Address: Loggiato degli Uffizi, 6
The Uffizi Palace was constructed in the mid- sixteenth century by the
architect Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) in the period when Cosimo
de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, was bureaucratically
consolidating his recent takeover of power. Built in the form of
a horse shoe extending from Piazza Signoria to the River Arno and
linked with Palazzo Vecchio
by a bridge over the street, the Uffizi were intended to house
the offices of the magistrature (Uffizi = offices). From the
beginning however, the Medici set aside certain rooms on the
third floor to house the finest works from their collections; two
centuries later, in 1737, thanks to the far-seeing generosity of
the last heir of the family, Anna Maria Luisa, their collection
became permanent public property.
The Gallery now consists of forty-five rooms
where the paintings are arranged in chronological order from the
thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Among them are some of
the most famous and representative paintings of Italian, and in
particular Tuscan, art, but there are also important sections
devoted to Flemish, French, Dutch and German painters. Apart from
its paintings, the Uffizi exhibits ancient Roman sculpture and
sixteenth century sculpture; these are all seen in the three
corridors whose ceilings are frescoed with grotesques.
On the ground floor the remains of the old Romanesque church of
S. Pier Scheraggio partly destroyed by Vasari to build the
Uffizi, have been recently restored; the frescoes of ''Famous
Men'' by Andrea del Castagno (1421-c. 1457) are exhibited here.
On the second floor is the Prints and Drawings Department,
housing a very rich collection begun by Cardinal
Leopoldo de' Medici (17th century). Occasional public exhibitions
in the adjoining room show selections from this collection. The
Uffizi is the most important and most visited museum of Florence.
Following their natural layout, we find in the first of the rooms
the great altarpieces of Cimabue and Giotto, humanized images of
God and the earliest examples of the new art of the Renaissance.
After these comes the Sienese elegance of Duccio, Simone Martini
and Lorenzetti, together with the robust school of Giotto
(13th-15th centuries; Rooms 3 & 4). Then follows the
International Gothic Style; two examples of the Adoration of the
Magi by Gentile da Fabriano and Lorenzo Monaco (early 15th
century; Rooms 5 & 6). The Uffizi's best-known rooms are
dedicated to Florentine painting on the eve of the Renaissance
(15th century); in Room 7 we find works by Masaccio, Paolo
Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, Fra' Angelico and Piero della
Francesca.
Then follow the
elegant Madonnas of Filippo Lippi, Pollaiolo's delightful little
panels, and finally, in the newly-restored main room the
mythological allegories and religious paintings of Botticelli.
This unique group includes the Birth of Venus, the Primavera, the
Madonnas "of the Magnificat" and "of the
Pomegranate".
Passing to Leonardo da Vinci and Verrocchio (Room 15) we find the Baptism of
Christ by both masters, and the Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo
alone.
The following rooms (16-23) are the oldest, in the gallery and
the Tribuna deserves a special visit as the former setting for
the most precious works of art in the collection. After this is a
series of rooms used by the Medici as armouries and now
containing more Renaissance works by Bellini, Giorgione,
Perugino, Signorelli and the German and Flemish schools including
Durer, Cranach, Memmling and David (15th - 16th centuries). After
the Miniature Room and the Second Corridor with its splendid view
of the Arno, Room 25 opens the series of rooms devoted to
sixteenth century painting. With the Holy Family (" The Doni
Tondo ")
by Michelangelo are found the works of Raphael (Madonna of the
Goldfinch) and Titian (Venus of Urbino, Flora). The section of
Mannerist paintings is particularly rich, ranging from Pontormo
to Rosso Fiorentino, Bronzino and Parmigianino (Madonna with the
Long Neck). Venetian art of the period is well represented by
Sebastiano del Piombo, Veronese and the room dedicated to
Tintoretto. Barocci of Urbin also has a special room, where his
Madonna of the People is shown, and El Greco is represented by
Two Saints, acquired recently.
Room 41 contains the works of Rubens, (1577-1640).
The Uffizi owns the robust but affectionate portrait of the
artist's wife and the two huge canvases with the Triumphs of
Henry IV of France. The seventeenth century is well represented
by Caravaggio (Young Bacchus, Abraham and Isaac), Annibale
Carracci (Baccante), and Claude Lorrain (Seaport with Villa
Medici) followed by an exceptional collection of Dutch and
Flemish subject pictures and genre (Room 44). The 18th century
Niobe Room with its white and gold plasterwork contains the
marble group of Niobe and her Children for which it was specially
constructed. Italian and French eighteenth century paintings are
preserved in the Gallery's last room and include Tiepolo, Guardi,
Nattier, Chardin and Goya, all representing the finest art of the
late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth. The visitor to
the Uffizi may also visit the famous Vasari corridor linking the
Uffizi and Pitti Palaces accross
the Ponte Vecchio. Apart from the delightful views of the city
through the corridor's circular windows, its entire length
contains around 700 works, some of the 17th and 18th centuries in
addition to the celebrated and unique self-portrait collection.
(A visit to the corridor may be booked in advance through the
Museum secretary).
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