Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi on both sides, Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria and the Duomo in the distance. 1991
Self-portrait
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
1606-69
c. 1655
Bacchus
Caravaggio 1571-1610
c. 1595-97
One of my favourite art galleries. Cosimo de' Medici I commissioned Georgio Vasari to build it in the 16th century to act as administrative offices - hence Uffizi. In 1581 Francesco I, Cosimo's son, converted part of an upper floor into a gallery to house the Medici collections. This was the genesis of the public gallery.
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici inherited the, by now, vast collection of paintings, sculpture, jewels, books and a wealth more on the death of her brother Grand Duke Gian Gastone in 1737, she herself could not inherit the grand-ducal throne, When she died in 1743 she bequeathed it all to the new grand duke Francis of Lorraine, on condition it never leave Florence. The Uffizi opened to the public in 1769 when the Medici dynasty was all but defunct.
It would take a good number of hours to see everything here. I tend to concentrate on old favourites, particular artists and anything that grabs my attention in passing.
Joseph presents his Father and Brothers to Pharaoh
Francesco Granacci 1469-1543
c. 1515-17
Eleonora of Toledo and her son Giovanni
Bronzino 1503-72
1545
Cosimo de' Medici I married Eleonora in 1539.
Francesco Maria I della Rovere
Titian ?-1576
c. 1537
Head of Medusa
Caravaggio 1571-1610
Parade Shield c. 1597
Sacrifice of Isaac
Caravaggio 1571-1610
c. 1603-04
Judith slaying Holofernes
Artemisia Gentileschi 1593-1652/53
c. 1620-21
The artist had obviously studied Caravaggio's
work.
Portrait of a Young Man
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
1606-69
c. 1639
Favourite artist include Piero della Francesco, Paolo Uccello, Hans Holbein the Younger, Caravaggio and Rembrandt van Rijn.
Supper with a Lute Player
Gherardo delle Notti 1592-1656
c. 1619-20
An impromptu tooth-pulling perhaps on the right. Again the influence of Caravaggio can be felt.
Diptych of the
Duke of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza
Piero della Francesca
1416/17-92
c. 1473-75
One of my favourite paintings in the Uffizi.
Detail of the back of the diptych:
Trionfo di Federico da Montefeltro on the left, his triumphal "cart" drawn by horses.
Piero della Francesca
1416/17-92
c. 1473-75
Adoration of the Magi
Lorenzo Monaco 1391-1422
c. 1420
Gorgeous colours in this late work by Lorenzo Monaco.
I love anything by Piero della Francesco and any Rembrandts but particularly portraits. I'll go a long way to see anything by Caravaggio, his depictions of people, especially ordinary people, are so realistic. Paolo Uccello's Battle of San Romano is an extraordinary display of perspective painting.
Detail of
Adoration of the Magi
Gentile da Fabriano 1370-c. 1427
1423
Detail of
The Battle of San Romano
Paolo Uccello 1397-1475
c. 1435-40
Back of the diptych:
Trionfo di Federico da Montefeltro on the left, his triumphal "cart" drawn by horses, and
Trionfo di Battista Sforza on the right, hers drawn by unicorns.
Piero della Francesca
1416/17-92
c. 1473-75
Detail of
Annunciation with St Ansanus and St Maxima.
Simone Martini c. 1284-1344 and Lippo Memmi 1317-1347
1333
Adoration of the Magi
Gentile da Fabriano 1370-c. 1427
1423
The Battle of San Romano
Paolo Uccello 1397-1475
c. 1435-40
Another favourite. This is one of three depicting the Florentine victory over the Siennese at San Romano near Pisa in 1432. The others are in the National Gallery, London and the Louvre, Paris. Uccello was a master of perspective.
Another huge favourite of mine.
Madonna and Child with Angels
Filippo Lippi 1406-69
1460-65
Sandro Botticelli is not a particular favourite of mine, but there are some very well-known pieces of his here including the Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring).
Primavera
Sandro Botticelli 1445-1510
c. 1480
Detail of
St John the Evangelist; Madonna and Child with Two Angels
Antonello da Massina 1430-79
c. 1470-73
Adoration of the Magi
Albrecht Dürer 1471-1528
1504
St James the Apostle
Albrecht Dürer 1471-1528
1516
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell
Hans Holbein the Younger 1497-1543
1536
Adam and Eve
Lucas Cranach the Elder 1472-1553
1528
Leonardo Room
Portraits of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi
Raffaello Sanzio 1483-1520
c. 1504-06
Vasari Corridor
Adoration of the Magi
Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
c. 1481-2
Holy Family with the Young St John the Baptist ("Doni Tondo")
Michelangelo Buonarotti 1475-1564
c. 1505-07
Commissioned by Agnolo Doni whose portrait is on the right.
The Vasari Corridor connects the Uffizi - originally offices - with Palazzo Pitti across the River Arno. it was built by Georgio Vasari in 1565 so that the Medici did not have to go down into the streets when they wanted to travel from their home - the Palazzo Pitti - to the Uffizi or the Palazzo Vecchio which had been their previous home in Florence.
River Arno from the Vasari Corridor.
I was excited to walk in the footsteps of the Medici but it turned out to be rather an underwhelming experience. The corridor is very plain, no paintings or sculpture, no atmosphere, just the windows looking down on Ponte Vecchio and the Arno.
Ponte Vecchio from the Vasari Corridor.
Ponte Vecchio from the Vasari Corridor.
Santa Felicita
The corridor passes through Santa Felicita. Vasari added a portico to accommodate the corridor and there is a window looking down into the church.
The corridor ends in steps leading down to the Boboli Gardens attached to Palazzo Pitti.
Arno & Santi Apostoli
Ponte Vecchio
River Arno from the Ponte Vecchio.
The Ponte Vecchio crosses the River Arno linking central Florence with Otrarno on the south side. there has been a bridge here since Roman times but the current bridge was built in 1345 after devastating floods swept away the old timber structure.
Ponte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio is lined with shops. Above are the round windows of the Vasari Corridor.
Originally there were all kinds of shops on the bridge but in 1593 Ferdinand de' Medici I, Grand Duke of Tuscany evicted all the butchers, fishmongers etc. and decreed that only jewellers and goldsmiths could trade here.
Santi Apostoli
The small plaque to the right of the window marks how high the waters of the Arno reached on November 1st 1966.
A couple of hundred metres to the north west of the Uffizi the small Romanesque church of Santi Apostoli stands in tiny Piazza del Limbo. Every time we passed by it was closed.
The church is noteworthy as the holder of fragments of stone from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. On Easter Sunday they are used to spark the rocket carried by the mechanical dove launched from the Duomo to set off the fireworks in the cart which is hauled to the Piazza del Duomo by white bullocks.
The piazza has a marker on the wall to show how high the water reached when the river burst its banks in November 1966.
Galileo Museum
Galileo Museum on the right of the Uffizi.
Polyhedral Dial
Stefano Buonsignori
Florence, 1587
Each face of the dodecahedron was engraved with a different type of sundial. The hollow in the top once held a compass.
A great museum, an interesting change from all the wonderful sculpture and art in the city!
Right next door to the Uffizi on the north bank of the Arno the museum holds more than five thousand scientific items, around 1,000 of which are on permanent display The collections were begun by the Medici dynasty and continued by the Grand Dukes of Lorraine, passing to the University of Florence on its foundation in 1925.
Optical Trick
Ludovico Buti
Italian, 1593
Painted on wood slats it shows different images depending on the viewpoint.
The museum has a great web app which has a wealth of information about the museum and individual items and an online catalogue.
Armillary Sphere
Antonio Santucci
Florence, 1588-93
Built for Ferdinand de' Medici I.
Diptych Dial
Hans Tucher
German, 2nd half 16th cent.
A string was inserted in a hole fr the appropriate latitude ad tied to the opposite end of the base. This acted as a gnomon.
Box of mathematical instruments.
Christoph Schissler
German, late 16th cent.
Various quadrants, sundials and dividers. Back left is a model of the lunar orb by Girolamo della Volpaia, Florence 1557.
Terrestrial globes made by Vincenzo Coronelli, famous for the great size of some of his creation such as the globe almost 4 metres in diameter he made for Louis XIV of France.
The paper pieces mounted behind illustrate how he made the globes, with gores and circular pieces for the poles.
Robert Dudley's Nautical Instruments.
The collection of English Admiral Sir Robert Dudley (1573-1549) was used by the fleets of the Medici. "The secret of longitude is held to be, by learned Mariners, the true key to navigation, since by means of it we can sail over the open Seas with science, and great certainty." Robert Dudley (164-47)
Astrolabe
Gerard Mercator (attr.)
Duisburg c. 1570
This instrument could be used to determine the
positions of visible celestial bodies, measure time and determine latitude.
The cartographer Gerard Mercator is best known for his map incorporating the "Mercator projection".
Mathematical Instruments
Telescopes, both Galileo Galilei.
Italian, top c. 1610, bottom late 1609 - early 1610.
Calculating Machine
Invented by Samuel Morland, 1664.
Henri Sutton, Samuel Knibb
London, 1666
Bust of Galileo Galilei
Carlo Marcellini
1674-77
Galileo was a mathematician who, amongst other things, developed the telescope and observed the planets. He was a supporter of the Copernican heliocentric theory that the planets revolved around the sun, and not the earth. being directly in opposition to Catholic teaching he was eventually imprisoned for a while before being allowed to retire to his villa in Arcetri.
Telescopes for Astronomical Observatories
