wings,
"along the river, almost floating in the air", which housed the Magistrature, or
the administrative and judicial offices - Uffizi - of the duchy of Tuscany. Five
years later Vasari oversaw in a few short months the building of the elevated
gallery which, connecting the Uffizi to the new Medici residence at Palazzo Pit-
runs to this day over the Ponte Vecchio and the church of Santa Felicita, lead-
ti,

ing out into the Boboli gardens. In a unique urban relationship, the Vasari Cor-
ridor unites the nerve centres of city: the river, the oldest bridge and the seats
of power, along a spectacular elevated walkway.
But it is to Cosimo's son, Francesco 1 (1541-1587) that we owe the first real
nucleus of the Gallery. The introverted Grand Duke had already established a
Studiolo filled with paintings and precious obj ects in his residence in the Palaz-
zo Vecchio, which was later also joined to the Uffizi by an elevated passageway.
Around 1581 he transformed the top floor of the Uffizi into a gallery, a place for
"walking, with paintings, statues and other precious things", and in 1586 gave
the eclectic Bernardo Buontalenti the task of creating the Medici Theatre. This
provided a space for memorable performances, and corresponded in height to
the present first and second floors of the museum, where we now find the col-

7
THE UFFIZI: ITS ORIGINS AND COLLECTIONS

The Medici Theatre on the first floor

lections of graphic works and other exhibition rooms. The Gallery was illumi-
nated by large ^^dndows, decorated by antique sculptures and by frescoes on the
ceiling. But the most creative idea was the Tribune: a symbolic, unusual, wel-
coming space, its octagonal cupola encrusted with shells, filled with works of
art and furnishings, all lit from above. Near the Tribune is a terrace which was
closed in by the Grand Duke Ferdinand, brother of Francesco, in 1589, to cre-
ate the Loggia of Geographical Maps (Room 16). At the end of the other wing a
hanging garden was created over Orcagna's Loggia, beyond the Foundry and
other workshops.
Nowadays the Uffizi Galler^^ boasts an incomparable artistic heritage: thou-
sands of pictures from the medieval to the modern age, ancient sculptures,
miniatures, tapestries; it holds an unrivalled position for its series of self-por-
traits which is constantly growng through acquisitions and through donations

by contemporary^ artists, equalled only by its collection in the Cabinet of Draw-

ings and Prints, outstanding even for this city which traditionally prides itself
on being "pre-eminent in drawing".
If the Uffizi Galler} can rightly be called a museum par excellence, this is not

just because of its superb buildings and its works of art. Its unique quality also
comes from the origins of its collections, from its history which goes back more
than four centuries and which is so closely entwined with the events of Florentine
ci\1hsation. That the Uffizi is a b\"word for Florence and vice-versa is explained
above all by the inborn vocation for collecting of its governors, with the Medicis
8
 THE UFFIZI: ITS ORIGINS AND COLLECTIONS

View of the Loggia of the Uffizi over the Arno

leading the way: the lords of Florence for three centuries, they were also passionate
patrons and collectors of antiquities from the time of Cosimo the Elder (1589-1464)
who was the patron of artists such as the transgressive Fra Filippo Lippi (Room 8),
yet also responsible for commissioning works with such strict moral and political
meanings as the Battle ofSan Romano of Paolo Uccello (Room 7).
The first Medicean collections form, as mentioned earlier, the original nu-
cleus of the Gallery. However it is also true, as the reader of this guide will re-
alise from the provenances catalogued here, that many works of art destined
for other locations which eventually found their way to this great U-shaped build-
ing in the heart of the city reflect the tastes and choices of public figures and pri-
vate citizens, of merchants, bankers and literati as well as of civic and religious
institutions. One need only mention, in connection with the early fifteenth cen-
tury, the cultured and vastly wealthy Palla Strozzi, who approached Gentile da
Fabriano, a stranger in Florence, for SiW Adoration for his chapel in Santa Trini-
ta:a work which in its exotic magic is a long way from the simple, essential world
being evoked in those years by the Tuscan artist Masaccio. This latter worked
with Masolino for the powerful Felice Brancacci, and before that for the reli-
gious sisters of Sant'Ambrogio (Room 7). In the sixteenth century one should at
least mention Agnolo Doni, patron of Michelangelo (Room 25) and also of Raphael,
to whom he was as important a patron as Lorenzo Nasi (Room 26); and Bar-
tolomeo Panciatichi, painted together with his extremely beautiful wife by Bronzi-
no (Tribune). The Florentine guilds were also important patrons during the
9
THE LFFIZI: ITS ORIGINS AND COLLECTIONS

A window of the Vasari Corridor over the Arno

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; amongst these w ere the Bankers Guild, who
commissioned a triptych from Orcagna for the pillar on its property in Orsan-
michele, the seat of the Arts (Room 4), and the Merchants' Guild, who asked
Piero Pollaiolo and then Botticelli for a series of Virtues for its Tribunal (Room
9). Lastly, many w orks now^ in the Galler\' exist patronage of the
thanks to the
churches, confraternities and monasteries in and around Florence, from which,
furthermore, various artist-monks emerged such as Fra Angelico, Lorenzo
Monaco and Fra Bartolomeo (Rooms 5-6, 7, 25).
There are other historical considerations which add to the unique nature of
the Uffizi's collections: since the fourteenth centur>^ Florence has had a close-
ly-woven international netw ork which has led, often through indirect routes,
to fruitful exchange with foreign artistic influences: the Portinari, agents of the
Medici in Bruges, sent the imposing Van der Goes triptych to the church of
Sant'Egidio (Rooms 10-14), and had themselves painted by the Flemish Mem-
Ung (Room 22). In addition, official visits by dignitaries and high-ranking prelates
almost alw ays brought some artistic novelty or other to the banks of the Arno: a
chapel in San Miniato was dedicated to the Cardinal of Portugal who died in Flo-
rence in 1459, and it w as from this chapel that the magnificent altarpiece of Pol-
laiolo (Room 9) came. For the marriage of Maria de' Medici to Henri IV (1600),
the Vicenzan Filippo Pigafetta (1533-1604) published a description of the Gallery
for strangers to the city and planned a room of military architecture (Room 17).
Diplomatic gifts, dowries and inheritances from international marriages en-
10
 ,

THE UFFIZI [TS ORIGINS AND COLLECTIONS

%^ /-

Wrestlers, copy from a Greek original in bronze, Tribune

larged the collections of the grand dukes, who were developing more and more
works from other Italian and foreign schools and contemporary,
of a taste for
non-Florentine artists. A few examples: Ferdinand 1 (1549-1609), who had al-

ready acquired in Rome in 1585 the famous and only recently discovered an-
tique sculptural group of the Wrestlers (in the Tribune since 1677), received as
a gift from Cardinal del Monte the Medusa by Caravaggio (Room 45) and in-
herited miniatures and other works from his wife Christine of Lorraine, grand-
daughter of Caterina de' Medici. Ferdinand II (1610-1670) inherited through
his wife Vittoria delta Rovere the Piero delta Francesca Diptych (Room 7) and
Titian'sVenus ofUrbino (Room 28), amongst other things, and acquired Nordic
paintings through the artist Agostino Tassi, the Medici's first artistic interme-
diary.Cosimo II (1590-1621) was an admirer of the Emilian Guercino as was his
son, the erudite Cardinal Leopoldo (1617-1675), who founded the Accademia
delta Crusca, and formed the first collections of self-portraits and drawings.
Cosimo 111 (1642-1725) bought foreign paintings, particularly Flemish ones,
such as the two great canvases of Rubens damaged by the 1995 bomb, now re-
stored. And finally the Grand Prince Ferdinand (1665-1715) invited artists like
Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Magnasco and the two Riccis to Florence. When the
Medici dynasty died out, the last heir Anna Maria Luisa (1667-1 745) sanctioned
the Gallery as "public and inalienable property", granting the Uffizi a new
lease of life during the Grand Duchy of Lorraine, especially under the en-
lightened figure of Pietro Leopoldo (Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1 765 to 1 790)
11
THE LFFIZI: ITS ORIGINS AND COLLECTIONS

Workshop of Franqois Cuouet, Henri n, Caterina de' Medici and relatives, c. 1570

towhom we owe the entrance stairways, the vestibule and the Niobe Room. A
renewed taste for primitives led to the acquisition of earlier works, which often
came from suppressed convents and monasteries; the nucleus of French paint-
ing w as formed at that time and the first "scientific" guides were pubhshed (Ben-
civenni Pelh, 1779; Luigi Lanzi, 1782).
From the nineteenth century onwards, the growth of the picture gallery has
brought about new displays and new rooms, a process which, despite changing
circumstances, has been almost uninterrupted to this day, notwithstanding the
bomb of 1993. During the postwar period, various rearrangements and restora-
tions have been carried out by Roberto SaMni, Luisa Becherucci and Luciano
Berti. Many other high-profile interventions have taken place since 1 987 under
the current director Ann amaria PetrioU Tofani, who alongside the conservators
Giovanni Agosti, Caterina Caneva, Alessandro Cecchi, Antonio Natali, Piera
Bocci Pacini and the architect Antonio Godoli, has carried out the restoration of
the Royal Postroom on the ground floor, of various exhibition rooms and of the
Loggia on the first floor; the philological restoration of the Gallery's three cor-
ridors and the reorganisation following new criteria of many of the rooms (8
and 1 5 in the eastern mng and most of the rooms in the west wing). Finally, the
extension of the museum into the vast areas beneath the Gallery is now at hand,
which will include the creation of service areas. Owing to an improved layout
of tapestries, paintings and other works from the museum's deposits - with con-
sequent changes and altered positions for works already on display, particularly
12
 THE UFFIZI ITS ORIGINS AND COLLECTIONS

G. Nasini, Virtues oftheMedici GrandDukes, c. 1698. Ceiling of the Second Corridor

for the seventeenth and eighteenth century paintings which until now were
cramped in the last room of the third corridor - it an
will be possible to trace
ever-more meaningful art-historical journey through schools and eras. The re-
markable Contini Bonacossi collection, previously in the Meridiana pavillion
at Palazzo Pitti, has also finally been given a definitive display; there is a tem-
porary entrance from Via Lambertesca but the collection will soon be linked di-
rectly to the rest of the museum. In addition, the spectacular Loggia on the Arno
(corresponding to the Gallery's Southern Corridor), which opened in Decem-
ber 1998, will become an integral part of any visit to the new Uffizi.

Note
The Gallery is undergoing a phase of large-scale enlargement and reorganisa-
Uffizi
tion. The extension of the exhibition space on the two lowerfloors of the building may-
cause the temporary closure ofsome rooms, and the repositioning of certain works, at
times which it is not presently possible to predict. The collections ofpaintings from the
seventeenth and eighteenth century, currently in Rooms 43-45 ofthe Third Corridor will
be subject to extensive reorganisation; for this reason we have referred to these works
without a room number reference.
Measurements are given in centimetres unless otherwise indicated. The inventory num-
bers, unless otherwise specified, refer to those takenfrom the Inventario generale delle
Gallerie fiorentine, known to scholars as Inventario 1890.

15
The Hall of San Pier Scheraggio

Erected over thefoundation of a 9^^ century^ church and consecrated in 1068, the
church of San Pier Scheraggio was until 1313 the seat of the town councils and
ihe site of memorable public speeches by Dante and Boccaccio. Some of the arch-
es of the left nave, which was destroyed in 1410 to enlarge Via delta Ninna, are
still visible from the exterior. Among the remaining medieval structures, incor-
porated into the ground floor of the Uffizi in 1360, the central nave still stands,
which since 1971 has been restored and converted into an impressive two-roomed
exhibition space. Of note amongst the works on display here, which include dec-
orative fragments from the Roman and Medieval ages, is Andrea del Castagno's
cycle of humanistic frescoes. This work was recovered in 1847 from Villa Car-
ducci, later to become Villa Pandolfini. In it the social status of characters from
recent Florentine history- is reflected by depicting them together with heroic fig-
ures from the Bible and antiquity.

Andrea del Castagno

Queen Tomyris

c. 1449-1450
Detached fresco trans-
ferred to canvas
245x155
Inv. San Marco e Cenacoli
no. 168
In the Uffizi since 1969

In his Memor/a/e of 1 5 1 0,
Francesco Albertini
records that Andrea del
Castagno painted a "most
beautiful" loggia, with
"Sibyls and famous Flo-
rentine men", for Gon-
falonier Carducci's ^dlla
in Legnaia, on the out-
skirts of Rorence. The cy-
cle's decorative fragments
include the Cumaean
Sibyl, the ancient hero-
ines Queens Esther and
Tom^Tis, and six famous
Florentines. The figiu-es
are almost sculptural in
form - standing out against
feigned panels they cre-
ate an effect of three-di-
mensional space around
iDICAVrr sE DEFILIO BTPATIMAM UBER/ViT 5v'nA\
them.
14
 THE HALL OF SAN PIER SCHERAGGIO

Andrea del Castagno Pippo Spano (so-called af- Andrea del Castagno
Pippo Spano ter the title ispdn of Teme- Francesco Petrarca
svar that he received in
c. 1449-1450 c. 1449-1450
1407), otherwise known
Detached fresco Detached fresco
as Filippo Scolari, was a
transferred to canvas, transferred to canvas,
250x154 Hungarian with Floren- 247x153
Inv. San Marco e Cenacoli tine origins, a brave army Inv. San Marco e Cenacoli
no. 173 leader who fought against no. 166
In the Uffizi since 1969 In the Uffizi since 1969
the Bosnians, and a capa-
ble diplomat tmder Sieg- In the cycle of famous Flo-
mimd of Bohemia who na- rentines at Villa Carduc-
med him governor of Bos- ci, the portrait of the po-
nia. This fresco portrays et Petrarch together with
Spano with an appearance those of Dante and Boc-
close to the description left caccio represents the
to us by Jacopo di Poggio virtues of literature.
Bracciolini: "Black-eyed,
white-haired, merry of fa-
ce, thin in body. He wore
a long beard and hair down
to his shoulders".

15
Archaeological Collections

77^6 exhibition ofthe prestigious Medicean collection ofantiquities originally came

from the Sculpture Gallery ofFrancesco I in the First Corridor, along which each
statue alternated symmetrically with two busts ofRoman emperors. This gallery
also included several works now in other museums: ''modern'' sculptures such as
Michelangelo's Bacchus, Etruscan pieces such as the Chimera and Ovdlov previ-
ously acquired by Cosimo /, and in addition ^/i6 Wild Boar (now in the Third Cor-
ridor) and the Dying Alexander (now in the Second Corridor). The collection in-
creased between the 1 7^^ and the 18^'^ centuries, mainly due to the arrival of works
from the Villa Medici in Rome such as the Medici Venus, the Knife-Grinder and
the Wrestlers (Tribune), and finally the Niobe Group. Dozens of pieces are now
redistributed between Room 1 (1981 arrangement), the Tribune, the three Corri-
dors (1996 arrangement), the Niobe Room, the Vestibules, and the Loggia on the
Arno, allfollowing the original display as closely as possible.Ofthe various works
found in Room 1, ofparticular note is the Roman copy in green basalt of the Do-

ryphorus torso ofPolykleitos. Also originallyfrom the Villa Medici, it has been in
the Uffizi since 1 783.

Bust ofAntinous

Roman art
from the time of Hadrian
Greek marble
h.80
Inv. no. 327

Discovered in Rome in
1671, this bust comes from
the collection of Cardinal
Leopoldo de' Medici. Con-
sidered to be the last myth-
ical iaterpretation of Greek

Art, it represents an ide-

alised portrait of the young
Bithynian, favourite of the
Emperor Hadrian.
16
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS

Boy Removing a Originally from the Villa known and copied sever-
Thorn from his Foot Medici in Rome, this an- al times in Rome from the

cient marble sculpture 12^^ century, began from

Roman copy, Augustan pe-
riod, from the Greek origi- was transferred from the the fifteenth century on-
nal (modern head and oth- Villa di Poggio Imperiale wards to interest Renais-
er additions) totheUffiziinl772.The sance Florentine artists
Pentelic marble, h. 84
boy removing a thorn from who copied and adapted
Inv.no. 177
his foot is an image which, it for religious scenes.

17
Cablnet of Prints and Drawings

The traditional gift ofFlorentine artists for drawing Leonardo da Vinci

dates hack to at least the time ofCennino Cennini, a Landscape
painter as well as the author ofa treatise on artistic tech-
Dated on the top left corner:
niques, who at in the beginning ofthe 15^'^ century con- "di di Santa Maria della neve
sidered drawing ''the foundation of art". A further sig- addi 5 d'aghossto 1473"
nificant claim was then made in the 16^'^ century by the Pen on yellowed white paper
great draftsman Pontormo, who considered drawing mm 196x287
Inv. G.D.S.U. no. 8 P r.
to be the noblestform ofexpression. One ofthefirst peo-
From the Fondo Mediceo
ple to value drawing as a separate art was Giorgio
Lorenese
VasarU fervent collector, capable draftsman, and an ex-
pert on technique. Since the time ofLorenzo the Medici This is the first known dat-
had also collected drawings, but it was under Cardinal ed work of Leonardo's and
Leopoldo (161 7-1 6 75) that the true beginnings ofthe Uf the first drawing of pure
fizi collection, then in thePitti, were laid down. Today landscape in western art.
this is the most outstanding collection ofgraphic work It dates back, as indicated
in Italy, and one of the most important in the world: it by Leonardo's mirror writ-
boasts works offiindamentalimportancefrom the 14^'^- ing, to the day of the mirac-
^jth centuries to the present day, and contains works ulous summer snowfall
by great masters such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, on the Esquiline Hill in
Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and many oth- Rome. Possibly showing
ers. The rooms it currently occupies while waiting for the Arno valley as viewed
future enlargements are on the firstfioor, in areas cre- from the mountainside of
atedfrom the 16^^ centur}' Medici Theatre. The works Montalbano, the drawing
are only on view for the purposes of study, but themed witnesses to Leonardo's
exhibitions are periodically open to the public. Interest in nature.
 CABINET OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS

yf^^t

^/ r^'

'iDm

®
Raphael This was the preparato- this almost sculptural
Nude Study ry drawing for the figure nude show that he had
of Adam in the fresco of studied the work of
c. 1509
the Disputation over the Michelangelo as well as
Charcoal and white chalk
on yellowed white paper
Sacrament in Raphael's antique sculpture; it comes

mm 357x210 Stanza della Segnatura as little surprise that in

Inv. G.D.S.U.no.541Er. (1509) in the Vatican. 1515 Raphael was named
An outstanding drafts- Head of of Roman Anti-
man, the vigorous lines quities by the Medici pope,
with which he sketches LeoX.
19
First Corridor

After a restoration in 1996, the East Corridor (illustrated below) has largely re-
covered its late 16^^ century appearance, conceived by Francesco I, founder of the
Gallery. The restoration of the corridor and its display of statues and paintings is
based amongst other things upon the drawings of the Gallery carried out byFra
Benedetto de Greyss between 1 748 and 1 765. Following the categories defined in
1597 byFilippo Pigafetta, the older portraitsfrom the Giovio Series, partly restored,
have been placed under the ceiling, which is decorated with grotesque motifs. The
series depictsfamous menfrom every age and country, and was begunfor Cosimo
IbyCristofano delTAltissimo, who in Como (1552-1589) copied the renowned col-
lection by Paolo Giovio. They then passedfrom the Pitti Palace to the Uffizi in 158 7.
After more than two centuries, the large three-quarter-length portraits oftheAulic
series are now set back in regular spaces beneath the Giovio Series. Francesco I
and his successors commissioned these to extol theirfamily, beginning with the
founder, Giovanni diBicci. They were inspired by older prototypes, some of which
are still in the Tribune. Ancient busts and sculptures from the Medici collection al-
ternate along the walls. The ceilings with grotesque decoration were executed by
a group ofpainters led by Alessandro Allori (Antonio Tempesta, Ludovico Buti,
Gio van Maria Butteri and Ludovico Cigoli, some of whom were already active in
the Studiolo of Palazzo Vecchio). The pavement in large white and grey marble
squares dates back to the Lorraine period (18 ^'^ century).

20

Alessandro Allori The grotesque, a typical
Grotesque Decorations decoration inspired by the
with Medicean Devices friezes in imperial Roman
residences, takes its name
1581
from the so-called "grot-
Fresco with tempera
retouches
toes" in Nero's DomusAu-
385x585 rea in Rome. Whilst by the
end of the fifteenth cen-
tury grotesque decorations
began to appear in the
paintings of artists such
as Filippino Lippi, Pin-
turicchio and Signorelli,
they were most fully de-
veloped in the second half
of the sixteenth century,
no accident considering
how well the style adapt-
ed to the bizarre late-Man-
nerist taste of the age of
Francesco 1.
Amongst the subjects of
the First Corridor are land-
scapes, real and fabulous
animals, monsters, masks
and satyrs, weapons and
FIRST CORRIDOR
Medicean devices. In the
frescoes of the vault il-
lustrated here, situated
halfway down the First
Corridor, we find various
emblems of Francesco I
de' Medici (the weasel
with a branch of rue and
the motto amat victoria
CURAM, "Victory loves
care") and of Bianca Cap-
pello, his lover and later
his second wife (the oys-
ter opening in the sim and
the motto mar coeloque
[i]
PROCREATA MERITO CARISSI-
MA, "Deservedly precious,
she came forth from the
sky and the sea").
21
Room 2 Giotto and the 13th Century

Rooms 2 to 9 are dedicated to medieval art, the early Renaissance, and the art of
Pollaiolo. Room 8 is an exception, having been restructured in 1 991 together with
Room 15. The re-ordering of the rooms was carried out during the Fifties (archi-
tects Gardella, Michelucci and Scarpa, director Salvini). The wide opening in the
entering wall alio wedfor the entry of large-scale works (Cimabue's Crucifixion
was previously hung here, and later returned to Santa Croce where it was dam-
aged by the 1 966 flood).
Alongside some of the earliest examples of Tuscan painting, this first room with
its truss-framed ceiling reminiscent of a medieval church houses three imposing

Maestas by Cimabue, Duccio and Giotto. Their recent restorations have provid-
ed new, important readings and confirm the great skill ofFlorentine carpenters
in carrying out the complex carpentry of these three huge panels.

.^^^&^.
Cimabue
Maestd
of Santa Trinita

Datable between 1280

and 1290
Tempera on wood, 425x243
Inv. no. 8343
In the Lffizi since 1919
Restored: 1993

This large panel painting,

whose original frame is
lost, was meant to stand

465 centimetres high on

the main altar of the
church of Santa Trinita,
striking the view of all the
faithful at once. Eight fore-
shortened angels flank
the Madonna with Child.
Below, between the arch-
es, Jeremiah and Isaiah
look upwards to confirm
the prophecies inscribed
on the scrolls, concern-
ing the virginal birth of
Jesus; in the middle are
Abraham and David, from
whose offspring the Sav-
iour would rise.
22
 ROO M 2 # GIOTTO AND THE 13TH CENTURY

Duccio Di BONINSEGNA Painted by Duccio for the rounds the Madonna en-
Maestd Laudesi Confraternity throned between six
Chapel in Santa Maria kneehng angels with thir-
c. 1285
Novella, this is the first ty medallions showing
Tempera on wood
450x293
known large work of the saints and half-length
Inv. unnumbered Sienese painter. The out- Biblical figures, portrayed
In the Uffizi since 1948 standing frame, integrat- with intensity despite the
Restored: 1989 ed into the altarpiece, sur- small dimensions.

23
ROOM 2 # GIOTTO AND THE 13TH CENTURY

24
 ROOM 2 GIOTTO AND THE 15TH CENTURY

Giotto
The Ognissanti
Madonna
(whole and details)

c. 1510
Tempera on wood
525x204
8544
Inv. no.
In the Uffizi since 1919
Restored: 1991

Painted for the Umiliati

Altar, as recently proven,
to the right hand side of
the door of the screen wall
in the church of Ognissan-
ti, the gaze of the Madon-

na and the position of the

throne in fact suggest it

should be viewed from

the right side, as with Duc-
Qio'sMaestd in Santa Ma-
ria Novella. This large, de-
votional work is a homa-
ge to the virginity, mater-
nity, and royalty of Mary.
An angel offers her a pre-
cious crown, while an-
other is giving the Child
the eucharistic pyx, rep-
resenting the Passion of
Christ. Two angels at the
Virgin's feet offer an am-
pulla with roses and lihes,
both Marian symbols. No-
te the extraordinary per-
spective effect, with the
figures solidly arranged
in a space rendered lifeli-
ke by the three-dimensio-
nal throne. Note also the
realism of the faces, of
the variegated marble, of
the flowers painted from
nature and even of the
wood of the platform at
the feet of the Madonna.
25
ROOM 2 # GIOTTO AND THE 15TH CENTURY

Giotto
Badia Poliptych
(whole and detail)

c. 1300
Tempera on wood, 91x334
Inv. Dep. S. Croce no. 7
In the Uffizi since 1957

Formerly on the main al-

tar of the Badia Fiorenti-

na, this panel painting
shows the Madonna with
Child, flanked on the left
by St John the Evangelist
and St Nicholas and on the
right by St Peter and St Be-
nedict. On each pinnacle
stands a small tondo (God
the Father in the middle
and angels on each side).
Because of its articulated,
architectural structure with
pointed divisions and tre-
foil frames from which the
saints appear to lean out,
and because of its sensi-
tive use of chiaroscuro and
fine detail, the poliptych is
considered to be the work
of Giotto, completed after
his travels to Rome and Ri-
mini, and before his resi-
dence in Padua.
26
Room 5 Sienese painting of the 14th century

SiMONE Martini This Annunciation was resent the Incarnation (the

AND Lippo Memmi painted for the altar of central tondo, now lost,
Annunciation Sant'Ansano in the Siena was to overhang the dove
Cathedral and brought to of the Holy Spirit and rep-
Signed and dated 1333
the TTffizi by the Grand Duke resent God the Father).
below on the frame: "Symon
Ferdinand III. The origi- Typically Sienese in its fine
Martini et Lippus Memmi de
Senis me pinxermit anno do- nal frame is lost, but writ- use of gold and its linear-

mini MCCCXXXIII" ten beneath is an autograph ity accentuated by the sin-

Tempera on wood documenting the date and uous, timid withdrawal of

184x210 the names of the painters, the Virgin, the work also
Inv. nos. 451-453
Simone Martini and his contains precious realis-
In the Uffizi since 1799
brother-in-law Lippo Mem- tic detail such as the var-
Waiting to be restored
mi, who worked together iegated marble paving, the
in Siena in an extremely chequered cloak of the an-
prolific workshop. On ei- gel, the sumptuous vase of

ther side of the Annuncia- liUes, and finally the fore-

tion are St Ansano and St shortened, half-open book.
Judith (or St Margaret). In The writing across the
the medalhons above are painting produces an al-

the prophets Jeremiah, most theatrical effect, in-

Ezechiel, Isaiah, and Daniel, dicating the greeting by

carrying scroUs which rep- the angel to the Virgin.
27
ROOM 5 # SIENESE PAINTING OF THE 14TH CENTURY
Ambrogio Lorenzetti
Four Stories from the
Life of Saint Nicholas
(Miracle of the possessed
child, of the grain, of the
poor youth; Saint Nicholas
consecrated as Bishop
ofMyra)
c. 1330-1332
Tempera on wood
96x35 each panel
Inv. nos. 8348, 8349
In the Uffizi since 1919
In the church of San Pro-
colo in Florence, Loren-
zetticompleted a panel
painting (this was perhaps
the Triptych with the
Madonna and Child,
28
Nicholas and StProcu-
lous, also in this room,
inv. nos. 941 1,8731-8752).
He also painted "stories
of St Nicholas in small fig-
ures" in one of the church's
chapels, a work which
"enormously increased
his name and reputation"
(Vasari, 1568).
On the two panels with
stories of St Nicholas of
Bari, part of a lost dossal
or tabernacle, the Sienese
painter proves himself
not only a detailed sto-
ry-teller, which would
have been a striking qual-
ity for Florentines used
St to the simplicity of the
Giotto-esque narrative
style, but also an artist at-
tentive to problems of
space.
A surprising vertical "fish-
bone" perspective is seen
in the picture of the saint
ofMyra
freeing the city
from famine: in this in-
novative marine land-
scape, the eye of the view-
er is lifted up to the open
sailsalong the horizon;
note also the devices of
portraying the saint from
behind, and of the show-
ing the clerks emerging
from behind columns in
the scene of the Bishop's
consecration.
 ROOM 3 SIENESE PAINTING OF THE 14TH CENTURY
Ambrogio Lorenzetti
Presentation of the
Virgin in the Temple
Signed and dated on frame
1342: "Ambrosius Laurentii
de Senis fecit hos opus anno
dominiMCCCXLII"
Tempera on wood, 257x168
Inv. no. 8346
In the Uffizi since 1913
Restored: 1986
Painted for the altar of San
Crescenzio in Siena Cathe-
dral.The scene, with its
complex setting which
plays around the per-
spective lines of the paviag,
is much more attractive
than the usual static fig-
ures of saints character-
istic of altarpieces of the
time. Its minute detail and
the many descriptive and
symbolic inscriptions in-
vite our curiosity. The use
of lacquer and costly lapis
lazuli for the blue tones
confirms the importance
of the work, which was
copied up until a century
later by Sienese painters.
29
ROOM 3 # S I E N E S E PAINTING OF THE 1 4 TH CENTURY

PlETRO LORENZETTI mark of the mature work by her and painted after
Altarpiece of the of Pietro Lorenzetti, here her death). On the three
Blessed Humility influenced by the quin- surviving pinnacles are
(whole and detail) tessential solidity of the the evangelists Mark,
c. 1340 school of Giotto, the work John, and Luke; on the
Tempera on wood represents eleven charm- predella is apieta of Christ
51x21 (each pinnacle)
ing scenes from the mirac- with the Virgin, and five
128x57 (central)
ulous life of the Blessed saints wdthin tondoes.
45x32 (each panel)
diam. 18 (tondoes) Humility, as she profess-
Inv.nos. 8347, 6120-6126, es her humilit}^ (former-
6129-6131 ly known asRosanese dei
In the Uffizi since 1919
Negusanti, she was
Painted for the altar of the founder of the Vallom-
Blessed Humility in the brosan convent of San Gio-
church of Saint John Evan- vanni deUe Donne di Faen-
gelist in Florence, dis- za; she died in 1310). At
mantled into various parts her feet, in the central
(located in Berlin and else- panel, is perhaps St Mar-
where) the painting was
, garet, second abbess of
reassembled in 1954 on the monastery, who died
the basis of an eighteenth- in 1330 (this work was
centuT} drawing. A bench- probably commissioned
30
Room 4 Florentine Painting of the 14th Century

Master The fire which destroyed phase (note for exam-

OF Santa Cecilia the church of Santa Ce- ple, top left, the care-
St Cecilia and Stories cilia in 1504 was record- fully-prepared table for
ofHer Life ed by the fourteenth-cen- the wedding banquet of
tury chronicler Giovanni Cecilia and Valerian).
After 1304
Villani; thechurch was Other works have also
Tempera on wood
rebuilt immediately af- been attributed to this
85x181
Inv. no. 449 terwards and there is a contemporary of Giot-
In the Uffizi since 1844 convincing school of to, this master whose

thought which holds that name comes from the

this altarpiece, among the altarpiece in the Uffizi:
most remarkable exam- scenes from the life of
ples of the early fourteenth Saint Francis in the fres-
century Florentine school, coes of the lower church
was painted for this church in Assisi and several oil
just after the fire. It por- panel paintings from
trays Saint Cecilia en- the churches of San Gior-
throned, flanked by eight gio alia Costa, San Simo-
stories of her life, ending ne and Santa Marghe-
with her martyrdom. The rita a Montici in Flo-
scenes, characterised by rence.
a minutely detailed real-
ism, echo Giotto's fres-
coes in the upper church
atAssisi.
In this early evocation
of the experiments of
the young Giotto, how-
ever, the three-dimen-
sional effect is still clear-
^'-^:
ly in an experimental
51
ROOM 4 FLORENTINE PAINTINGS OF THE 14TH CENTURY

i
^ # #.

Bernardo Daddi In 1568 Vasari attributed deUa, mentioned by Vasari,

Poliptych
of San Pancrazio
c. 1340
Tempera on wood
165x85 (central)
127x42 (sides)
31x17 (pinnacles)
diam. 20 (tondoes)
43x32 (predellas)
Inv.nos. 8458, 6127-6128,
8345
In the Uffizi since 1919
this poliptych, formerly
on the main altar of the
church of San Pancrazio,
to another member of the
Florentine school, Agno-
lo Gaddi. The central pan-
el of the poliptych shows
the traditional Madonna
and Child enthroned with
angels; to the sides are six
panels with full-figure
saints; above are fourteen
small pinnacled panels
\^ith prophets and half-
length portraits of saints
and four tondoes with an-
gels. On the predella are
seven small panels with
stories of the Virgin. Ac-
cording to a likely recon-
struction, at least six oth-
er pieces are missing and
possibly also another pre-
with stories of StRepara-
ta, the Florentine pa-
troness. This is therefore
one of the most spectac-
ular pohptychs of its time,
although Vasari preferred
only the smaller parts:
"the only part of it which
is really good, is the pre-
della, filled with small fig-
ures." Bernardo Daddi,
amongst the most de-
lightful of those repre-
sentatives of the Giotto
school who displayed
miniaturistic tendencies,
was in fact most at ease
when narrating intimate,
everyday scenes, peopled
by graceful and lively fig-

32
 ROOM 4 FLORENTINE PAINTINGS OF THE 14TH CENTURY

GlOTTINO
Pietd
(whole and detail)

c. 1360-1365
Tempera on wood
195x134
454
Inv. no.
In the Uffizi since 1851

This panel painting, orig-

inally in thechurch of San
Remigio, is considered
one of the masterpieces
of Florentine painting from
the secondhalf of the 14^^
century, for the rare psy-
chological insight of the
faces and for its limiinous
pictorial quality.
Along with the tradition-
al characters mourning
at the Deposition of Christ
are two female figures
dressed in contemporary
14"^ century clothing. One
of them is a Benedectine
nun, the other is a young,
sumptuously dressed
woman; both kneel to par-
ticipate in the sorrowful
event, protected by the
hands of the patron saints
Remigius and Nicholas.
The artist, whose critical
reputation is still hotly de-
bated, was praised by
Vasari for his "gentleness
and sweetness", his abil-
ity to vary facial expres-
sionsand emotions, and
to display the highest
imaginative qualities
through his brushwork.

33
ROOM 4 FLORENTINE PAINTINGS OF THE 14TH CENTURY

Andrea di Cione, sanmichele. tlie seat of tlie The central figure of St

KNOWN AS OrCAGNA Florentine Guilds. Con- N lattlie^v is flanked by foiu'
AND Jacopo di Cione sidered to be among the small scenes (Miracle of
Saint Matthew best painters of his time ^ tlie Dragons, Calling of tlie
Triptych and already a consultant Saint. ResiuTection of King

for tlie ^vorks at tlie CaUie- Egippus' son. Martyrdom

c. 1367-1368
dral, the artist became ill of the Saint). Each scene
Tempera on wood
and Uie pciinting was com- isgiven an inscription.
291x265
Inv. no. 3163 pleted by his brother Ja- Above, the tondoes show
In the LfTizi since 1899 copo di Cione the follow- the golden coins which
ing year. The unusual symbolise the Bankers
In 1 567 the Bankers Guild trapezoidal structure of Giuld. A work of gi'eat sub-
commissioned Orcagna the panel was created tlety, it is enriched by de-

to paint a panel for the Nvest specifically for the pillar tails such as the rich bro-
pillar of its property in Or- on which it was to hang. cade at the feet of the saint.
54
Room 5-6 * International Gothic
Lorenzo Monaco by Pope Martin V. There
and cosimo rosselli may weU have been a pre-
Adoration of the Magi della, now lost, such as in
the contemporary ylc^o-
c. 1420-1422
ration of the Magi paint-
Tempera on wood, 115x166
ed by Gentile da Fabri-
Inv. no. 466
In the Academy since 1810, ano (see catalogue be-
in the Uffizi since 1844 low). Lorenzo Monaco,
Restored: 1995 also a fine miniaturist,
The provenance of this represented the liveliest
panel painting is uncer- and most up-to-date style
tain, but it is probably the of the age, and was the
altarpiece painted for the founder of a stylistic re-
church of Sant'Egidio by formation which, start-
Don Lorenzo, a Camal- ing from the experiences
dolese monk from Santa of the Giotto school, cre-
Maria degli Angeli. It is ated lively figures dis-
also probable that the oc- playing movement
casion for this was the re- every part of the body. Ex-
consecration of the church otic devices stand out from
the painting, such as the
inscriptions in pseudo-
Kufic (ancient Arabic)
characters on the cloak
of the standing Magus and
the nearby figure. In or-
der to adapt this pinna-
cled panel in late Gothic
taste to the Renaissance,
in the late 15'^ century
Cosimo Rosselli painted
new pinnacles with God
the Father surrounded by
prophets and ain. Annun-
ciation.
The great altarpiece by
Lorenzo Monaco show-
in ing the Coronation re-
turned to this room after
a long restoration.
55
ROOM 5-6 # INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC
Gentile da Fabriang Palla Strozzi, a man ofleam-
Adoration of the Magi ing and great wealth, a ri-
(whole and detail) val of the Medici who was
Signed and dated 1423 once exiled to Padua, com-
Right partition not from missioned this sumptuous
the original predella work for his family chapel
Tempera on wood
in the church of Santa THni-
halo and friezes stamped
A\1th iron
ta,where he planned the
300x283 (total) building of a pubUc Ubrary
173x220 (panel) with Greek and Latin vol-
Inv. no. 8364
umes. His humanist edu-
In the Uffizi since 1919
(Right predella panel in
cation with Byzantine in-
the Lou\Te since 1812) fluences is reflected in this
work by Gentile da Fabri-
ano, who, originaUy from
the Marches, was by 1420
hving in Florence as a ten-
Eint of Palla Strozzi.
•^^
56
With its rich use of gold,
applied to the panel in re-
lief at certain points, the
painting was to represent
publicly the affluence and
culture of the client, and
to echo the words of
Leonardo Bruni, Chan-
cellor of the Republic: "The
possession of external
wealth affords the occa-
sion to exercise virtue."
The Adoration in the cen-
tre of the panel is simply
the culminating moment
of the fabulous procession
of the Magi, which winds
its way down from the top
??^»
 ROOM 5-6 ^> INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC

of the panel, beneath a nature, to the smaQ piUars, literary style typical of
night sky illuminated by to the fabrics woven with Greek humanism, the so-
the star of Bethlehem. The gold, and the harnesses of called ekphrasis, which
eye isdrawn to many de- the horses. This analyti- allows the minute, elabo-
tails: from the numerous cal intensity of detail would rate description of multi-
flowers, all drawn from seem to correspond to the ple elements.

37
Room 7 The Early Renaissance

Masaccio E Masolino This work, formerly in the tryman Masaccio (they

Saint Anne Metterza church of Sant'Ambrogio, later worked together on
(whole and detail) was fundamental to the the Brancacci Chapel in
c. 1424 evolution of early Re- the Carmine church). St

Tempera on wood naissance painting, and Anne and the angels are
175x103 was the fruit of a collab- generally attributed to
8386
Inv. no. oration between Masoli- Masolino, with the ex-
In the Uffizi since 1919
no and his younger coun- ception of that on the top

38
 ROOM 7 i THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

right of the painting, prob-

ably done by Masaccio,
who was also responsible
for the Virgin with Child.
The symbolic meaning of
this altarpiece is, despite
the simplicity of its com-
position, quite complex.
It is not known under what
circumstances the work
was commissioned. The
three main figures, St
Anne, the Virgin, and the
Child, placed along the
same axis, have the stat-
ic quality of Byzantine
Madonnas (but the plas-
ticity of the figures is en-
tirely 15^^ century, and
the angel swinging the
censer introduces a sense
of movement).
According to new theo-
ries, the panel may have

been placed within a great

devotional ciborium in
the church of Sant'Am-
brogio. In similar vein to
the later Coronation by
Filippo Lippi, originally
situated in the same
church and now in the Uf-
fizi (Room 8), this work,
inspired by the cults of
mally used in art history
to refer to representations
of the mother of the Vir-
gin with her daughter and
the Child sitting between
her knees. In this paint-
ing St Anne acquires a key
symbolic value, and prob-
ably also alludes to the
in the open arms of the
saint, as they lean upon
Mary's shoulders in a ges-
ture of protection. For the
cupola itself, "climbing
steeply to the skies", 'Svide
enough to cover the whole
of the Tuscan people with
its shadow", as the great

Corpus Domini and the historical figure of the architect Leon Battista
Immaculate Conception abbess of the convent. To Alberti wrote in the 15^^
venerated in Sant'Am- the faithful she represents century, clasps the city of
brogio, represents the con- a mother who protects a Florence in an ideal em-
cept of a benevolent au- daughter who is without brace.
thority exercised by the sin and who is the prog-
Church within Christian enitress of the body of
society. The title of the Christ. It is no mere fan-
work, "Saint Anne Met- cy that the scholar Rober-
terza" (from the medieval to Longhi should have
Latin "met", the same, and recognised the silhouette
"tertius", the third), is nor- of Brunelleschi's cupola

39
ROOM 7 THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

Paolo Uccello Documents from 1492 would date the work,

The Battle of placed this panel in the which was probably in-
San Romano (1432) room of Lorenzo the Mag- spired by the interest that
nificent on the ground Cosimo the Elder took in
Variously dated behveen
1435-1438
floor of the Medici Palace, the moralism of Seneca,
c.

andc. 1456-1460 together with three lost to around 1460, after the

Tempera on wood paintings and two other Medici moved from their
182x323 panels showing phases of first dweUing in Via Larga
479
Inv. no.
the battle (London, Na- (today Via Cavour) to the
In the Uffizi since the second
half of the 18th centurj-
tional Gallery; Paris, Lou- new palace designed by
vre). This information Michelozzo on the same
40

Street. Other scholars,
however, consider that
the series was commis-
sioned around 1455 by
Cosimo the Elder to com-
memorate the 1432 bat-
tle shortly after it occurred.
The Florentine victory at
the tower of San Romano
in Valdelsa against the
Duke of Milan, an ally of
ROOM 7 # THE EARLY RENAISSANCE
the Sienese, owed much
toCosimo and his cousin
Averardo, who were both
financial backers of the
two captains Nicolo da
Tolentino and Michelet-
toda Cotignola.
The paintings by Paolo
UcceUo would in this case
already have hung in the
family's firstpa/azzo, hint-
ing, with the discretion
typical of Cosimo, at the
Medici's place in public
life. The scene shown in
the Uffizi, marked as the
others are by a sophisti-
cated use of perspective,
shows the unsaddling of
Bernardino delta Ciarda,
leader of the enemy army.
41
ROOM 7 THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

I'^llil ~^^

Beato Angelico va, "where Paradise is whole with two predellas

Coronation
of the Kirgin
c. 1435
Tempera on wood
112x114
Inv.no. 1612
In the UfRzi since 1948
At the beginning of the
16^^^ century, a descrip-
tion by the Anonimo Gad-
diano places this panel
by Giovanni da Fiesole,
othen^1se kno\\Ti as Fra
Angelico, in the church
of Sant'Egidio in the Hos-
pital of Santa Maria Nuo-
42
painted". It had been men-
tioned before by the bi-
ographer Antonio Manet-
tiand identified by Vasari
as being on the screen
wall of the same church.
Fra Angelico painted an-
other Coronation with a
different composition
(now in the Louvre) pos-
sibly just before this, for
the church of the convent
of San Domenico below
Fiesole, where he lived
for a long time.
The work in the Uffizi,
which probably formed a
now in the Museum of San
Marco {Wedding sljiA Fu-
neral of the Virgin), is in-
tensely illuminated by a
profusion of gold and
clever use of light; its per-
spective is created by a
series of small clouds
which drift into the back-
ground. Surrounding the
Coronation, emphasised
by the "firework" effect
of a burst of golden rays,
is a great circle of saints
and angels (note the im-
pact of the trumpets cross-
ing over each other).

T ^^
n m.
DOMENICO VeNEZIANO
Santa Lucia dei
MagnoUAltarpiece
c. 1445
Signed on the step
of the throne
Tempera on wood
209x216
Inv. no. 884
In the Uffizi since 1862
Formerly in the church of
Santa Lucia dei Magnoli,
the altarpiece is today with-
out its extraordinary pre-
della, which has been dis-
mantled and divided
amongst the museums of
Washington, Cambridge
ROOM 7 # THE EARLY RENAISSANCE
^
^^"
and Berlin. Its innovative Child. The branches of a
use of light makes it one of citrus orchard stand out
the masterpieces of its time. against an intensely real-
Instead of the traditional istic sky. In the foregroimd
medieval triptych, the sa- are St Francis, St John the
cred conversation takes Baptist, St Zanobius (pa-
place within a harmonious tron of Florence, wearing
architectural structure of rich costume with fabric
three arches with inlaid and jewels of the era) and
marble on the fagade, ren- St Lucia, to whom the
dered still more delicate church was dedicated.
by the pastel tones of rose The Venetian painter, with
and green, and enriched whom the young Piero
by a multicoloured pave- della Francesca had col-
ment in receding squares. laborated on the church
The morning light is em- of Sant'Egidio, died in
phasised by the shadow poverty in Florence, his
falling on the Virgin and chosen city.
45
ROOM 7 # THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

PlERO DELLA FrA^CESCA In the 15^^ century, as in Udienze in the Ducal

Diptych of the Duke antiquity, the diptych was Palace, arrived in Flo-
and Duchess ofUrbino considered a particular- rence in 163 1 with the in-
Front panels ^vith the por- ly precious work and was heritance of Vittoria Del-
traits of Battista Sforza and
originally joined by a la Rovere, wife of the
Federigo II da Montefeltro
hinge, to be opened like Grand Duke Ferdinand
c. 1467-1470
a book or on occasion to II. It shows the Duke and
Tempera on wood
47x33 each
be presented as a gift. Duchess ofUrbino fac-
Inv.nos. 3342, 1615 Painted on both sides (on iQg one another in solemn
In the Uffizi since 1773 the outer were the two profile, in the classical
Restored: 1986 Triumphs shown in the medallion style which
following pages), the fa- was very much in vogue
mous diptych ofUrbino, during the humanistic
formerly in the Sala delle period.
44

The precision of the fea-
tures, focusing even on
the less attractive details
such as Federigo's nose,
broken during a tourna-
ment, is a typical charac-
teristic of Flemish art and
confirms that Piero delta
France sea (active in the
court of Urbino) was one
of the most sensitive in-
terpreters of Nordic art,
which was time
at that
well-known and popular
ROOM 7 # THE EARLY RENAISSANCE
from Ferrara to Florence
and Urbino, right down
to the south of Italy. Even
the tidy landscape in the
background, fading to-
wards the distant hills and
the horizon, possibly evok-
ing the territory of Mon-
tefeltro, the Duke's land,
is treated with an almost
miniaturistic technique.
Without using the tradi-
tional expedient of a cur-
tain or window, the mag-
nificent bird's-eye view
unites the perspective of
the two panels. The great
painter from Sansepolcro
was also in fact the author
of important theoretical
treatiseson perspective,
such as the De Prospecti-
vapingendi.
45
 1 ,

ROOM 7 # THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

: M H n
{ {
>
I \\ ; I H m f 1 1 n t ij mn »
j^n m m m \n \ t n t j f 1 1

;VS iNSiqNI VeHlTVR TKIVMPHO

PAREM SVM/AlS DVCIBVS PERHENNIS
V1RTVTVA\ CELEBRAT DECENTER
RA TENENTEAX -

PlERO DELLA Fra_N CESCA The two scenes of alle- (Faith, Charity, Hope, and
Diptych of the Duke gorical carriages, whose Modesty) and the cardi-
and Duchess ofUrbino figurative meanings dur- nal virtues for Federigo
Rear panels with ing this age of humanism (Prudence, Temperance,
the Triumphs of Battista
Sforza and Federigo
were derived from the Fortitude, and Justice).
da Montefeltro
14^^ centiu^ poetical Tri- Battista, reading intent-
c. 1467-1472
umphs of Petrarch, ser\ e ly, rides a carriage pulled
to indicate the moral val- by two unicorns, a sym-
Tempera on wood
47x33 each ues of the two subjects. bol of purit}^ and chastit}
Inv.nos. 1615,3342 Each spouse is solemnly the reins held by a small
In the LfTizi since 1 773 accompanied on the tri- angel. The landscape in
Restored: 1986
rnnphal carriage by four the background is prob-
Virtues: the theological ably that of Valdichiana.
Virtues for Battista Sforza Standing behind Federi-
46
 -

ROOM 7 THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

QVEA\ ;Ov'MJ<Lt-]Vs TENVIT bECX^NDiS

MAGNl DEiJOP.ATA KERV/n v
CONFv CIS
LAVDE GESTAHVM VOLITAX PER OPvA *

CVNCTA MRURVM ^

go, Victory, symbolised as the long-awaited heir. mouth, adorning with

an angel, is crowning him;
the lake in the background
can be identified as Lake
Trasimeno. Recent hy-
potheses suggest that two
paintings on the reverse
were painted on a subse-
quent occasion to the por-
traits on the front, that is
to say after the death in
childbirth of Battista
Sforza, who in July 1472
gave birth to Guidubaldo,
That the Duchess was al-
ready dead when Piero
delta Francesca depicted
her on the back of the pan-
el would be confirmed by
the tone of the Latin in-
scription inscribed on the
classical-style marble be-
neath her image: "The
name of the woman who
knew how to be moder-
ate during favourable
times flies from mouth to
praise the exploits of her
great husband." Under
the triumphal carriage of
her husband is a further
inscription: "A man pro-
claimed worthy to hold
the sceptre by the imper-
ishable fame of his virtues,
a renowned man equal to
the most celebrated con-
dottieri, is carried in great
triumph."
47

Room 8 Lippi
FiLiPPO Lippi In 1445 Michelozzo, ar-
The Novitiate Altarpiece chitect of Cosimo the El-
der,completed the Novi-
c. 1445
tiateChapel in the Fran-
Tempera on wood
196x196
ciscan church of Santa
Predella of the Pesellino Croce. For ornamenting
with stories of saints, Cosimo called
the altar,
not illustrated, and divided on Filippo Lippi whose
bet^\ een the Louvre and
patron he was (he may
the Lffizi
(two of the five stories are have written this apolo-
copies, inv. no. 8355) gy for the transgressive
Inv. no. 8354 friar/painter: "Great
In the Uffizi since 1919
minds are heavenly forms
and not dray horses for
hire"). The architectur-
al background of the al-
tarpiece has a classical
structure, in tune with
48
,
Michelozzo's taste. The
red Medicean emblems
on the top of the frieze
and the marble of the
pavement enliven the
composition with chro-
matic highlights, in an
almost Flemish manner.
It represents the Madon-
na enthroned with Child
and saints, also seated:
from left to right, Fran-
cis (patron of Santa Cro-
ce), Cosmas and Dami-
an (Medici patron saints)
and Anthony of Padua.
 ROOM 8 * LIPPI

FiLIPPO LiPPI This painting is today out from its frame v^th a
Madonna with Child among the most admired delicacy similar to the clas-
and Two Angels in the Gallery. The Madon- sical-style reliefs of Dona-

na, her hair entwined with tello and Luca della Rob-
c. 1465
precious pearls, has an bia (the pose of the angel
Tempera on wood
95x65.5
enchanting profile, be- in the foreground is prob-

Inv. no. 1598 lieved to be that of Lucrezia ably derived from a putto
In the Uffizi since 1796 Buti, a nun with whom the on a classical sarcopha-
friar/painter was scan- gus). The background, a
dalously in love. The sa- magnificent paiating-with-
cred group, which also in- in-a-painting, seems to
spired Botticelli, Lippi's anticipate the expansive
assistant in Prato, stands landscapes of Leonardo.
ROOM 8 LIPPI

FiLiPPO LiPPi This was previously in The original composition

AND Assistance Sant'Ambrogio, on the of the frame is lost and
Coronation main altar which was re- part of the predella is in a
of the Virgin stored by the prior Fran- Berlin museum. In 1446
To the right, two details: cesco Maringhi in 1441. the altarpiece was trans-
Self-portrait and St Lippi's payments for the ferred to the painter's
Theophista with Sons work began in 1439. Var- home in the convent of
ious painters collaborat- Sant'Apollonia where the
1439-1447 blue pigment used to fin-
ed in the prestigious un-
Signed by "Frater FiUppus" dertaking: Piero di Loren- ish the painting was avail-
below, centre,
zo, Bartolomeo di Gio- able, and one year later
on the platform
Tempera on wood, 200x287 vanni, Corradini da Ur- the work was finally in
Two tondoes ^^1th the An- bino, Fra Diamante, a Sant'Ambrogio. Consid-
nunciation, remomited at an young disciple of Lippi, erable amazement must
mispecified time, diam. 21
and at least two able car- have been provoked by
Inv. no. 8352
In the Uffizi since 1919 penters, Mauno de' Cori the crowded scene of the
Restored: 1978 and Domenico del Brilla. Coronation ofthe Virgin,

50
 ROOM 8 LIPPI

whose arrival in Heaven

is perhaps suggested by
the intense, diagonal strips
in blue and azure. Among
the characters, at the ex-
treme left stands St Am-
brose; kneeling below is
the presumed self-por-
trait of the friar who looks
out at the spectator with
a bored air; in the centre
is St Eustace with his two
small sons and wife
Theophista; to the right
is the donor next to the in-
scription, "Is perfecit opus"

(He finished the work).

51
ROOM 8 LIPPI

FiLIPPINO LiPPI Previously in the Council civic importance of the

Madonna with Child Hall of Palazzo Vecchio, painting: John the Baptist
and Saints 1 .200 lli^e was paid for the and Victor, patrons of Flo-
altarpiece at the msh of rence and of the Guelph
I486 (signed and dated
Februan 20, 1485 according
Lorenzo de' Medici. Some party; Bernard, on whose
to the Florentine st} le) artisans collaborated with book is the word "med-
Tempera on wood Filippino Lippi on the ica", perhaps an implicit
355x255 frame and on the curtain reference to the Medici
Inv.no. 1568 which was to veil the pan- family; and Zanobius, pa-
In the Lffizi since 1 782
el on the altar. The saints tron of the diocese, wear-
who flank the Madonna ing a jewel on his cloak
enthroned and cro\Mied displaying the red lily, a
by angels, confirm the symbol of Florence.
52
 ROOM 8 LIPPI

FiLIPPINO LiPPI AND place one which was nev- Lorenzo, Lord of Piombi-
Assistance er finished by Leonardo no, and Giovanni, who in
Adoration of the Magi (Uffizi, inv. no. 1594); he 1496 was ambassador and
was probably helped by married Caterina Sforza,
Signed and dated on the back
other artists as indicated by whom he was to have
1496
Tempera with oil on wood
by recent restoration. Lodovico, the futiu-e con-
258x243 Among the contemporary dottiere Giovanni dalle
Frame and predella di-
lost portraits included in the Bande Nere and father of
vided between the Raleigh
Museum (North Carolina) sacred event, situated in Cosimo 1. The three char-
and private collection a landscape of classical acters portrayed are from
Inv. no. 1566 ruins and castles, to the the Medici line which re-
In the Uffizi since 1666
left are the Medici "Po- linquished its power in fi-
Restored: 1985
polani": the old man kneel- delity to the Republic of
In 1496 Filippino Lippi ing with the astrolabe, Savonarola: here the crown
painted XhisAdoration for which alludes to the "as- istaken from Giovanni's
the Augustinian convent tronomer" Wise Kings, is head while his brother of-
of San Donato in Scopeto Pierfrancesco di Lorenzo; fers him a precious cup to
(demolished 1529), to re- behind him are his sons present to the Child Jesus.

55
Room 9 Pollaiolo
Antomo and Piero This painting was for the
DEL Pollaiolo altar of the Cardinal of
St Jacob, St Vincent Portugal's Chapel in San
and St Eustace Miniato al Monte. It has
(Cardinal of been replaced with a copy.
PortugaVs Altarpiece) The chapel, on which the
major artists of that time
1466-1468
worked, is dedicated to
Oilon wood
172x179
Jacob of Lusitania, Car-
Original frame, painted dinal of Lisbon, who died
and gilded, attributed to in Florence in 1459, aged
Giuliano da Maiano 25. The Pollaiolo broth-
(In the centre, in enam-
ers ran a prolific Floren-
elled brass, Cardinal's coat
of arms by the Pollaiolo tine workshop dealing in
brothers) painting, sculpture and
Inv.no. 1617 goldsmithery. Their al-
In the Uffizi since 1800
Restored: 1994
tarpiece, made of oak,
has been given an un-
54
usual oily priming, typi-
cal of Flemish art. The
work displays the fasci-
nation of the period for
richly varied composi-
tions: it is magnificent in
garments studded with
its
jewels, the landscape
which one glimpses be-
yond the balustrade, the
variegated marble paving,
and many other fine de-
tails.
The pilgrims' shell can
be seen on the hat rest-
ing at the feet of St Jacob
of Compostela, the pa-
tron saint of pilgrims.
 ROOM 9 POLLAIOLO

Antonio Pollaiolo The woman is portrayed ing a large ruby. She is

Portrait of a Woman in a half-bust profile on a wearing a head-dress typ-
richbackground of blue ical of 15^^ century Flo-
c. 1475
lapis lazuli.Around her rentine ladies: a veil cov-
Tempera on wood
55x34
neck is a pearl necklace ers her ears and the "hon-

Inv. no. 1491 with a particularly beau- eycomb" plait in her gold-
In the Uffizi since 1861 tiful pendent, which shows en hair is delicately high-
an angel in relief overly- lighted by pearls.

^6
 .

ROOM 9 POLLAIOLO

Antonio Pollaiolo
and Antaeus
Hercules

Hercules and the Hydra

c. 1475
Oil tempera on wood
16x9 e 17x12
Inv. nos. 1478, 8268
In the Uffizi since 1789, dis-
persed during World War
11, recovered in 1963, re-

turned to the Uffizi in 1975

Restored: 1991

Around 1460 Pollaiolo

painted three large can-
vasses of the Labours of
Hercules for the Palazzo
Medici. They were com-
missioned by Cosimo the
Elder or perhaps his son,
Piero (but not by the 11-
year-old Lorenzo de'
Medici, as some have
claimed). The paintings
may be part of a cycle on
defeated tyranny (the
character of Hercules, de-
fender of order and jus-
tice and a legendar}^ sym-
bol of Florence, does in
fact represent both polit-
ical and reUgious virtues)

The two panels from the

Uffizi, with a third piece
on
in a private collection
which Antonio's brother
Piero collaborated, are
most probably smaller
copies, also by Pollaiolo,
of the lost cycle. The sculp-
tiu*al, dynamic tension of
the bodies is typical of An-
tonio del Pollaiolo, who
isfamous for his studies
of nude and anatomy.

56
 ROOM 9 i POLLAIOLO

Sandro Botticelli
The Return ofJudith
The Discovery of the
Body ofHolofernes
c. 1470-1472
Tempera on wood
31x24 and 31x25
Inv. nos. 1484, 1487
In the Uffizi since 1632

Originally part of a pre-

cious diptych with a carved
and gilded walnut frame
(now lost) the panels were
,

documented in 1584 as a
gift from the collector Ri-

dolfo Sirigatti to the Grand

Duchess Bianca Cappel-
lo, second wife of Fran-

cesco I; they were then

passed down to her son,
Don Antonio, who lived
in the Casino in Via Larga
from 1588. Judith, a bib-
lical heroin, is the model
of feminine virtue and of
justice bringing victory
weak. The diptych
to the
comes from Botticelli's
early years, and perhaps
shows the influence of
PoUaiolo in the perfect in-
tegration of figure and
landscape. The artist was
however clearly original
in his knowledgeable com-
binations of colours and
in the use of light to illu-
minate clothing as well
asthebedsheetonwhich
the decapitated corpse of
Holofernes sprawls, a
splendid nude study.

57
ROOM 9 #POLLAIOLO

Sandro Botticelli First datable work of San- in their palazzo, which

Fortitude dro Botticelli, Fortitude,
along with a Virtue which
1470
was never executed, was
Tempera on wood
167x87
commissioned from the
Inv.no. 1606 artist in 1470 by the Flo-
In the Uffizi since 1861 rentine Merchants Guild
Restored: 1998 to decorate the banisters
in the Hall of Audiences
was near that of the Sig-
noria. Other six Virtues
from the series (in this
same room) had already
been requested from Hero
del PoUaiolo, which it ap-
pears he was late in de-
livering.

58
Room 10-14 i Botticelli

This room, created in 1943 from the upper part of the Medici Theatre (the beams
are still visible), houses theforem^ost collection ofBotticelli in the world. An initial
layout was created in the postwar period with the altarpieces ofFilippino Lippi,
Perugino and SignorellL In the fifties works by Botticelli began to be transferred
here, and by 1978 the layout was more or less as we see it today, apart from one
or two transfers at the beginning of the 'nineties (Filippino Lippi was relocated to
Room 8). Botticelli's formation as an artist is displayed here through both sacred
and profane works: from the early works which still show the influence ofFilip-
po Lippi, Verrocchio andPollaiolo, to those conceived in the intellectual circle of
the Medici, to the mystic paintings of his mature years. Other cultural tendencies
ofthe age are represented in this room by Ghirlandaio, an artist receptive to Flem-
ish painting, which in turn is also represented here by the large poliptych of Van
der Goes.

Sandro Botticelli
Young
Portrait of a
with a Medal

c. 1470-1475
Tempera on wood and gild-
ed gesso (medal)
56.5x44
Inv. no. 1488
In the Uffizi since 1666
Restored: 1991

Previously owned by Car-

dinal Carlo de' Medici. An
enigmatic youth stares
out at the spectator from
a Flemish-style landscape.
The medal, coiaed in 1464,
showing the profile of Cosi-
mo the Elder Pater Patri-
ae with the inscription
Magnus Cosmus Medices
PPP, supports the theory
that the sitter was either
linked to the Medici cir-
cle or was Antonio Fil-
ipepi, goldsmith and
medallist, and brother of
the artist.

59
ROOM 10- BOTTICELLI

Sandro Botticelli but instead Cosmas and Now that many layers of
SanVAmbrogio D ami an, saints tradition- overpainting have been
Altarpiece (or of the ally linked with the Medici, removed by delicate
Converted Sisters) who kneel at the feet of restoration, the original
the Madonna; also are style of the work has re-
c. 1467-1470
Mary Magdalen, John the emerged, to make it a def-
Tempera on wood
Baptist, St Francis and St inite attribution and the
170x194
8657
Inv. no. Catherine of Alexandria. first known altarpiece by
In the Lffizi since 1946 The presence of St Fran- this artist.
Restored: 1992 cis of Assisi suggests that The composition and the
this might be the Botticelli now show
pictorial ductus

This work was transferred
to the Gallery of the Ac-
cademia in 1 808 from the
Benedictine monaster}^ of
Sant'Ambrogio, and it was
originally thought that the
w ork had been there since
its completion. How ever,
neither Sant'Ambrogio
nor any of the Benedictine
patron saints are portrayed,
panel seen by Vasari in the
church of St Francis in
Montevarchi, but this hy-
potheses has yet to be con-
firmed. However, the the-
ory that the altarpiece orig-
inated in the convent of
the Converted Sisters,
w hich for a long time gave
itsname to the painting,
has now been refuted.
clear evidence of the in-
fluence of Filippo Lippi,
whose pupil Botticelli was
until the monk left for
Spoleto in 1467. The in-
fluence of Verrocchio can
also be seen in the almost
metallic quality of the
garments; he became
Sandro Botticelli's mas-
ter in that same year.

60
 ROOM 10-14 # BOTTICELLI

Sandro Botticelli is shown - the procession

Adoration of the Magi through the streets in which
(whole and detail) they took part every year
c. 1475 with the Confraternity of
Tempera on wood Magi, dressed as oriental
111x134 kings. Apart from the self-
Inv. no. 882 portrait of Botticelli which
In the Uffizi since 1796
stares at the viewer from
Restored: 1980
the right of the painting,
Painted for the chapel of Giuliano de' Medici stands
Guasparre Lami (agent of out on the left; leaning on
the Bankers Guild whose him is the poet Poliziano
members included the with Pico della Mirandola
Medici), in the church of beside him. The Magus
Santa Maria Novella, this kneeling at the feet of Je-
altarpiece is a public sus is Cosimo the Elder,
homage Lorenzo the
to whilst the king with the red
Magnificent and his fami- cloak seen from behind is
ly, with whom Botticelli was Piero the Gouty, the father
in contact. Against a back- of Lorenzo (seen in profile
drop of ancient ruins a on the right, with a short
favourite scene ofthe Medici black garment).

61
ROOM 10-14 # BOTTICELLI

DOMEMCO seen by Vasari. Against the Standing out against the

Ghirlandaio background of a crystal
Madonna Enthroned clear sky, a balustrade cov-
with Angels and Saints ered in jewels supports
the enthroned Virgin, sur-
c. 1480
rounded by four garland-
Tempera on wood
191x200
ed angels - a composition
Inv.no. 881 which had become well-
In the Lffizi since 1853 estabhshed in Florence by
Restored: 1981 this period. The Child is
blessing San Giusto, the
Originally on the altar of patron saint of the church,
San Giusto degh Ingesuati, who kneels at the front of
landscape are cypresses,
a hibiscus and an orange
tree. Vasari praised the
metaUic brilliance of the
Archangel Michael's ar-
mour, obtained not through
the application of gold, but
with pure colour, an in-
novation first attributable
to this artist. Ghirlandaio,
also a fine portraitist, was
one of the main artists to

a church which was de-
molished in 1530 during
the siege of Florence, the
painting was transferred
to San Giovanni Battista
della Calza where it was
the painting. The other take an interest in the nov-
figures are archangels elties of Flemish art, the
Michael and Raphael, influences of which can
standing, and St Zanobius, be seen in his landscapes
patron sfdnt of Florence, and his special attention
kneeling on the right. to decorative detail.

62
 ROOM
Sandro Botticelli This famous tondo, in
Madonna which the figures appear
of the Magnificat as if reflected in a con-
vex mirror, takes its title
c. 1481-1485
from the beginning of the
Tempera on wood
Virgin's prayer which can
diam. 118
(frame not original) be read in the open book.
Inv.no. 1609 The Child is holding a
In the Uffizi since 1785 pomegranate, whose ru-
Restored: 1981
by red pips symbolise the
Passion of Christ. A few
years later thesame artist
was to paint another ton-
do, known as the Madon-
na of the Pomegranate,
for the Sala delle Udien-
10-14 ^^ BOTTICELLI
ze of the Massai di Came-
ra in Palazzo Vecchio,
which is also displayed
in thisroom. Its rare and
splendid frame, the o-
riginal, carved with the
golden lilies of Florence
against a blue background
as on the ceiling of the
Sala delle Udienze, has
recently been attributed
to the workshop of Giu-
liano da Maiano.
65
ROOM 10-14 BOTTICELLI

Saxdro Botticelli great altarpiece is now above, and on the extreme

Coronation considered a key work of right is St Eligio. A deep
of the Virgin Botticelli's mature period, sense of spirituality em-
(Altarpiece of San one of the most important anates from the painting,
Marco) to be painted in Florence prefiguring later, still more
during these years. The mystical works such as
c. 1488-1490
composition is very new Calumny.
Tempera on wood
for its time, being clearly The predella, divided by
375x256
Inv. no. 8362
di\1ded into two zones: in small painted columns,
In the Uffizi since 1819 the upper part, against a announces the themes of
Restored: 1990 burst of golden rays, is the the altarpiece; among the
Coronation of the Virgin stories of the saints is that
Commissioned in 1488 by surrounded by dancing of Eligio, who was also
the Goldsmiths Guild for angels; below are the saints patron saint of black-
the chapel of their patron John the Evangelist, Au- smiths, tricking a demon
Saint Eligio in San Marco. gustine and Jerome, whose by shoeing the detached
After a long restoration the writings allude to the scene leg of a horse.

64
 ROOM 10-14 t BOTTICELLI

Sandro Botticelli
Calumny
(whole and detail)

c. 1495
Tempera on wood
62x91
Inv. no. 1496
In the Uffizi since 1773

Painted for Antonio Segni,

a Florentine banker who
was a friend of Leonardo,
the painting is a complex
allegory inspired by the
work which ApeUes is said
to have painted to refute
the calumny spoken
against him to King Ptole-
my Filelfo by a rival. In it
the victim of the calumny
is dragged before King Mi-
das who is flanked by Sus-
picion and Ignorance. To
the left stands Tlruth, naked
as per tradition, next to
Repentance.
65
ROOM 10-14 4 BOTTICELLI

Sandro Botticelli Oil tempera on wood This famous painting,

Primavera 203x314 whose meaning is still the
(whole and details Inv. no. 8360
subject of much discus-
on the following pages) Permanently in the Uflizi
since 1919
sion, was in 1498 in the
c. 1482 Via Larga house of Loren-
Restored: 1982
zo and Giovanni di Pier-
66
francesco de' Medici, the or chest. By the mid-six- adorned with flowers by
cousins of Lorenzo the teenth century it hung in- the Graces".
Magnificent. Like Pallas stead in the Medici villa The complex allegory
and the Centaur (also in at Castello, where Vasari seems to have been in-
this room), the panel hung described it as "Venus as spired by the classical
over the back of a day-bed a symbol of spring, being texts of Ovid and Lu-
67
ROOM 10-14 BOTTICELLI
cretius, and by certain
verses of Agnolo Poliziano
(1475), Mend of the Medici
and of the who de-
artist,
scribes a garden mth the
Three Graces garlanded
with flowers and the
springtime \^ind Zeph\Tus
chasing after Flora. The
^'singed genieon the right
of the painting is indeed
generally thought to be
Zeph}Tus who chased and
possessed the nymph
Chloris, and then mar-
ried her, giving her the
abiht} to germinate flow-
ers (here she has blooms
faUing from her mouth).
Near to Chloris is the smQ-
ing figure clothed in flow-
ers, fixed forever in the
68
collective imagination,
representing the trans-
formation of Chloris into
Flora, the Latin goddess
of Spring; the woman in
the centre is possibly
Venus, and this is her gar-
den. The three women on
the left entwined in a
dance, derived from an-
cient images of the Three
Graces, may be the s}tq-
bol of Liberality. Above is
Cupid, the blindfolded
god of love. Finally, the
youth with a traveller's
hat,sword and winged
sandals is certainly Mer-
cur} herald of Jove, who
, do not, for example, ap-
isperhaps here as an em-
blem of knowledge.
The interpretations of this
work are multifold. The
allegory of Spring, the sea-
son in w hich the iavisible
world of Form descends
to mould and shape Mat-
ter, may perhaps be cel-
ebrating the marriage of
the erudite Lorenzo Pier-
francesco de' Medici,
friend of Botticelli, and
Semiramide Appiani, a fe-
male relative of Simon-
etta Vespucci, famous for
her beauty and for her pre-
sumed liaison with Giu-
liano de' Medici.
A more recent interpre-
tation, however, sees the
painting as a metaphor-
ical celebration of the
Liberal Arts, to be read
in a nuptial key. What-
ever the case, the work
remains one of the high-
est expressions of the
ideal return to the gold-
en age of Florence at the
time of Lorenzo the Mag-
nificent. The most prob-
able date of the painting
is around 1482, when the
artist returned home fi^om
Rome. A detail to note:
the flowers in the mead-
ow number almost two
hundred botanical species
copied from nature, many
of which flower on the
hills of Florence in the
spring. Botticelli has,
however, mixed reality
and fantasy: wild oranges
pear in nature at the same
time as so many other
flowers.
ROOM 10-14 I BOTTICELLI
ROOM 10-14 # BOTTICELLI

Sandro Botticelli Tempera on linen canvas The painting, whose ori-

The Birth of Venus 172.5x278.5 gins and patron are un-
(whole and details Inv. no. 878
known, was by the mid-
In the UfTizi since 1815
on the following pages)
Restored: 1987 16th century to be found
c. 1484 together with the Pri-
mavera in the villa at
70
 ROOM
Castello, the former prop- famous, comes from the
erty of Lorenzo di Pier- last century, and is based
francesco de' Medici, who on a faulty interpretation
died in 1503. The title of the subject as Venus Ana-
which, unusually for that diomene ("arising from
period, made the painting the sea"), a subject which
10-14 I BOTTICELLI
the painter Apelles made
famous ia antiquity. In fact,
Botticelli, inspired by the
writings of Homer and Vir-
gil and perhaps once again
by the verses of his friend
71
ROOM 10-14 ^BOTTICELLI

Poliziano, is narrating a naked on a huge shell, cloak embroidered with

different episode from
the legend of the goddess:
her arrival at the island
of Rythera or perhaps
Cyprus.
Against a seascape ren-
dered with the utmost
mastery, Venus stands
12
being pushed towards
shore by the swell of the
sea, helped by the breath
of thewinds Zephyrus
and Aura w ho embrace
softly whilst roses fall from
the sky. She is welcomed
by a girl w earing a silken
daisies and other flow-
ers: this is possibly the
Hora of Spring or one of
the Three Graces. Whilst
the figures on the left may
be taken from the famous
Tazz£L Famese, now in the
Archaeological Museum
 ROOM 10-14 BOTTICELLI

in Naples but then in the
gem collection of Loren-
zo the Magnificent, the
pose of the main figure is
inspired by the antique
sculptural type, the Chaste
/^Aii/5, well-known since
medieval times. Like the
Primavera, this famous
work is representative of
the most serene and
graceful phase of Botti-
celli's art, linked to the
neo-Platonic atmosphere
of Lorenzo's age: once
again we are shown the
fusion of Spirit and Mat-
ter, the harmonious mar-
riage of Idea and Nature.
Instead of the brilliant
and solid colours used for
the Primavera, it is paint-
ed wdth a mixture of di-
luted yolk and light tem-
pera which give it an ap-
pearance similar to that
of a fresco.

73
ROOM 10-14 # BOTTICELLI
Hugo van der Goes The tript} ch was painted
The Portinari Triptych in Bruges for Tommaso
(whole and details) Portinari, an agent of the
c. 1477-1478 Medici and councillor of
Oil on wood the Duchy of Burgundy.
253x304 (central panel) Portinari was in Flanders
253x141 (side panels)
from 1455 and in 1470 mar-
Inv.nos. 3191-3193
In the Uffizi since 1900 ried Maria Maddalena Ba-
roncelli, by whom he had
ten children. In this great
triptych the spouses are
portrayed on the side pan-
els, absorbed in prayer be-
fore \he Adoration of the
shepherds, with patron
saints and the three eldest
children, Maria, Antonio
andPigello (bom in 1474,
74
the year from which the
probable date of the paint-
ing is calculated).
The work was sent to Flo-
rence by the owners in
1483, destined for the main
altar of the church of
Sant'Egidio, their favou-
rite church. The great
Flemish triptych made a
significant impact on the
artists working in Flo-
rence during those years,
particularly because of its
minute attention to nat-
ural detail, so far remov-
ed from the simplicity of
Florentine painting.
ROOM 10-14 ^BOTTICELLI

75
Room 15 # Leonardo

This room was restructured and the display reorganised in 1991. The works, lit
from above by a wide skylight, bear witness above all to the early phases of
Leonardo's Florentine activity, from his beginnings in Verrocchio's studio to his
departure for Milan in 1482. Also exhibited here are some recently restored pan-
el paintings by the graceful Perugino, an Umbrian artist who was active in Flo-

rence at the end of the century, as well some works by the "eccentric'' Pier o di
Cosimo, whose compositions were unusually inventive. The works of these two
an ideal link with other paintings carried out in Florence between
artists form
the IJ^^ and 1 6^^ centuries now on display in Room 1 9 (beyond the Tribune) and
Room 25 (west wing).

76
 ROOM 15 i LEONARDO

Verrocchio and
Leonardo da Vinci
Baptism of Christ
(whole and detail)

Variously dated c. 1475- 1478

Tempera and oil on wood

180x152
8358
Inv. no.
In the Uffizi since 1914
Restored: 1998

This newly restored pan-

el paintingcame from the
church of San Michele in
San Salvi and confirms
the vitality of Verrocchlo's
workshop which was
amongst the most famous
in Renaissance Florence.
According to Vasari, Ver-
rocchio gave up painting
because his pupil Leonar-
do had surpassed him, but
although Leonardo's hand
has now been identified
in the angel on the left and
the background landscape,
interventions by other
artists are visible in this
painting, which shows dis-
crepancies of style and
technique. The dry style
of the palm tree and rocky
outcrop behind John the
Baptist's shoulders is very
different from the moim- other important artist figure of Christ which in-
tains fading softly into the worked on this painting dicates the direct applica-
watery landscape beyond (the angel on the right has tion offingertips to the paint
the heads of the angels. even been attributed by The final touches in oil on
Christ and John the Bap- some to Botticelli), assist- some parts of the painting
tist are also treated in dif- ed, perhaps at different are typical of Leonardo,
ferent styles, the former times, by apprentices. Some whose participation in this
smoothly finished, the lat- details which were previ- work may not be as early
ter harsher and more ously undetected are now in his career as has been
strained. Although no visible, such as the fen birds thought until now, although
names have yet been put in the far landscape and this theory still needs ver-
forward, it is clear that an- some fingerprints on the ifying.

77
ROOM 15 # LEONARDO
Leonardo da Vinci
Annunciation
(whole and detail)
Variously dated between
C.1475 and 1480
Oiltempera on wood
98x217
lnv.no. 1618
In the Uffizi since 1867
In restoration (1999)
This work, for some time
now considered to be by
the hand of Leonardo af-
ter an early attribution to
Domenico Ghirlandaio,
came from the church of
San Bartolomeo in Olive-
dating is, however.
to. Its
78
controversial, wavering
from the early 1470's,
when the artist was lit-
tle more than twenty
years old, almost up to
the beginning of the fol-
lowing decade. Some de-
tail still shows the clear
influence of his master,
Verrocchio, especially in
the richly carved base of
the reading desk, simi-
lar to that on the tomb of
Giovanni and Piero de'
Medici. This tomb which
was completed by Ver-
rocchio in 1472 for the
Old Sacresty in San Lo-
renzo, was possibly in-
spired in its turn by the
decoration of an ancient
bas-relief. The perspec-
tive viewpoint of the scene
also appears rather tradi-
tional, even showing signs
of some uncertainty and
unevenness. The Virgin's
arm is unnaturally elon-
gated to reach the book
on the reading desk, and
the angel's shadow seems
to be exaggerated con-
sidering the early morn-
ing or sunset light which
one feels present in the
painting. This work how-
 ROOM 15 ^» LEONARDO

ever needs to be proper-

ly restored in order to ar-
rive at any new inter-
pretations. In the mean-
time, the innovations
which are Leonardo's
own are more visible in
the sculptural drapery,
for which some prepara-
tory drawings remain,
and in the landscape,
which from the typical
Tuscan cypresses in the
foreground blends back
into the distant rocky
mountains, with a lake-
side city painted in minute
detail.

79
ROOM LEONARDO

Leonardo da Vinci finished at the time of the spective system can be

Adoration of the Magi artist's departure to Mi- worked out. The mag-
lan, one year later. To nificent setting is made
1481
substitute it, several years up of several narrative
Mixed oil tempera on wood
243x246
later the monks asked episodes brought together
Inv.no. 1594 Filippino Lippi to make by a kind of continuous
In the Uffizi since 1670 a panel painting of a sim- motion; the scene filled
ilar subject (Room 8). wdth people and animals
This was transferred from Because of the varnish- absorbs the spectator and
the collection of Antonio es added during the cen- was meant to give the il-

and Giulio de' Medici to turies, the panel paint- lusion of a figurative meta-
the Gallen in 1670 and ing by Leonardo, which morphosis from one group
later to Castello, to re- has remained in a mono- to another. The painting
turn to the Lffizi in 1794. chrome state, is almost is rich in symbolic mean-
The work was commis- illegible. From recent re- ings; the ruins in the back-
sioned from Leonardo by search done on a prepara- ground allude, for in-
the Augustinian monks tory' drawing which once stance, to the fall of pa-
of San Donato a Scopeto hung in the Gallery as a ganism at the advent of
in 1481, but remained un- painting, a complex per- Christ.

80
 ROOM 15 # LEONARDO

PlETRO PeRUGINO er museums) , underwent of Arimathea serve as a

Pietd many transfers of loca- linkbetween the holy
tion after the destruction scene and the airy ar-
c. 1493-1494
of the convent in 1529. In chitectural structure.
Oil tempera on wood
168x176
an atmosphere of deep The Umbrian artist was,
8365
Inv. no. spirituality, perhaps al- from 1472, a member of
In the Uffizi since 1919 ready influenced by the the Painters Guild in Flo-
Restored: 1984 sermons of Savonarola, rence, and in those years
the Madonna supports he quickly became
This work, like \he Agony across her knees the rigid renowned in the Tuscan
in the Garden, also at the and ashen body of Christ. city, where he carried out

Uffizi, was painted by Pe- He is also supported by many works including

rugino for the screen wall
in the Ingesuati church
outside the Pinti Gate.
The panel painting (which
once had a predella by
Bartolomeo di Giovanni,
now divided between oth-
the kneeling John the E-
vangelist, who holds his
face close to that of Christ,
and by Mary Magdalen
who is seated in prayer.
Standing like statues,
Nicodemus and Joseph
some preparatory car-
toons for stained glass
windows also in the con-
vent of the Ingesuati,
where there was a work-
shop producing glass and
costly pigments.

81
ROOM 15 # LEONARDO

PlETRO PeRLGINO throned between St John painting, the streaks down

Madonna and Child the Evangelist and St Se-
with Saints bastian. The date is writ-
ten on the scroll painted
Signed and dated 1493
onto the base carved mth
Oil tempera on wood
178x164
classical motifs. This was
Inv. no. 1435 the year when Perugino
In the Lffizi since 1784 married the beautiful
Restored: 1995 Chiara Fancelli, daugh-
Luca
ter of the architect
This painting, carried out (who was also to work at
for the chapel of Cornelia the court of Mantua). Since
Martini in the church of its restoration, which has
San Domenico di Fiesole, restored the correct bal-
shows a Madonna en- ance of colours to the
82
the right-hand pilaster
behind St Sebastian are
also more visible, and may
evoke the idea of the col-
umn to which the saint
was tied at his martyrdom
according to tradition.
The figure of the martyred
saint was repeatedly por-
trayed by the painter, who,
as Vasari says, often re-
turned to those "same
things" with which he had
most success.
 ROOM 15 4 LEONARDO

PlERO DI COSIMO Aimunciation, an episode (the Adoration of Child,

Incarnation of Christ prefiguring the moment the Proclamation to the
when Christ became in- Shepherds, the Flight in-
c. 1498-1505
carnate of the Virgin, to Egypt).
Oil on wood
through the dove of the Above to the right is Monte
206x172
Inv. no. 506 Holy Spirit. Saints Cather- Senario, home of the
In the Uffizi since 1804 ine, John the Evangelist, founders of the Order of
Restored: 1980 Filippo Benizzi, Antoni- the Servants of Mary. Re-
no, Peter, and Margaret cent studies which deny
This was painted for the attend the scene. At the the traditional view of
Tedaldi Chapel in the highest point of the al- Piero as an "eccentric
church of Santissima An- most anthropomorphic late-comer", have brought
nunziata (the predella is landscape, typical of this the date of the painting
now lost). The pedestal imaginative artist, are the forward to before the end
has a relief showing the events which followed of the 15^^ century.

83
Room 16 Geographical Maps

At the time of Francesco /, this room was a terrace open towards the East, with
two windows on another wall (later closed up) beside afresco showing the island
of Elba. Around 1589 the new Grand Duke Ferdinand ordered a glass window
to close the loggia, which was then frescoed byLudovico Buti with geographical
maps of Tuscany, following scientific surveys of the territory, drawn by the car-
tographer Stefano Bonsignori.
In the enthusiasm for scientific progress, which had already been shown by the
Duke's father Cosimofor reasons which included political prestige, the room was
set aside to house outstanding scientific instruments, such as the large wooden
armillary sphere made by Antonio Santucci delle Pomarance (1593), the globe
attributed to Ignazio Danti, and Galileo's telescope and astrolabe.
Stillundergoing reorganisation, the room today includes some copies of these in-
struments which were transferred some time ago to the Museum of Science. The
ceiling is decorated with mythological canvases byJacopo Zucchi, who painted
them in Bomefor Ferdinand de' Medici, who was then a Cardinal (c. 1572). They
were later inserted between the beams which were decorated with garlands offruit
andflowers byLudovico Buti.

84
Room 17 Hermaphrodite Room

This delightful little room, joined to the Tribune, dates hack to the time ofFerdi-
nand I, when it was called ''The Mathematics Room". Today it takes the name of
the Sleeping Hermaphrodite, a sculpture from antiquityfamous for its ambigu-
ous sensuality, which has been on display here since 1669. The work, many vari-
ations of which exist in othermuseums, is a copy in Parian marble from the
bronze original ofPolykles and was acquired by Ferdinand IIfrom theLudovisi
Collection in Rome.
The inspirationfor the room and its decorations camefrom Filippo Pigafetta,fol-
lowing his passion for geometry and mechanics. Around the year 1598, he sug-
gested building a room devoted to "the study ofmilitary architecture", with a dis-
play of mechanical instruments, weight-lifting machines, "books, geographical
maps and plans, and models offortresses". Certain frescoes on the first ceiling
(painted by Giulio Parigi, a painter, architect, and Medicean engineer), hint at
the ambitions of the Grand Duke for expansion into foreign territories and nau-
tical exploits. Others attest to the hydraulic skills of Tuscan technicians and the

mathematical competence of his men-at-arms, with a celebration of the greatest

historicalfigures in this field: Pythagorus, Ptolemy and Archimedes, this last por-
trayed during the siege of Syracuse. _

^^^ ^^r***"^

A S^
Room 18 Tribune

The octagonal Tribune was planned by Buontalenti in 1384, and with its cupola
encrusted with mother-of-pearl shells set into a background of scarlet lacquer, it

was for Francesco I the jewel in the Gallery's crown. Through windows made
from Oriental crystal, natural light falls softly upon the paintings, on the walls
covered in red velvet, on the sculptures and precious objects. The skirting board,
now lost, painted byJacopo Ligozzi, had a frieze with fish, birds, streams and
plants. The room symbolises the cosmos and its elements: the lantern with its wind
rose represents air; the shells, water; the red walls, fire; the marble and the semi-
precious stones ofthe pavement, earth. In the centre, the octagonaljewel case (lost)
encrusted with gold, gems, and rare stones, and with boxes decorated by Giam-
bologna, echoed the shape of the room. Over the centuries the layout of the room
has been rearranged many times, but the ancient sculptures are still here, pride
of the Tribune since the 17^'^ century, as is the table with its mosaic of semi-pre-
cious stones from the Opificio of the Grand Duke (1633-1649), andfinally many
paintings from 16^'^ century Florence. The date 1601 recentlyfound on the cupo-
la indicates the year when the room was completed.

Medici Venus

Copy from an original

Greek of the 2nd
century BC.
Greek marble, h. 1.53 m.
Inv. no. 224
In the Uffizi since 1677

The Medici Venus, one of

,'
n the most celebrated clas-
sical sculptures of the
granducal collection, was
acquired at the beginning
of the 17^^ century for the
family's Roman villa on
//
Rome, and
the Pincio in
was then transferred in
1 677 from Villa Medici to
the Uffizi by the Grand
Duke Cosimo 111. Despite
the reputation of the Grand
Duke as a bigot, this sculp-

Y ture with
beauty
its

(a type
disturbing
already
known in Rome since at
least the 12^^ century)
i- took place of honour in
the Tribune and soon be-
came the focus of unre-
strained admiration.
86
 ROOM 18 TRIBUNE

*->'* "
'

W^'

fe^

NT

^
I.

87
ROOM 18 ^ TRIBUNE

PONTORMO This posthumous portrait a "broncone", a broken

Portrait ofCosimo ofCosimo the Elder (1389- branch with a new shoot
the Elder 1464) was commissioned hinting at the continuity of
by Goro Gheri, secretary his descendants: the shoot
c. 1519-1520
of Lorenzo de' Medici, is the future Duke Cosimo
Inscription on the scroll:
uno a\Tilso non deficit alter
Duke ofUrbino, most prob- I, bom from a cadet branch
("one broken branch does ably for the Medici Pope of the family in 1 5 1 9 , when
not weaken another") Leo X, at the suggestion after the Duke of Urbino's
Inscription behind the
sitter's shoulders:
of Ottaviano de' Medici. death the family lineage
COSM. MEDICES P.P.P. Portrayed in profile, as in risked extinction. The paint-
[Pater Patriae Parens] a humanist medaUion, the ing, placed in the Tribune
Oil on wood, 86x65
Inv. no. 3574
"Pater Patriae" has next to in 1638, was transferred
In the Uffizi since 1914 him the Medici emblem of to San Marco m 1869.

88
 ROOM 18 TRIBUNE

Rosso FlORENTINO on the surface of the paint- himself to be "florent

Musical Cherub ing. Down towards the [inus]". The development

right the signature (par- of this great artist, whose

Signed and dated 1521
tially rubbed off) became mode of expression was
Oilon wood
legible, as did the date, so unique in the art world
47x39
Inv. no. 1505 perhaps painted by Rosso of his time, often crossed
In the Tribune since 1605 himself on the already over with that of artists

separate fragment of the who were strangers or

This work was long be- panel. "eccentrics", thanks his
lieved to be a complete Only the much-needed many journeys to other
panel painting in itself, restoration of this charm- Italian cities, and his fi-

but recent research done ing little cherub, so ad- nal destination at the
with reflectography sug- mired by visitors to the Fontainebleau court of
gests that it is probably Tribune, will resolve any King Frangois I in France.
the fragment of an altar- remaining doubts over
piece with the Virgin and stylistic questions. It is,

Saints, of which, howev- however, possible that it

er, there remains no oth- was painted far from Flo-
er trace. The cherub prob- rence, as the artist men-
ably sat on steps, indi- tions his origin alongside
cated by parallel incisions his signature, declaring

89
ROOM 18 # TRIBUNE

Andrea del Sarto This young woman is smil-
Woman with the ing mysteriously, perhaps
'
'Petrarchino to her beloved, pointing
in her book to the verses
c. 1528
of two love sonnets by Pe-
Oilon wood
trarch: "lie caldi sospiri
87x69
Inv. no. 783 alfreddo core" ("Go, warm
In the Tribune since 1589 sighs, to the cold heart";
Restored: 1986 CLIII),and"Lestelle,il
cielo et gli elementi a pro-
va" ("The stars, the sky
and the elements com-
pete" CLIV). She is prob-
ably Maria del Berrettaio,
bom in 1 5 1 3 from del Sar-
to's first marriage to his
adored wife Lucrezia. The
chosen subj ect of a woman
with this book confirms
the great reputation in the
sixteenth century of this
fourteenth century poet,
whose book of rhymes
(the so called "Petrarchi-
no") appears in many oth-
er portraits of the time.

90
 ROOM 18 TRIBUNE

Bronzing Lying against Lucrezia's ci, wife of Bartolomeo Pan-

Lucrezia Panciatichi sumptuous dress, the gold ciatichi, who was a Flo-
and enamel plaques of rentine academician from
c. 1541
her necklace carry the 1 54 1 . Panciatichi himself
Tempera on wood
words, "amour dure sans had his portrait done by
104x84
Inv. no. 756 fin", which attracted the Bronzino, who also paint-
In the Uffizi since 1704 fantasy of both Vernon Lee ed a Holy Family for him
In the Tribune since 1765 and Henry James. The (Room 27). Both the por-
book in her right hand is traits, now in the Tribune,
a Book of Daily Offices, were in 1584 still to be
with prayers dedicated to found in the house of his
Mary. This intense por- son Carlo, a servant of
trait shows
Lucrezia Puc- Francesco I.

91
ROOM 18 t TRIBUNE

Bronzing Eleonora di Toledo, wife Medici court. The bro-

Eleonora di Toledo of Cosimo I de' Medici cade dress with Spanish
with her son Giovanni from 1539, is shown here embroidery is identical
with her second son. Her to that found in 1857 in-
c. 1545
highly-valued role as a side the tomb of the
Oil on wood
115x96
mother is marked by the Duchess in the Medici
Inv. no. 748 pomegranate on her cloth- Chapel.
In the Uffizi since 1798 ing. This symbol of fer- The background land-
tility is also present on scape may show the Grand
the vault of her chapel in Duke's dominions.
Palazzo Vecchio, also fres-
coed by Bronzino, pro-
lific portraitist to the
 ROOM 18 TRIBUNE

Cecchino Salviati There are two Charities by gem merchant lUdolfo Lan-
Charity Salviati recorded in Flo- di, or that documented in
rence. This gifted master the Ufficio della Decima.
c. 1543-1545
worked above all in Rome, Cecchino, who was much
Oilon wood
156x122
where he was the godson praised during his own
Inv.no. 2157 of Cardinal Giovanni Sal- time but who fell out of
In the Uffizi since 1778 viati. It is unsure whether favour in the centuries
this allegory, with its rich which followed, is now be-
sculptural references found ing revalued as one of the
in the Michelangelesque most important members
pose and the jewels adorn- of the "bella maniera'\
ing the figures, was the which started with Miche-
painting executed for the langelo.

95
Room 19 Perugino and Signorelli

Lorenzo di Credi
Annunciation

c. 1480-1485
Oil on wood
88x71
Inv. no. 1597
In the Uffizi since 1798

From the collection of

Cardinal Leopoldo, this
masterpiece made
little

by one of Verrocchio's
pupils is com-
a graceful
position, whose balance
is helped by the false
low-rehef in the style of a
predella, showing sto-
ries of Adam and Eve.

LucA Signorelli
Holy Family
c. 1484-1490
Oil on wood
diam. 124
Inv. no. 1605
In the UfTizi since 1802

Signorelli was bom in Cor-

tona and was active in Flo-
rence, Rome, and other
Italian cities.Soon after
this tondo,he painted an-
other which was stiQ more
complex (inv. no. 502) and
rich with classical refer-
ences. This latter was
probably commissioned
by a member of the Medici
family.

94
 ROOM 19 PERUGINO AND SIGNORELLI

PlETRO PERUGINO This wonderful portrait cision of the features, the

Francesco delle Opere is probably of Francesco position of the figure
delle Opere, as indicated with its hand leaning on
1494
on the rear of the paint- the balustrade, and the
Inscription on the scroll:
ing. This Florentine arti- landscape in the back-
TiMETE DEUM (Fear God)
Oil on wood san, who died in Venice ground, are clearly in-
52x44 in 1516, was the brother spired by Flemish art,
Inv.no. 1700 of a friend of the painter, particularly by Mem-
In the Uffizi since 1833
Giovanni delle Corniole, ling's portraits which
a master gem cutter. were already known in
The "photographic" pre- Florence (Room 22).

95
ROOM 19 #PERLGINO AND SIGNORELLI

PlERO DI COSIMO painting precisely for its ures at the far edges of
Perseus Liberating completely original com- the painting to the nor die
Andromeda position. It narrates in wood and straw huts on
great detail the myth of the unlikely-looking hill-
c. 1510-1513
Perseus liberating An- tops in the background.
Oilon wood
70x125
dromeda by killing the The musical instruments
Inv. no. 1536 sea monster. The central are equally unlikely: they
In the Tribune since 1589 scene is dominated by could never be played as
the dragon in its death- they are all missing a
Initially exhibited in the throes, but the eye is al- sound box or strings. It

Tribune as a work in so drawn to the fascinat- has been suggested that

which Piero di Cosimo ing, almost grotesque the scene in this paint-
was following a drawing landscape, and to the de- ingwas inspired by the
by Leonardo, this is now tail from
in the painting - Florentine carnival of
the artist's most famous the exotic turbaned fig- 1513 when the Medicis
returned to the city - sym-
bolised by the dried
branch with its new shoot,
the Medici "broncone"
emblem.
A recent study suggests
that the work, which ac-
cording to Vasari was
painted for one of the
Strozzi family, belonged
to Filippo the Younger,
who in 1510 paid Piero
"work" for his bed-
for a
chamber.
96
Room 20 Durer

As in the previous room and the/our that follow, the original fresco decoration
was carried out 1588 hyLudovico Buti. The four views of Florentine specta-
in
cles on the vault were however repainted during the middle of the 19^'^ century.

Under the current layout, the room houses masterpieces from the great German
painters, Diirerand Cranach, and the Flemish painter Bruegel the Elder. Amongst
the works ofDUrer (who made two key trips to Italy in 1494 and 1505), the Por-
Father (1490) and the Madonna with Pear (1526) stand
trait of the Artist's out,
along with the Adoration discussed below.

Albrecht Durer Painted just before Diir- nordic-style landscape

Adoration of the Magi er's second trip to Italy, with small figures in the
the intense colors and distance. The careful
Monogrammed
use of perspective are study of plants and ani-
and dated 1504
both reminiscent of Venet- mals, so rich in symbol-
Oil on wood
99x113,5 ian painting, particular- ism, confirms Diirer's
Inv. no. 1434 ly that of Mantegna and practise of studying na-
In the Uffizi since 1793 Giovanni Bellini. ture, characteristic of
(side panels in Frankfurt,
The classical ruins, typ- most of this German mas-
Colonie, Munich)
ical of Italian painting, ter's work.
combine well with the

97
ROOM 20 # DURER

LuKAS Cranach
THE Elder
Adam and Eve
Signed and dated 1528
Oil on wood
172x63; 167x61
Inv. nos. 1459, 1458
In the Uffizi before 1794
Restored: 1998

This representation of Adam

and Eve before their sin dates
back to a famous etching
made by Diirer in 1504. Three
years later, this same Ger-
man master repeated the
subject on two panel paint-
ings now in Prado (209x81),
two contemporary copies of
which (212x85, inv. nos. 8452-
8455) attributed to Baldung
Grien, a pupil of Diirer's in
Nurenberg, are on show in
this room of the Uffizi. In
these two paintings, Adam
and Eve have not yet bitten
the apple and appear as nude
and beautiful as classical di-
vinities.
More than twenty years lat-

er, Lukas Cranach, who had

worked with this theme since
at least 1510 (Adam and Eve
now in the Warsaw Museum,
59x44), painted the parents
of humankind on the two pan-
els shown here, which were
part of the granducal Flo-
rentine collections in 1688.
Here also the couple are por-
trayed before their sin, their
nudity scantly covered by
small branches from the ap-
ple tree. Cranach, however
influenced by Diirer's art, de-
veloped an original style fol-
 ROOM 20 DURER

lowing his Protestant ideas

which ignored the classical
influences of his master. A
friend of Luther, whom he
portrayed on various occa-
sions, including with his wife
(two small panel paintings
from his workshop dated 1529
are in this room, nos. 1160
and 1159), Cranach was al-

so a painter at the Court of

Saxony and today is consid-
ered the "official" artist of the

Reformation. Also from his

workshop come the Portraits
of Martin Luther and Philip
Melanchton (1543, in v. nos.
512 and 472) and the Portraits
ofthe Electors ofSaxon (1535,
inv. nos. 1149 and 1150), al-

so in this room.
Room 21 Giambellino and Giorgione

^5 in the previous two rooms adjoining the Tribune and the two to follow, this
room was part ofthe space that Ferdinand I dedicated to his collection ofarmoury
in 1588. Ferdinand, who succeeded his brother Francesco as Grand Duke, took
great interest in the Gallery and in increasing his collections, amongst which that
of weapons and armour is particularly valuable. The frescoes on the ceiling, for
Ludovico Buti is principally responsible, represent battles and grotesque motifs
showing Indians and tropical fauna andflora, displaying the expansionist ten-
dencies of the Medici towards the New World, and particularly Mexico, from
whence many pieces in their collection came, formerly kept in what is now Room
24. Today, Room 21 contains various masterpieces by artists active in the second
half of the 15^'^ and the early 16^'^ century: Venetians such as Giovanni
century
Bellini and Giorgione, and artists from Ferrara such as Cosme Tura.

Ludovico Buti
Grotesque-style Ceiling
with Battles and
""Mexican " Subjects

1588
Fresco with retouches
in tempera

100

Giovanni Bellini
known as glambellino
Allegory
Variously dated between
1487 and 1501
Oil on wood
73x119
Inv. no. 905
In the Uffizi since 1795
Giovanni Bellini, one of
the most important Venet-
ian masters of the late 15^
century, produced in this
work one of the most fas-
cinating enigmas in all of
western painting. Many
possible theories have
been advanced concern-
ing the symbolic mean-
ing of this unusuail Alle-
gory. The painting is full
of saints and animals in-
cluding a centaur, set in
a peaceful, acquatic land-
scape, rich in interesting
detail to be noted and ex-
plored.
Defined as "unique and
ROOM 2 1 GIAMBELLINO AND GIORGIONE
disturbingly inexplica- opposite side of the bank,
ble", it is difficult to date Antho-
to the right, is St
precisely over the long ny's hermitage marked
development of Bellini's with a cross.
career. On the terrace is The most likely interpre-
a kind of hortus conclusus, tations are that it was ei-
or sacred enclosure, where ther an allegory of Re-
the Virgin is flanked by demption or the life of man,
two women. She is the on- which may identify the
ly one seated with the ex- painting as one request-
ception of the Infant Je- ed by Isabella d'Este for
sus to whom a child (per- her studiolo in Mantua.
haps the infant St John)
offers a fallen apple from
a small tree (perhaps the
Tree of Life) being shak-
en by another child in the
centre of the composition,
which is dominated by a
chequered pavement in
a design which may al-
lude to the Cross. To the
right are two saints,
Jerome (or Job) and Se-
bastian. At the balustrade
is St Paul driving away an
Asian man (a heretic?)
with his sword, and St Pe-
ter (or St Joseph) . On the
101
ROOM 21 # GIAMBELL \O
I AND G I ORGIONE

GlORGIOXE Like its companion paint- trial by burning coals in

AND Assistance ing beside it, this small order to verify why the
Moses Undergoing panel painting, was list- baby had taken the crown
Trial by Fire ed in 1692 as part of the from his head. This rare
patrimony of the Grand episode is narrated in
c. 1502-1505
Duchess of Tuscany at Jewish medieval texts
Oil on wood
Poggio Imperiale. Moses such as the Shemot Rab-
89x72
Inv. no. 945 is represented here as a ba which recount leg-
In the Uffizi since 1795 newborn baby, whom ends and moral teach-
Pharaoh, sitting on his ings on biblical figures
throne, is subjecting to and events.

102
 ROOM 21 # GIAMBELLINO AND GIORGIONE

GlORGIONE This scene comes from who disown the other

AND Assistance the Bible {I Kings): in the newborn child, already
The Judgement place of the Pharaoh dead and lying on the
of Solomon from the other painting, ground. Here, as in the
here Solomon sits on the panel next to it, the gen-
c. 1502-1508
throne; various charac- eral layout and land-
Oil on wood
ters are awaiting his sen- scape are certainly by
89x72
Inv. no. 947 tence, including a war- Giorgione, while certain
In the Uffizi since 1795 rior holding a still-living weaker figures can prob-
child by the arm, con- ably be attributed to his
tested by the two women helpers.

105
 .

Room 22 Flemish and German Renaissance

Hans Memling
Portrait of an
Unknown Man
c. 1470
Oilon wood
37x26
Inv.no. 1102
In the Uffizi since 1836

Memling, one of the most

celebrated portraitists of
his time, influenced many
among them
Italian artists,

Perugino.They may have

seen his works in Flo-
rence, sent by the Porti-
nari to the church of San-
ta Maria Nuova, along
with the large triptych by
Van der Goes (exhibited
in Room 10-14).

Hans Memling
Portrait of an
Unknown Man
c. 1490
Oil on wood
35x25
lnv.no. 1101
In the Uffizi since 1863

The work is one of a se-

ries by the Flemish painter
Hans Memling, who also
carried out portraits of
various members of the
Portinari family in Bruges,
as demonstrated in this
room by The Man Pray-
ing which has been iden-
tified as Benedetto Porti-
nari. This was part of a
triptych with Saint Bene-
dict (also exhibited here)

104
 ROOM 22 FLEMISH AND GERMAN RENAISSANCE

Albrecht Altdorfer Painted by one of the most panel painting, the Leave-
Martyrdom important representatives taking ofSt Florian, is ex-
of Saint Florian of the 16^ century Danube hibited in this room).
school, this panel paint- Under a cloudy sky, this
c. 1516-1525
ing is part of an altarpiece fragment showing a land-
Oil on wood
portraying episodes from scape is particularly ef-
76.4x67.2
Inv. Dep. no. 4 the life of the saint. For- fective, with its foreshort-
In the Uffizi since 1914 merly in the church of St ening from beneath a
Restored: 1980 John in Linz (Austria), it wooden bridge upon which
is now divided amongst the crowded scene of the
various museums (one martyrdom is takiug place.

105
 -

ROOM 22 ^FLEMISH AND GERMAN RENAISSANCE

/&
w
^^^agm
~ ,^»m
A '^ Pt ;-;,.-
A Ig

.X^ IVLIl ANNO .

•1 :^
1
p
" HP LTATIS
^

SV.^
•

.H. VIII. xxvin? |P ANNO XXXIII.

^
1
^^
.
r<
^
^^^^^B , ^^

JH
jSmf^,11
Hans Holbein Requested as a gift in 1620 lous accuracy, and paus-
THE Younger by Cosimo de' Medici II es over every fold of his
Portrait of from Thomas Howard, clothing. The original e-
Sir Richard Southwell Duke of Arundel, this bony frame of this paint-
work dates back to the ing is lost; beneath the
Dated 1536
mature phase of the great painting four silver medal-
Oil on wood
47.5x38
portraitist from Augsburg, lions remain displaying
Inv. no. 1087 who was active for a long the coats of arms of the
In the Uffizi before 1638 time at the EngUsh court. Medici, of the Arundels,
Holbein investigates the of Southwell, and the
man's face with scrupu- name of the painter.
106
Room 23 ^ Mantegna and Correggio

This is the end of the series of rooms parallel to the First Corridor and, like the

previous two, formed part of the original armoury decorated withfrescoes byLu-
dovico Buti (1588),On the ceiling are illustrations showing the manufacture of
arms, ofparticularinterestfor the portrayal of the workshops of the period, with
swords, lances and breastplates beingforged. Other sections show cannons, the
making ofgunpowder, and the building ofafort. Today the room contains works
by the Emilian painter Correggio and the Paduan Andrea Mantegna; by the lat-
ter wefind the so-called Triptych illustrated in these pages, and a tiny panel paint-
ing of the Madonna of the Rocks (c.l489), which may have belonged to Francesco
de' Medici.

Andrea Mantegna This panel showing the tych together with two
Adoration of the Magi Adoration of the Magi, other panels; these are
painted separately on a illustratedand described
c. 1462
slightly concave surface, on the following pages.
Tempera on wood
77x75
was inserted in 1827 in-
Inv.no. 910 to a non-original frame
In the Uffizi since 1652 to form an arbitrary trip-

107
ROOM 23 #MANTEGNA AND CORREGGIO

Andrea Mantegna
The Ascension (left)

and the Circumcision

(right)

c. 1462-1470
Tempera on wood
86x42.5 (each panel)
Inv. no. 910
In the Uffizi since 1632

The panels with the^5-

cension and the Circum-
cision illustrated here have
been omed arbitrarily in
j

a triptych to smAdoration
(previous page) in a rich
,

19^^ century frame.

Owned by the Medici from
at least 1587, the three
paintings had first been
the property of the Gon-
zaga family. They are gen-
erally believed to be iden-
tified with the "small but
very beautifiil scenes with
figures", mentioned by
Vasari in 1568 as decora-
tions for the San Giorgio
chapel in the Ducal Palace
inMantua. There are in
going back to
fact letters
the year 1459 from Lu-
dovico Gonzaga to Man-
tegna inviting him to his
court. This period is get-
ting close to the likely com-
mencement of at least one
of the three panels. The
paintings are diverse both
in style and size, and are
very probably from dif-
ferent periods. This may
have been the painter's
first commission from the

Mantuan court, where he

was later to paint a fres-

108
 ROOM 25 MANTEGNA AND CORREGGIO

CO in the famous Room of

the Bride and Groom.
By the middle of the 15^^
century, the Mantuan
artistic scene was ah-eady
adopting a taste for the
classical, owing to the
presence of sculptors like
Pisanello, Donatello, and
architects such as Leon
Battista Alberti and Luca
Fancelli from Fiesole. It

isno coincidence that

Mantegna was invited to
take part, as amongst
northern Italian painters
he was one of the most
receptive to the classical
revival. This is especial-
ly evident in the right-
hand panel, whose scene
is set in a sumptuous poly-
chrome marble interior
with classical-style re-
Uefs, so different from the
Ascension painting, which
is dominated by a rugged

and rocky landscape. In

ihe Adoration of the Ma-
gi, the range of brilliant

colours, typical of the

Lombard-Venetian cul-
ture, is combined with a
powerfully scenic com-
position. The concave
form of the panel's wood-
en support suggests that
the painting was perhaps
destined for the rear wall
of the chapel of San Gior-
gio, creating a niche over
the altar. The vertical pan-
els may instead have been
inserted into gold frames
on the other walls of the
room.
109
ROOM 25 #MANTEGNA AND CORREGGIO

CORREGGIO A gift in 1617 from the and gazes adoringly at

The Virgin Adoring Duke of Mantua to Cosi- her Child, in a scene of
the Christ Child mo de' Medici U, this work tranquil and effective
was immediately placed balance. The work dates
c. 1524-1526
in the Tribune, where it to themiddle phase of
Oil on canvas
82x68.3
remained until the end the Emilian artist's ac-
Inv. no. 1453 of the 19^" century. tivity, shortly preceding
In the UfTizi since 1617 With poetic foreshorten- the "greatly foreshort-
ing, lit perhaps by the ened" fresco decoration
light of a sunset, the of the cupola in Parma
young Madonna kneels Cathedral.
110
Room 24 Cabinet of Miniatures

This small room contains more than 400 miniatures from the rich grand-ducal
collections. Originally named "The Chamber ofIdols" with antique bronzes, Mex-
ican objects, and works in gold, the room was then given the name, "Madam's
Chamber", and from 1589 contained the jewels of Christine ofLorraine, wife of
Ferdinand I. It then housed theMedicean collection of classical gems and cameos
which remained there until 1928 (now at the Museo degUArgenti). Today the
room has an oval form as desired by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo (1 781).
Zanobi del Rosso was the architect responsible and Filippo Lucci painted the
fresco, Allegory of Fame, on the vault. The miniatures on display are small por-
traits from various eras and schools, subsequently mounted into small composits.

They comefrom a great number of collections constituted between 1 664 and 1675
by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici. The Cardinal was at the same time increasing
his collections of self-portraits and drawings. The miniatures were in part pur-
chased by Paolo del Sera, his agent in Venice, and by other intermediaries all
over Italy Some of the pieces are heirlooms while others Pietro Leopoldo had
done by artists active in Florence. Hung above the pictures are six noteworthy
parchments, including reproductions offamous paintings by Raphael and Tit-

ian which were once in the Medicean collection.

Ill
Second and Third corpudors

The rearrangement of the Second and Third Corridors was carried out at the same
time as the restoration of the First Corridor in 1996. With its large glass windows
facing the Square and theArno River, the South Corridor (illustrated, right)
Uffizi
is famous for its views. Among the sculptures exhibited are the head of the so-called

Dying Alexander^rom the Hellenistic period and the Roman copy o/Cupid and Psy-
che. At the intersection with the East Corridor, the ceilings are painted withfrescoes
in the grotesque style, dating hack to Francesco 1(1581). Thosefacing west show the
glorification of the Medici family (Nasini and Tonelli) and date back to Cosimo III
(1670-1 723). Above the windowsfacing the river are the later portraits ofthe Giovio
Series, which continue into the Third Corridor together with canvas paintingsfrom

the 1 7^^ to the beginning ofthe 1 9^^ century, spaced alternately with the larger paint-
ingsfrom theAulic Series, many ofwhich have been restored. On the side ofthe doors
of the Third Corridor hang 50 portraits of the Lorraine dynasty. Following the evi-
dence ofan 18^'^ century drawing in the Album ofDe Greyss, thefamous RomanWild
Boar has been reinstalled at the end of the corridor towards the Loggia dei Lanzi.
This, along with the small replica of a Farnese Hercules, is placed beside the Lao-
coon byBaccio Bandinelli (1523), the first copyfrom the original of the Hellenistic
group found in Rome in 1506. All three sculptures were restored in 1 994.

112
 SECOND AND THIRD CORRIDORS

On the left: Wild Boar ralism, the sculpture was

Florentine School (Third Corridor) damaged by a lire in 1 762
Grotesque Decoration First century A.D. and restored immediate-
(Second Corridor) Roman copy from Greek ly afterwards. In 1654,
c. 1581 bronze original Pietro Tacca made a copy
Marble, ht. 85, Igth. 151, of it for his bronze known
Fresco with tempera
wth. 129
retouches as the Porcellino (Little
Inv. 1914 no. 63
0.616x616 Pig), which stands in the
In the Uffizi since 1591
Restored: 1994 Mercato Nuovo.
The trompe Poeil pergo-
las are bordered with coats The /^Zc^^oar comes from
of arms of the Medici fam- the house of Paolo Ponti
ily, the House of Austria in Rome, where it was
(the first wife of Francesco documented iQ 1556. High-
1was Jean of Austria) and , ly esteemed for its natu-
Bianca Cappello, lover
and then second wife of
the Grand Duke. The em-
blem of Cappello, who
was disliked by the
Medicis, was previously
covered but later found
during restoration.

113
RoOxM 25 Michelangelo and the Florentine Painting

Room 25, dominated by a masterpiece by Michelangelo, is thefirst ofeleven rooms

now dedicated to 16^'^ century painting. In what are now Rooms 25-33, the Grand
Duke Ferdinand I in 1588 established workshops for the Minor Guilds and a
Foundryfor the ofperfumes, poisons and antidotes. In the mid-1 8^'^
distillation
century. Rooms 25-26 exhibited medals and gems, and at the end of the century,
Venetian paintings of the 15^^ and the 16^^ century. Dedicated to 16th century
works after the Second World War, this series of rooms has recently acquired a
new, rigorously geographical layout which has been helped by the restoration
following the 1993 bombing.

Michelangelo c. 1506-1508 Rightly considered to be

Holy Family Contemporaneous frame, the most important and
with the Infant car\ ed and gilded, enigmatic painting of the
attributed to Marco and
St John the Baptist 16^^ century, the Doni
Francesco del Tasso
(Doni Tondo) Tondo is the only exam-
Tempera on wood
diam. 120 ple of Michelangelo's
170 including the frame painting preserved in Flo-
Inv. no. 1456 rence. It may also be the
In the Lffizi (in the
only painting on a mov-
Tribune) since 1635
able support w^hich can
Painting and frame
restored in 1985 definitely be attributed
to him. Executed for the

114
 ROOM 25 MICHELANGELO AND THE FLORENTINE PAINTING
Florentine merchant Ag-
nolo Doni and his wife
Maddalena Strozzi, pos-
sibly on the occasion of
the birth of their daugh-
ter Maria (September 8,
1507), it was certainly
painted after January
1506when the Laocoon
was found in Rome, a
sculpture from which
Michelangelo took the
pose of the nude sitting
behind Saint Joseph. It is
no coincidence that the
postures of the nudes are
derived from many oth-
er classical sculptures
known the time.
at
Michelangelo was in fact
strongly influenced by
classical statuary, which
he studied with great care.
This unusual 7/o/j/^a/n-
ilym striking tones, a pre-
lude to Mannerist art,
shows three almost sculp-
tural figures in the fore-
ground in a strange and
serpentine composition.
The figure of the Virgin
is taking Jesus from (or
offering him to) St Joseph.
She is counterbalanced
by five young nudes be-
hind a small wall, who
lean or sit on a balustrade,
beyond which a simple
landscape fades into the
horizon. The meaning of
this work is still uncer-
tain;it may be inspired
by the Biblical passages
which refer to the birth
and baptism of Christ,
hinted at by the bust of
the infant St John to the
right, and the five round
lunettes on the frame
showing Christ, angels
and prophets.
115
ROOM 25 # MICHELANGELO AND THE FLORENTINE PAINTING

Mariotto Panel in the Uffizi since classical elements, shown

1786, predella since 1794
Albertintlli by the architectural com-
Restored: 1995
Visitation position and the harmo-
The masterpiece of this nious balance created in
Dated on the pillars 1503
painter, famous for the the meeting between Mary^
Oil on wood
232.5x146.5; 23x149.5
combination of strength and Elizabeth, it also an-
(predella w'iih Annunciation, and softness in his style, Doni Tondo
ticipates the
Adoration of the Child, was formerly in the church in its almost metallic
Circumcision, not sho^^Tl) of San Michele in Palchet- colours newly evident af-
Inv.nos. 1587, 1586
to. Whilst the painting has ter restoration.

116
 ROOM 25 MICHELANGELO AND THE FLORENTINE PAINTING

RiDOLFO In the beginning of the ter famous for his grotesque

DEL GhIRLANDAIO (attr.) 19^ century, this "tirella", decorations, did perhaps
Cover of a Portrait then attributed to Leonar- from the outset cover the
do, covered the portrait portrait of a woman car-
c. 1510
of the Veiled Woman, ex- ried out by Ghirlandaio.
Oil on wood
75x50.3
under attri-
hibited here The classical inscription
Inv. no. 6042 bution to Ridolfo del with the motto sua cuique
In the Uffizi since 1867 Ghirlandaio. This small PERSONA (To each his own
panel, very probably paint- mask) comes from Seneca
ed by the Florentine mas- and Quintilian.

117
ROOM 25 # MICHELANGELO AND THE FLORENTINE PAINTING

Fra Bartolomeo These panels were paint-
Annunciation ed, almost in miniature,
(recto) for Piero del Pugliese
Presentation at the (1430-1498), an impor-
Temple and Nativity tant figure in Florentine
(verso) history. They were to serve
as shutters enclosing a
c. 1497
bas-relief of the Madon-
Oil on wood, 19.5x9; 18x9
Inv. no. 1477
na and Child by Donatel-
In the TYibune since 1589, lo (London, Victoria & Al-
from the collection of bert Museum, c. 1440).
Cosimo de' Medici I (1568) The unusual tabernacle,
118
with its sculpture which
is mucholder than the
paintings themselves
(which were later reduced
in size to readapt the piece
subsequently deprived of
its relief), confirms the
refined taste of the own-
er, who was also a patron
of Botticelli, FHippino Lip-
pi,Piero di Cosimo, and
perhaps Pollaiolo.
Room 26 t Raphael and Andrea del Sarto

Raffaello Sanzio Painted for the merchant perimented for the first
Madonna Lorenzo Nasi at the time time with a group of fig-
of the Goldfinch of his marriage to Sandra ures centred in the fore-
Canigiani (1505), the pan- ground, against a back-
c. 1505-1506
elwas damaged in 1547 drop of a Leonardo-esque
Tempera on wood
107x77.2
when the house on Via de' landscape. The Virgin is

Inv. no. 1447 Bardi collapsed. The young seated with a book in one
In the Uffizi since 1666 Raphael, in Florence from hand and her Son between
the year 1504 (he also her knees. He caresses
worked later for Nasi's the goldfinch offered to
brother-in-law), here ex- him by the infant St John.

119
ROOM 26 # RAPHAEL AND ANDREA DEL SARTO

Raffaello Sanzio The portrait of Leo X (Gio- tic" fur linings, for the
Pope Leo X with vanni de' Medici, 1475- golden knob on the chair
Cardinals Giulio 1521, elected Pope in 1515) which reflects "the light
de Medici andL uigi
'
arrived in Florence from from the windows, the
de' Rossi Rome in 1518. It was lat- Pope's shoulders, and the
er praised by Vasari for surrounding room". The
1518
its figures w^hich are "not recent restoration has
Oil on wood fake, but painted in full given rise to the theory
155.5x119.5
relief, for the "rustling that the two cardinals
Inv. 1912 no. 40
In the Tribune in 1589 and shining" damask robe, may be an addition by an-
Restored: 1996 for the "soft and realis- other hand.

120
 ROOM 26 # RAPHAEL AND ANDREA DEL SARTO
Andrea del Sarto Begunin 1515 for the Sis-
The Madonna ters of San Francesco de'
of the Harpies Macci, the painting was
not completed within the
Signed and dated 1517
time and manner re-
Tempera on wood
quired. Together with the
207x178
Inv. no. 1577 St John the Evangelist, re-
In the Tribune since 1785 quested in the contract, a
Restored: 1984 St Francis was added be-
side the Virgin and Child
instead of St Bonaventure.
The work takes its name,
following a mistake of
Vasari's, from the mon-
sters ("Harpies") in bas-
relief on the base. It now
appears that they are lo-
custs, according to the com-
plex theological signifi-
cance of the painting, al-
luding to the ninth chap-
ter of St John's Apocalypse.
121
Room 27 # Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino

Rosso Fiorentino In 1518 Leonardo Buo- for Rosso, who, in the end,
Madonna with Child nafe, rector of the Santa "sweetened" the "bitter
and Saints Maria Nuova hospital (the and desperate expres-
(Madonna dello "Spedalingo"), commis- sions" painted in the oil

Spedalingo) sioned an altarpiece for sketches. The altarpiece

the church of Ognissanti. with its very unusual fig-
1518
According to Vasari, the ures did not reach Ognis-
Tempera on wood sketch of the painting was santi, and the initial paint-
172x141
Inv.no. 3190
refused by Buonafe, be- ing of Buonafe's name-
In the Uffizi since 1900 cause the saints looked sake St Leonard was then
Restored: 1995 like "de\ils", customary substituted by a St Stephen.

122
 ROOM 27 ^ PONTORMO AND ROSSO FIORENTINO

PONTORMO This panel was painted whose work Pontormo of-

The Supper atEmmaus for the guest-room of the ten studied at this time,
Charterhouse in Galluz- the painting nevertheless
Dated on the scroll
zo south of Florence, where reveals an independent
below on the right 1525
Oil on canvas
Pontormo had spent a style, theatrical in its sur-

230x173 peaceful period of time in prising touches of light

Inv. no. 8740 1523; The Apparition of and detailed observation
In the Uffizi since 1948 Christ to the Apostles is of everyday life (the friar
Restored: 1994
portrayed with intense to the left is the elder
spirituality. Inspired by a Leonardo Buonafe, then
Diirer etching, an artist prior of the Charterhouse).

123
ROOM 27 #PO\TORMO AND ROSSO FIORENTINO

Bronzing
Holy Family with
Painted for the Panciatichi
family, as shown by their
original, whilst
maining
still

in line with his

the Infant Saint John emblem on the flag flying
(The Panciatichi on the tower to the top left
Holy Family) of the painting, this is one
of the most interesting
c. 1540
compositions of Bronzi-
Tempera on wood
117x93
no, a man of culture, an
Inv.no. 8377 author of superb verses
In the Uffizi since 1919 and a close friend of Pon-
tormo. His style is very
re-
1
role as portrait painter to
the court and the cream
of Florentine society. The
patron of this work is prob-
ably Bartolomeo Panci-
atichi whose portrait,
alongside that of his wife,
hangs in the Tribune.

124
Room 28 Titian and Sebastiano del Piombo

Titian This much-admired, sen- hand, whilst with the oth-

Flora sual painting was in Al- er, on which she wears
fonso Lopez's collection a barely visiblewedding
c. 1515-1517
in Amsterdam; it arrived band, she holds a bou-
Oil on canvas
an
at the Uffizi in 1 64 1 in quet of flowers.
79.7x63.5
Inv. no. 1462 exchange with the Im- This beauty with her
In the Uffizi since 1793 perial Gallery of Vienna. long, loosened hair and
Restored: 1993 This is almost certainly intense expression rep-
a portrait of a young bride, resents Flora, Goddess of
who rather timidly re- Fertility.

veals her breast with one

ROOM 28 # TITIAN AND SEBASTIAXO DEL PIOMBO

Titian Commissioned in 1558 She is

ly at the spectator.
The Venus ofUrbino from the Venetian mas- completely naked, lying
ter by Guidubaldo della on a luxurious bed with
1538
Rovere, the Duke ofUrbi- rumpled sheets; her left
Oil on canvas
119x165
no, this is one of the most hand resting over the pu-
Inv. no.1437 famous erotic images of bic area as if to hide it is

In Florence since 1631,
from the inheritance of
\ictoria della Rovere, wife
of Ferdinand de' Medici II
all time, a cultural icon. in fact ambiguously invit-
A young girl with blond ing. In her right hand she
hair flowing loosely over holds a small posy of ros-

In the Lffizi since 1736 her shoulders, looks es, a symbol of love reit-
Restored: 1996 knowingly but allusive- erated by the myrtle plant

126
 ROOM
on the window-sill. The
dog sleeping on the
little
bed, symbolises fidelity,
a tender and reassuring
note in the scene; this car-
on in the background,
ries
where two maid-servants
are looking for clothes in
a rich bridal chest, in a
fading sunset. The recent
restoration has recov-
28 TITIAN AND SEBASTIANO DEL PIO MBO
ered Titian's typical colour the painting was to serve
scheme, highlighting the as an instructive "mod-
detail of fabric, of flesh el" for Giulia Varano, the
tones, and even the small Duke's extremely young
pearl shining on the ear bride.
of the young bride. Await-
ed impatiently by Duke
Guidubaldo, who more
than once asked the Am-
bassador of Urbino in
Venice for news about it.
^.^^.^^
127
ROOM 28 4^ TITIAN AND SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO

Sebastiaino del Piombo in the Pitti Palace in 1587, Venus at the death of
The death ofAdonis and in 1675 in the col- Adonis (left). Venus sits

(whole and detail) lection of Cardinal Leo- naked in the foreground

poldo. Ripped in 1993 and in a posture presumably
c. 1512
restored immediately, it taken from the classical
Oil on canvas, 189x285
Inv.no. 916
is symbol of the Uffizi's
a Boy Removing a Thorn
In the Uffizi since 1798 renevs^al after the bomb. from his Foot (see Ar-
Restored: 1994 Possibly identifiable as chaeological Collecti-
(restored in 1987 prior the painting with "most- ons). The painting hides
to the 1993 bombing)
ly nude and beautiful fig- a moralistic meaning a-
Painted in Rome for the ures" in a 1520 invento- round the lament of Fe-
patron Agostino Chigi, ry of the Villa Farnesina, nice-Venusia (Venus =
who since 1511 had been it is filled with cultural Venusia), the city which
asking the Venetian artist allusions and referen- appears in the backgro-
to fresco his villa, the Far- ces. The subject is inspi- und with its famous mo-
nesina, this canvas vs^as red by the desperation of numents: the Ducal Pa-
lace, the domes of the Pa-
Clock
latine Basilica, the
Tower, and the Vecchie
Procuratie.
In this mythological evo-
cation, Venice appears to
be absorbed by the se-
ductions of sensual beau-
ty and is destined to death
and putrefaction (Adonis
killed by the boar).

128
Room 29 Dosso and Parmigianino

Dosso Dossi Acquired in Siena in 1665 in the twisted faces, al-

Witchcraft for Cardinal Leopoldo, most caricatures, it was
or Allegory ofHercules this is the masterpiece of perhaps dedicated to Er-
the late period of Dossi's cole d'Este, the Duke of
c. 1535-1558
career, which began in Ferrara.
Oilon canvas
1514 at the Ferrara court
143x144
Inv. Palatina no. 148 and later moved to oth-
In the Uffizi since 1950 er cities. The meaning of
the unusual subject mat-
ter is still doubtful. It is

described in Cardinal
Leopoldo's inventory as
"the painting with por-
traits of the clowns of the
Dukes of Ferrara".
Rich in allusions and
marked by a satirical note

129
ROOM 29 «DOSSO AND PARMIGIAMXO

Parahgiamno Painted in Bologna, pos- ment, her breast partial-

Madonna with Child sibly for Bonifacio Goz- ly covered by her hair. A
and Saints zadini, the panel shows livid sky in the back-
(The San Zaccaria the half-length figure of ground hangs over the
Madonna) St Zacchariah in the mountains; distant cities
foreground, in a three- reminiscent of Roman
c. 1530
quarter pose, carrying a times can also be made
Oil on wood
large open book. In front out, reinforced in the
75.5x60
Inv.no. 1328 of him the Madonna sits middle ground by an-
In the Tribune since 1605 and smiles, with the cient ruins and a classi-
Restored: 1994 Child being embraced by cal building with a Greek
a semi-nude infant St inscription.
John who is portrayed as The painting is dated to
a cupid. Behind this the period of the artist's

group is a fine and sen- stay in Bologna, who had

sual Mary Magdalen, left Rome in 1527 after a
holding her vase of oint- period of three years.

130
 ROOM 29 IDOSSO AND PARMIGIANINO

Parmigianino Painted for the Servi at the age of thirty-seven

The Madonna church in Parma. The in- in 1540. On the right side
of the Long Neck scription on the step be- of the painting, famous for
neath the column shows the refined, exaggerated
c. 1534-1539
that this work remained length of its figures, is the
Oilon wood
imfinished, and in fact the foot of a saint who was sup-
219x135
Inv. Palatina no. 230 painting was found in the posed to be alongside
In the Uffizi since 1948 artist's studio at his death Jerome, who holds a scroU.

131
Room 30 Cabinet of Emilian 16th century Painting

LuDOMCO Mazzolino This crowded and lively influenced by northern

Slaughter composition is a replica painting, mainly that of
of the Innocents by the artist of the small Diirer, a painter studied
panel now in the Galle- by many Italian artists
c. 1525
ria Doria Pamphilj in thanks to the wide cir-
Oilon wood
49x59
Rome (c. 1521); it dates culation of his etchings.
Inv. no. 1350 to Mazzolino's mature pe- Mazzolino's style is how-
In the Uffizi since 1 704 riod. The rather man- ever marked by a "capri-
nered scene takes place cious" and bizarre imag-
against the background ination that fitted in well
of a loggia which opens with the eclectic culture
to the right onto a nordic- of a city like Ferrara.
st>ie landscape. Mazzoltao In this small room, ded-
was active in Ferrara from icated to Emilian 16^^
the year 1504, when he century painters, are oth-
was commissioned by Er- er paintings by the same
cole d'Este for a series of master, all in the small
fresco decorations in the dimensions through
church of Santa Maria which Ludovico Maz-
degli Angeli. These fres- zolino best expressed his
coes were lost in a fire in talent.
1604.
The artist is open to the
new Venetian "colourism"
and particularly to Gior-
gione. His work is also

132
Room 51 Veronese
Paolo Veronese This canvas by Veronese
The Martyrdom was formerly part of the
of Saint Justine Canonici di Ferrara Col-
lection (1632), and later
c. 1570-1575
belonged to Paolo Del
Oilon canvas
Sera, an intermediary in
103x113
Inv. no.946 Venice for Cardinal
In the Tribune in 1704 Leopoldo de' Medici who
Restored: 1988 then bought it from him
around 1654.
The subject of the paint-
ing is the same as that of
a great and more ani-
mated altarpiece possi-
bly executed by Paolo
Veronese together with
his brother for the Basil-
ica of Santa Giustina in
Padua (c. 1574), for which
a preparatory drawing
exists (Chatsworth, Col-
lection of the Duke of De-
vonshire). Veronese, who
in 1573 underwent a tri-
al for taking too much
liberty with his depiction
of holy themes, was a
master at creating spec-
tacular scenes filled with
hght.
Further canvases of his
room
displayed in this
come from Cardinal
Leopoldo's collections:
an airy, monumentaMrz-
nunciation (1556, inv. no.
899) and the Holy Fami-
ly from Widman House
(c. 1561, inv. no. 1433), a
painting dominated by
the imposing blonde fig-
ure of St Barbara.
133
Room 52 Bassano and Tintoretto

Jacopo Tintoretto Having passed through ing threateningly at a

Leda and the Swan various collections, this caged duck, and a little
(whole and detail) canvas is a donation from dog who is perhaps jeal-
c. 1550-1560 Arturo De Noe Walker. ous of a swan), the paint-
Oil on canvas, 167x221 In an interior embell- ing shows the mythical,
Inv. no. 3084
ished with pets (a parrot sensual Leda, dressed
In the Uffizi since 1893
Restored: 1994 in an aviary, a cat star- only in pearls, caressing
Jove, who has trans-
formed himself into a
swan to seduce her. The
restorations have clari-
fied that the presence of
the maidservant is not

arbitrary as far as its pro-

totype (in the Uffizi since
1989, inv. no. 9946) is

concerned. This, now al-

so restored, is missing
the figure because of a
cut in the canvas.

134
Room 35 i Corridor of the 16th century

Giorgio Vasari Perhaps originally in the foreground. Symbol of ge-

Vulcan's Forge Tribune, this small cop- nius, he is chiselling a
perplate, along mth oth- shield showing Capricorn,
c. 1564
er works in the enlarged the astrological sign of
Oilon copper
38x28
and modernised corridor, Francesco I, and Aries,

Inv. no. 1558 exemplifies Mannerist the ascendant of his fa-

In the Uffizi since 1589 painting of the European ther, Cosimo, holding up
Court in the second half the world. Above are the
of the 16^^ century. In the Three Graces, emblems
forge, Vulcan, god of sub- of the Art of Drawing, mod-
terranean fires, is in the elling for four nude artists.

135
 .

ROOM 53 # CORRIDOR OF THE 16TH CENTURY

School of
fontainebleau
Tk'o Women Bathing
Last quarter
of the 16^^ century
Oil on wood
129x97
Inv. no. 9958
In the Uffizi since 1989

It is not known who the two

women in this painting are.

Portrayed in different ver-
^ r^^^^l sions, they are generally
identified as Gabrielle
d'Estrees (1571-1599), lover
of Henri IV, and her sister,
the Duchess ofVillars. They
nonetheless coincide with
the standards of ideal beau-

W(
-~-^W—
,^
r-^i" ^'
' ..1.1
^''
ty held by the lyrical 16^^
century, with white, yel-
low, and red as the domi-
nant colours.

FRANgois Clouet
Frangois I ofFrance
^V ii , on Horseback

i' c. 1540

^ ^"""^^^^--rt:-;::: ^
Tempera on wood
27.5x22.5

S%^;^,t^
Inv. no. 987
In the Uffizi since 1796

This small court portrait

^few *X, '^ arrived In Florence in 1589

when Christine of Lor-

"
Bi^»^ n
S^ ^|Wr'--^'7ii ^
'

'
raine, wife of Ferdinand
I,inherited it from her
grandmother Caterina de'
7
1 ^^ ^l ^Ja Medici, Queen of France,
together with miniatures
executed in Clouet's work-
shop, portraying Henri II

and relatives (they are il-

lustrated on page 12 in a
J- 1 9 "^ century arrangement)

136
Room 54 Lombard Painting of the 16th century

Lorenzo Lotto A man of culture, a wan- hidden in the branches of

The Chastity derer and a loner, Lotto
of Susannah painted the biblical episode
of Susannah being harassed
Signed and dated 1517
while bathing by two old
Oilon wood
66x50
men whom she drives
Inv.no. 9491 away. The scene, shown
In the Uffizi since 1975 from above to reveal an
apparently traditional back-
drop beyond the wall, in-
stead shows two old men
a tree spying on Susannah
as she walks to the bath.
On didactic scrolls, as if in
anticipation of our mod-
ern comic strips, Susan-
nah declares that she does
not want to sin, while the
old men take their revenge
by accusing her of adul-
tery with a young man.

137
ROOM 5 4 LOMBARD PAINTING OF THE 16TH CENTURY

GiovAN Battista Known for the psycholog-
Moroni ical realism ofhis portraits,
Portrait Moroni, a painter from
ofPietro Secco Suardo Bergamo, here portrays
Signed "lo Bap. Moronus p." his countryman Suardo,
and dated 1563, under the Ambassador ofVenice from
writing: ET quid volo nisi lt 1545. A few precise brush
ARDEAT
strokes render the essen-
Oil on canvas
tial elements of this inte-
183x104
Inv. no. 906 rior: the deformed shad-
In the UfTizi since 1797 ow on the square pave-
ment and the window view.
On a base stands the burn-
ing brazier, alluding to the
family motto written be-
low, taken from St Luke's
Gospel (12:49): "Howl wish
it [the fire] were blazing
afready". The Latin words
[ni]s[i] u[t] arde[at] con-
ceal in acrostic the horse-
man's surname.

138
Room 55 c Barocci and the Tuscan Counter-reformation

Federico Barocci Barocci did many prepara- The work, created in an

The Madonna of the tory drawings for this environment of renewed
People large altarpiece painted spirituality, immediate-
for a church in Arezzo. lydrew many admired
Signed and dated 1579
Christ, through the in- Tuscan artists to the
Oilon wood
tercession of the Virgin, church; several of their
359x272
Inv.no. 751 is blessing the some of paintings are in the new
In the Uffizi since 1787 the populace, who are display in this room (a-
Restored: 1995 portrayed with lively de- mong them Cigoli, Em-
tail as they bustle around poli, Santi di Tito, Ales-
with their daily lives. sandro Allori).

139
Room 41 Rubens

PiETER Paul Rubens "Avery good companion shady background of a

IsabellaBrandt [...] completely good, curtain and a column.
completely honest and The portrait was given as
c. 1625
beloved for her virtues": a gift in 1 705 by the Pala-
Oilon wood
86x62
Rubens remembers his tine Elector of the Rhine
Inv. no. 779 first wife, immediately Johann Wilhelm to his
In the Uffizi since 1773 afterher death in 1626. brother-in-law Ferdi-
Often portrayed by him, nando de' Medici, who
Isabella is shown here called it a "work of ge-
half-length, shortly be- nius" from the "famous
fore her death, against a brush" of Rubens.

140
 ,

ROOM 41 #RUBENS

Diego Velazquez This portrait, typical of the twenty-two years old, here
and workshop Spanish court, was in the face is taken from a
Philip IV of Spain Madrid in 1 65 1 under the
, portrait by Velazquez (1645,

on Horseback care of the Marquis Eliche now m the New York Frick
(he diedinNaplesin 1687). Collection). The restored
c. 1645
It is partly taken from a canvas reveals the hand
Oilon canvas
338x267
Rubens painting (c. 1 628) of the Spanish painter in

Inv. no. 792 known from a description, the face of the king, on the
In the Uffizi since 1753 which was destroyed in head of the horse, and in
Restored: 1995 Madrid in 1 754. Whilst in the masterly brushwork
the original the king was around the figures.

141
Room 42 Niobe Room

The Niobe Room, shown here as it was before the

1993 bombing, has been restored after the severe
damage it suffered. This 18th century room was
planned by Pietro Leopoldo, who put the architect
Gaspare Maria Paoletti in charge of displaying a
group of classical sculptures. Found in the 16th cen-
tury in a vineyard in Rome near the Lateran, they re-
call the myth of Niobe, destroyed with her sons by
Apollo and Diana. This sensational discovery was
announced in a letter of 1583 written by the sculptor
and restorer Valerio Cioli to the secretary of the
Grand Duke Francesco I. After several months the
statues were acquired by the Grand Duke's brother,
Ferdinand, then Cardinal in Rome, who restored
them and took them to the Villa Medici. Five years lat-
er he sent casts of the sculptures to Florence, which 2\^^
were displayed in the Gallery until Pietro Leopoldo,
as mentioned, brought them to Tuscany in 1 770. The
restoration of the first group (more pieces arrived Running Niobian
later) was entrusted to Innocenzo Spinazzi and com-
c. 130BC
pleted in 1 776; by 1 795 the statues were on display in
Pentelic marble, ht. 181
the neoclassical room, a space adorned with stuc- Inv. no. 293
coes and decorative reliefs. In the Uffizi since 1795

142
Collections of the 17th and 18th century

Caravaggio The fdiTCioviS Bacchus may painter Mario Monnitti,

Bacchus date from the period when who lived with Caravag-
Caravaggio was working gio in Rome for some time.
Variously dated c. 1596-1600
for Cardinal del Monte The Dionysian myth, here
Oil on canvas
(c.l595-1600),amanof loaded with philosophi-
98x85
culture, who may have cal and reUgious symbols,
Inv.no. 5512
In the Uffizi from uncertain ordered the painting as a is portrayed with sensu-

date, brought out of store gift for Ferdinando de' ality and crude realism:
in 1916
Medici, as he did with the the reddened cheeks, the
Medusa. moist lips, the dirty fin-
The face of the young god gernails and the wormeat-
of wine is thought to be a en, half-rotten fruit.
portrait of the Sicilian

143
COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY
Caravaggio Caravaggio, inspired by
Sacrifice ofIsaac Genesis, here shows an
angel stopping Abraham
Variously dated from
1592 to 1604
who in obedience to God
is about to sacrifice his
Oil on canvas
104x135 son Isaac. Beside the head
Inv. no. 4659 of the boy, who is shout-
In the L ffizi since 1917 iag desperately, is the ram
sent by God to substitute
him in the sacrifice. VVTiilst
in the bibhcal text the an-
gel speaks to Abraham
from the sky, here he
comes down to the ground
to stay his hand directly.
The scene, painted with
fine strokes of light against
alandscape showing a
serene Venetian influ-
ence, prefigures the sac-
and syTn-
rifice of Christ
bolises obedience and
faith in accordance with
the climate of renewed
144
spirituality of the time.
The chronology of this
canvas is still doubtful: it
was given as a gift to the
Ufiizi by John F. Murray,
son of the pre-Raphaelite
painter. Its provenance is
also uncertain, as it does
not correspond to the
painting of an unknown
subject, for which the Ro-
man Mafleo Barberini paid
Caravaggio between 1603
and 1604.
The canvas in the Uffizi,
however, does coincide
with the "sacrifice of Abra-
ham who holds the knife
to the throat of his son who
shouts and falls down",
painted for the Barberini
family according to the
writer Giuseppe Bellori
in 1672.
 COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY
Caravaggio Medusa with her head of
Medusa snakes transformed any-
one who looked at her in-
Variously dated from 1592
to 1600
"Run, for if amaze-
to stone:
Oil on wood
ment draws your eyes, /she
covered with canvas you into stone".
will turn
diam. 55 Thus wrote Gaspare Mur-
Inv.no. 1351 tolain 1605, admiring the
In the Uffizi at least
since 1631
Medusa with her "poiso-
In restoration (1998) nous hair/armed with a
thousand snakes". It was
painted in Rome by the
"peintre maudit" for the
Cardinal Del Monte as a
gift to Ferdinando de'
Medici. Astonishment is
also expressed in the vers-
es of Giovan Battista Mari-
no (1614): "thatfierce, harsh
Gorgon/to which they ded-
icate such horribly/viper-
ish forms/her squalid pomp
and frightful locks of hair".
In 1631 the convex "rotel-
la" (tournament shield)
was on display at the
Medicean Armoury, hang-
ing on the arm of an Ori-
ental suit of armour which
was a gift from the Shah
of Persia to the Grand Duke
around the year 1601.
145
COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY

Rembil\>dt Son of a rich miller from hann Wilhelm (married

Self-Portrait Leide, the artist left his to Anna Maria Luisa de'
as a Young Man native city in 1 63 1 for Am- Medici) to the Florentine
sterdam. There he paint- Gerini family, and was lat-
c. 1634
ed this self-portrait, which er (1818) acquired by Fer-
Oil on wood
already displays confi- dinand III of Lorraine.
62.5x54
Inv. no. 3890 dence and acute psycho- The taste for self-por-
In the Lffizi since 1922 The
logical investigation. traiture stayed vnth Rem-
painting may have been brandt throughout his ca-
a gift from the Palatine reer, but especially dur-
Elector of the Rhine Jo- ing his early period.

146
 COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY

Canaletto One of Canaletto's most fizi, the foreground is dom-

Fiew of the Ducal often repeated views, the inated by gondolas and
Palace in Venice canvas shows the pier boats with figures busy
(whole and detail) and the Riva degli Schia- rowing or throwing ropes.
Before 1755, the year when voni, the Zecca, the Old Other versions of the scene
the ClockTower underwent Library, the Ducal Palace instead portray official
modifications absent from
and the Dandolo Palace. events such as the cele-
this painting
The Venetian artist uses bration of the "Sensa" at
Oil on canvas
51x85
a"camera ottica", an op- the feast of the Ascension,
Inv. no. 1534 ticaldevice he often showing the arrival or de-
In the Uffizi since 1798 adopted for his perspec- parture of the "Bucintoro",
tive studies. the Doge's galley, festively
On the painting at the Uf- arrayed.

147
COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY

GlAMBATTISTA TiEPOLO
Erection of a Statue
to an Emperor
c. 1735-1736
Oilon canvas
425x175
Inv.no. 3139
In the Uffizi since 1900
Restored: 1987

Painted together with oth-

er panels to decorate a
ceiling in the archiepis-
copal seminary at Udine,
where GiambattistaTiepo-
lo had already painted
some frescoes around
1 728, the canvas is docu-

mented by certain pay-

ments made to the Venet-
ian painter. After the
restoration, the attribu-
tion to Tiepolo, subject of
discussion in the past, can
now^ be accepted.
The scene showing a stat-
ue being erected is a pre-
text for a daring illusion-
istic foreshortening from
below, against a luminous
sky typical of this artist,

who is considered the ma-

or decorative artist of the
j

18^^ century, a masterly

draftsman and engraver,
always in search of new
and wonderful spatial in-
novations.

148
 .

COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY

Francisco Goya Goya did portraits of Maria This was the start of an un-
y lucientes Teresa, daughter of his pa- happy, life, as can already
Portrait ofMaria Teresa, tron Luis de B orb on, from be guessed from this del-
Countess ofChinchon the time she was a little icate portrait, in which the
girl. In 1785 he also paint- young girl's profile is re-
c. 1798
ed his patron's wife riding peated on the medallion
Oil on canvas
a horse (UfBzi, inv. no. 9485) bracelet around her wrist.
220x140
Inv. no. 9484 In 1797 Maria married Goya retained close ties of
In the Uffizi since 1974 Manuel Godoy, the schem- Mendship with this woman,
ing minister of the Ring and he died like her in ex-
and favourite of the Queen. ile in France in 1828.

149
COLLECTIONS OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY

Jean-Baptiste Simeon Like the BoyPlaying Cards ly interest of Russian col-

Chardln (inv. no. 9275), this paint- lectors in French paint-

Girl with a Shuttlecock ing was also acquired in ing. Known for the fami-
1951; it is a signed repli- ly intimacy of his portraits
c. 1741
ca of the one in the Rot- and for his refined picto-
Oil on canvas
schild Collection in Paris rial technique, Jean-Bap-
82x66
Inv.no. 9247 (the other is in Washing- tisteSimeon Chardinhere
In the Lffizi since 1951 ton, National Gallery). At portrays a young girl with
the end of the 18^^ cen- a porcelain complexion,
tury, the protot\i)es were and a thoughtful and dis-
in Russia, proving the ear- tant expression.

150
Vasari Corridor

The most spectacular and famous corridor of the world was created in 1565.
Giorgio Vasari, the architect of the court, had already been enlarging and re-
structuring the new Medici residence at Palazzo Vecchiofor some time, bring-
ing to an end the great Uffizi project. During the preparations for the magnifi-
cent royal wedding ofFrancesco de' Medici and Jean ofAustria, the architect was
commissioned by Cosimo I to complete in record time, from March to Septem-
ber 1565, a corridor that was to leadfrom the Uffizi to Palazzo Pitti, which had
been bought in 1549 by Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo. The Vasari Corri-
dor starts from the west wing of the Uffizi, follows theArno in an astonishing
raised path that passes over the shops of the left parapet of the Ponte Vecchio,
overlooks the interior of the church ofSanta Felicita, (then the Palatine Chapel),
and finally reaches the Boboli Gardens, where works had been going on for
some time under the direction of many architects and sculptors. An extraordi-
nary and highly symbolic urban intervention in the ducal city, the Corridor, al-
most a kilometre long with unique views from its windows and circular aper-
tures, was designed as an exclusive walkwayfor the Duke, the Princes, and high
dignitaries of the court. It was only openedfor public use in 1866 when Florence
was capital of the Republic. It was then that its real history as a museum began,
interrupted for long periods by the damage caused by World War II, the flood
(1966), and the bomb (1993). Now restored, the Corridor contains around 800
paintings; on the staircase and in first stretch there are important works from
the 17^'^ and 18^*^ century, while on the Ponte Vecchio the most famous collec-
tion of selfportraits in the world is displayed, which was begun by Cardinal
Leopoldo and is still growing.

151
VASARI CORRIDOR

GuiDO Rem Standing rakishly in a red Caravaggio in this work

David with the Head feathered cap, his figure from which the Emilian
of Goliath illiuninated by the moon- painter was to detach him-
lightand scarcely cov- self on his return from
c. 1605
ered by his rich, fur- Rome, in search of an ever
Oil on canvas
222x147
trimmed cloak, David more classical style. The
Inv. no. 3830 leans against a column painting, damaged dur-
In the Lffizi since 1913 and surveys the head of ing the 1 993 bombing, has
Restored: 1995 the slain gi^nt. been restored and re-
A variation of an earlier turned to the end of the
painting in the Louvre, staircase leading down to
there are still echoes of the Vasari Corridor.

152
 ,

VASARI CORRIDOR

Elisabeth
Vigee-Le Brun
Self-portrait

1790
Oil on canvas, 100x81
Inv.no. 1905
In the Uffizi since 1790

In the golden twilight of

the FarisAncien Regime,
this rich and fashionable
artist, the only woman with
an academic title, left

France at the outbreak of

the revolution. Official
painter to Marie Antoinette
she portrayed herself paint-
ing a portrait of her queen,
in this work which had been
commissioned by Pietro
Leopoldo in Rome: thus
creating a self-portrait with
a portrait, immediately
praised and copied.

Eugene Delacroix
Self-Portrait

c. 1840
Oil on canvas, 66x54
Inv. no. 3914
In the Uffizi since 1912

The artist must build "a

mysterious bridge be-
tween the soul of the char-
acters and the specta-
tors", wrote Delacroix in
his diary. The self-por-
trait of this artist, a mas-
ter in his investigation of
the human spirit, is styl-
istically close to another
conserved at the Louvre
and to the intense Por-
trait of Chopin from 1938
(also at the Louvre).

153
CONTINI BONACOSSI COLLECTION

The collection, among the most important of this century- in Italy, was formed by
Alessandro ContiniBonacossi (disappeared 1 955), thanks in part to consultation
by art critics such as Roberto Longhi and Bernard Berenson. Officially acquired
as a donation by the State in 1969, the collection includes dozens of important
works by Italian andforeign artists. The dates of the works rangefrom the 13'^ to
the 18'^ centuries with artists such as Sassetta and Veronese (illustrated here) as
well as Andrea del Castagno, Paolo Veneziano, Giovanni Bellini, Savoldo, and
El Greco. Until works were exhibited at the Meridiana pavilion in
recently, the
Palazzo Pitti, but they nowfind a more appropriate home amongst the Uffizi dis-
plays, in specially arranged room^ (temporary entrancefrom Via Lamb ertesca).

Sassetta Painted for the San Boni- The altarpiece, of which

Madonna of the Snow facio Chapel in the Siena
Altarpiece Cathedral, the title of this
(detail of the predella) altarpiece is inspired by
c. 1430-1432 the miraculous snowfall
Tempera on wood which took place on the
240x256 Esquiline in Rome on 5'^
Inv. Contini Bonacossi no. 1
August 358, a day which
In the Uffizi since 1998
was then consecrated to
Restored: 1998
St Mary of the Snow. The
miracle, pre-announced
by the Madonna to the pa-
trician Giovanni, is said
to have determined the
place where the presti-
a detail from the predel-
la is illustrated here, rep-
resents the Madonna and
Child enthroned with
saints and angels. In the
predella, composed of
seven small scenes, are
the events which led to
the foundation of the
Basihca by Pope Liberius.
The simplicity of the por-
trayal, close to the fres-
coes of Masaccio and Ma-
solino in the Carmine, is

gious basilica of Santa imited with what has been

Maria Maggiore was to defined as "the most rad-
be built, financed by the ical experiment in real-
patrician. istic painting" of that time.

154
 CONTINI BONACOSSI COLLECTION

Paolo Veronese Together with this por- Uffizi painting, the fa-
Giuseppe da Porto trait of himself with his ther and the son are
with his Son Adrian son, Giuseppe da Porto, caught in a moment of
a noble man of Vicenza, affectionate embrace in
c. 1552-1555
commissioned Veronese a doorway. The child's
Oilon canvas
247x157
to paint a similar portrait small hand is inter-

Inv. Contini Bonacossi no. 16 of his wife Livia Thiene twined with the large
In the Uffizi since 1998 with their daughter hand of the father, who
Porzia (Baltimore, Wal- for this reason has taken
ters Art Gallery). In the off his glove.

155
 1 1

liNDEX

Albertinelli, Mariotto Coronation of the Virgin

(Horence 1474-1515) (San Marco Altarpiece) 64
J/isitation 116 The Discovery of the Body ofHolofernes 5 7
Allori, Alessandro Fortitude 58
(Florence 1535-1607) Madonna of the Magnificat 63
Grotesque Decorations Pallas and the Centaur 6
with Medicean Devices 21 Portrait of a Young with a Medal 59
Altdorfer, Albrecht Primavera 66-69
(Ratisbonc. 1480-1538) The Return ofJudith 57
Martyrdom of Saint Florian 105 SantAmbrogio Altarpiece
Andrea del Castagno (or of the Converted Sisters) 60
(Castagno c. 1421 - Florence 1457) Bronzino,
Francesco Petrarca 15 Agnolo di Cosimo known as
Pippo Spano 15 (Florence 1503-1573)

Queen Tomyris 14 Eleonora di Toledo with

Andrea del Sarto, her son Giovanni 92
Andrea d'Agnolo known as Holy Family with the Infant Saint

(Florence 1486-1530) John CThe Panciatichi Holy Family) 1 24

Madonna of the Harpies 121 L ucrezia Panciatichi 9

"
Woman with the "Petrarchino 90 BUTI, LUDOVICO
Archaeological Collections (Florence c. 1550-1611)
Boy Removing a Thorn from his Foot 17 Grotesque-style Ceiling with
BustofAntinous 16 Battles and "Mexican " Subjects 1 00

Medici Venus 86 Canaletto,

Running Niobian 142 Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as
Sleeping Hermaphrodite 85 (Venice 1697-1768)

mid Boar 113 View of the Ducal Palace in Venice 147

Wrestlers 1 Caravaggio,
Barocci, Federico Michelangelo Merisi known as
Guido di Pietro known as (Milan? 1571 - Porto Ercole 1610)

(Urbino 1535-1612) Bacchus 143

Madonna of the People 139 Medusa 145
Beato Angelico, Sacrifice ofIsaac 144
Guido dl Pietro known as Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon
(Vicchio di Mugello c. 1395 - Rome 1455) (Paris 1699-1779)

Coronation of the Virgin 42 Girl with a Shuttlecock 1 50

Bellini, Giovanni, Cimabue,

known as Giambellino, Cenni di Pepo known as
(Venice c. 1425-1516) (Florence 1240? - doc. until 1302)

Allegory 101 Maestd of Santa Trinita 22

Botticelli, Sandro, Clouet, FRANgois
Alessandro Filipepi known as (Tours c. 1510 - Paris 1572)

(Florence 1445-1510) Frangois I ofFrance on Horseback 136

Adoration of the Magi 6 Clouet, FnANgois, workshop of
The Birth of Venus 70-73 Henri II, Caterina de' Medici
Calumny 65 and Relatives 12
 INDEX

CORREGGIO, GiAMBELLiNO, see Bellini, Giovanni

Antonio Allegri known as GlORGIONE,
(Reggio Emilia 1489-1534) Giorgio Zorzi known as
The Firgin Adoring the Christ Child 110 (Castelfranco Veneto c. 1477 - Venice 1510)
Cranach The Elder, Lukas The Judgement of Solomon 103
(Kronach 1472 - Weimar 1553) Moses Undergoing Trial by Fire 102
Adam and Eve 98-99 GlOTTINO,
Daddi, Bernardo Giotto di maestro Stefano known as
(Florence c. 1290-1348) (active in Florence in the second half of the
San Pancrazio Poliptych 32 W^ century)
Delacroix, Eugene Pietd 33
(Charenton-St. Maurice 1798 - Paris 1863) Giotto,
Self-Portrait 153 Agnolo di Bondone known as
DOMENICO VeNEZIANO, (Colle di Vespignano c. 1267 - Florence 1337)
Domenico di Bartolomeo known as Badia Po lip tych 26
(Venice c. 1410 - Florence 1461) The Ognissanti Madonna 24-25
Altarpiece Santa Lucia dei Magnoli 43 Goya y Lucientes, Francisco
Dossi, Dosso, (Fuentetodos 1746 - Bordeaux 1828)
Giovanni di Niccolo Luteri known as Portrait ofMaria Teresa,
(San Giovanni del Dosso c. 1490 - Ferrara 1542) Countess ofChinchon 149
Witchcraft or Allegory ofHercules 129 Holbein The Young, Hans
DUCCIO DI BONINSEGNA (Augsburg c. 1497 - London 1543)
(Siena c. 1278-1318) Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell 1 06

Maestd 23 Jacopo di Cione

DtJRER, AlBRECHT (Florence, doc. 1365 - 1400)
(Nurenberg 1471-1528) Saint Matthew Triptych 34
Adoration of the Magi 97 Leonardo da Vinci
Florentine School (Vinci 1452 - Amboise 1519)
Grotesque Decoration 113 Adoration of the Magi 80
Fra Bartolomeo, Annunciation 78-79
Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino known as Baptism of Christ 76-77
(Savignano 1472 - Florence 1517) Landscape 18
Annunciation, Presentation at LiPPI, FiLIPPINO
the Temple and Nativity 118 (Prato 1457 - Florence 1504)
Gentile da Fabriano Adoration of the Magi 53
(Fabriano c.Rome 1427)
1370 - Madonna with Child and Saints 52
Adoration of the Magi 36-37 LiPPi, FiLiPPO
Ghirlandaio, Domenico, (Florence c. 1406 - Spoleto 1469)

Domenico Bigordi known as Coronation of the Virgin 50-51

(Florence 1449-1494) Madonna with Child and Two Angels 49
Madonna Enthroned with The Novitiate Altarpiece 48
Angels and Saints 62 Lorenzetti, Ambrogio
Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo, (Siena, doc. 1319-1348)

Ridolfo Bigordi known as Four Stories from the Life

(Florence 1486-1561) of Saint Nicholas 28
Cover of a Portrait 117 Presentation of the Virgin
 3

INDEX

in the Temple 29 the Baptist (Doni Tondo) 4, 114-115

LORENZETTI, PlETRO Moroni, Giovan Battista
(Siena c. 1280-1348?) (Albino, Bergamo c. 1524-1578)

Altarpiece of the Blessed Humility 30 Portrait ofPietro Secco Suardo 1 38

Lorenzo di Credi Nasini, Giuseppe Nicola

(Florence c. 1459-1537) (Castel del Piano 1657 - Siena 1736)
Annunciation 94 Virtues of the Medici Grand Dukes 1

Lorenzo Monaco Orcagna,

(Siena? c. 1370 - Florence c. 1425) Andrea di Clone, known as
Adoration of the Magi 35 (Florence, doc. 1343-1368)

Lotto, Lorenzo Saint Matthew Triptych 34

(\'enice 1480 - Loreto c. 1556) Paolo Uccello,
TTie Chastity of Susannah 137 Paolo di Dono known as
Mantegna, Andrea (Pratovecchio 1397 - Florence 1475)
(Isola di Carturo 1431 - Mantova 1506) The Battle of Saint Romano (1432) 40-41
Adoration of the Magi 107 Parmigianino,
Ascension 108 Francesco Mazzola known as
Circumcision 109 (Parma 1504 - Casalmaggiore 1540)
Martini, Slmone Madonna with Child and Saints
(Siena c. 1284 - A\1gnon 1344) (The San Zaccaria Madonna) 1 30
Annunciation 27 Madonna of the Long Neck 131
Masaccio, Perugino,
Tommaso di Giovanni Cassai known as Pietro Vannucci known as
(San Giovanni Valdarno 1401 - Rome 1428?) (Citta della Pieve c. 1448 - Fontignano 1523)
Saint Anne Metterza 38-39 Francesco delle Opere 95
MLa^solino da Panicale, Madonna and Child with Saints 82
Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini known as Pieta 81
(Panicale 1383 - Florence 1440) PlERO DELLA FrANCESCA,
Saint Anne Metterza 38-39 Pietro di Benedetto dei Franceschi

Master of Santa Cecilia known as

(Florence, doc. 1300-c. 1320) (Sansepolcro c. 1416 - 1492)
Saint Cecilia and Stories Diptych of the Duke and
ofHerLife 31 Duchess ofUrbino 44-47
Mazzolino, Ludomco PlERO DI COSIMO,
(Ferrarac. 1480-c. 1528) Piero di Lorenzo known as
Slaughter of the Innocents 1 32 (Horence c. 1461-1522)
Memling, Hans Incarnation of Christ 83
(Seligenstadt c. 1435 - Bruges 1494) Perseus Liberating Andromeda 96
Poj^ait of Unknown Man (c. 1470) 104 PoLLAioLo, Antonio,
Portrait of Unknown Man (c. 1490) 104 .\ntonio Benci known as
Mevlmi, Lippo (Horence c. 1431 - Rome 1498)

(Siena, doc. 1317-1344) Hercules and Antaeus 56

Annunciation 27 Hercules and the Hydra 56
Michelangelo Buonarroti Portrait of a Woman 55
(Caprese, Florence 1475 - Rome 1564) The St. Jacob, St. Vincent and St. Eustace
Holy Family with the Infant Saint John (Cardinal ofPortugal's Altarpiece) 54
 INDEX

POLLAIOLO, PlERO, (Venice 1485 - Rome 1547)

Piero Benci known as The death ofAdonis 128
(Florence c. 1441 - Rome 1496) SiGNORELLI, LUCA
The St. Jacob, St. Vincent and St. Eustace (Cortona 1445-1523)
(Cardinal ofPortugal's Altarpiece) 54 Holy Family 94
PONTORMO, TiEPOLO, GlAMBATTISTA
Jacopo Carucci known as (Venice 1696-Madrid 1770)

(Pontorme, Empoli 1494 - Florence 1556) Erection of a statue to an Emperor 148

Portrait ofCosimo the Elder 88 Tintoretto,
The Supper at Emmaus 123 Jacopo Robusti known as
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (Venice 1518-1594)

(Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520) Leda and the Swan 1 34

Madonna of the Goldfinch 119 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)
Nude Study 19 (Pieve di Cadore c. 1488-1490 - Venice 1576)
Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio Flora 125
' '
de Medici and Luigi de Rossi 120 Venus of Urbino 126-127
Rembrandt, Harmenszoon Van Run Van der Goes, Hugo
(Leide 1606 - Amsterdam 1669) (Gand c. 1440 - Rouge Cloitre, Bruxelles 1482)

SelfPortrait as a Young Man 146 The Portinari Triptych 74-75

Reni, Guido Vasari, Giorgio
(Bologna 1575-1642) (Arezzo 1511 - Florence 1573)
David with Head of Goliath
the 152 Vulcan 's Forge 1 35

ROSSELLI, COSIMO Velazquez, Diego

(Florence 1439-1507) Rodriguez de Silva y
Adoration of the Magi 35 (Seville 1599 - Madrid 1660)
Rosso FlORENTINO, Philip IV of Spain 141
Giovan Battista di Jacopo, known as Veronese,
(Florence 1494 - Fontainebleau 1540) Paolo Caliari known as
Madonna with Child and Saints (Verona 1528 - Venice 1588)
(Madonna dello Spedalingo) 122 Giuseppe da Porto with his
Musical Cherub 89 Son Adrian 155
Rubens, Pieter Paul Martyrdom of Saint Justine 133
(Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640) Verrocchio,
Isabella Brandt 140 Andrea di Clone known as
Salviati, Cecchino, (Florence 1435 - Venice 1488)
Francesco de' Rossi, known as Baptism of Christ 76-77
(Florence 1510 - Rome 1563) Vigee-Le Rrun Elisabeth
Charity 93 (Paris 1755 -1842)

Sassetta, SelfPortrait 153

Stefano di Giovanni, known as IL

(active since 1423 - Siena 1450)

Madonna of the Snow Altarpiece 154
School of Fontainebleau
Two Women Bathing 136
Sebastiano del Piombo,
Sebastiano Luciani known as
 Printed in April 2000
by Giunti Industrie Grafiche S.p.A. - Prato - Italy
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The Museum. The Uffizi The Series. The volumes
Gallery is one of the most published in the Firenze
important musemns in Musei series are the
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outstanding collection Florence museums:
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