The Great Artists CASA BUONARROTI MUSEUM 3 CRUCIFIX 4 BACCHUS This building is actually the result of a Michelangelo, not yet twenty, carved this This statue, commissioned by Cardinal Riario FLORENTINE seventeenth century “merger” of three wooden crucifix for the Prior of Santo Spirito in 1496, dates from Michelangelo’s first so- ITINERARIES houses that Michelangelo had purchased to thank him for allowing him to study the journ in Rome. It reveals an extraordinary em- some time around 1510 (and he had anatomy of dead bodies in the hospital prior to ulation, and reinterpretation, of classical sculp- lived in one of them for a several years). burial. It is the almost unanimous opinion of ture. The god of wine, unsteady on his feet, is It was his great-grandson, Michelangelo scholars that this is the same carving described raising a goblet, while a little satyr is stealing Buonarroti the Younger (1568-1647), in early sources. a bunch of grapes. The naturalistic treatment Michelangelo in Florence who made decorate the rooms with of the shapes and details is astonishing. Franc- scenes celebrating the glories of the BARGELLO MUSEUM esco I de’ Medici purchased the statue and had Michelangelo spent many long years in Florence and left an “divine artist” and his family, making it This museum is located in the former it placed in the Uffizi Gallery. something of a “shrine to his memory”. Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (XIII immense legacy of artworks, as well as many others that he 2 In addition to being the permanent century), and it is one of the major 5 PITTI TONDO produced elsewhere and were brought here later. This pamphlet home of a large collection of letters, sculpture museums in Italy. It conserves Michelangelo carved this round, marble bas-re- 5 6 is a little invitation to go “beyond the David” and discover these models (including the wooden model was attending the garden of San Marco. Even works by the greatest artists starting from lief for Bartolomeo Pitti around 1505. It is con- had been exiled to Rome and with whom the controversial Palestrina Pietà) it masterpieces and the famous, or less known but splendid settings for the façade of San Lorenzo and of though it reveals explicit references to Don- the fifteenth century: from Donatello temporary to his other “tondi” (the Doni Tondo Michelangelo shared his republican ideals. Ac- has been identified as a “Michelangelo where they are found. the River God) and original drawings, atello, especially the stiacciato or “flattened” (two statues of David, Saint George and in the Uffizi and the Taddei Tondo in London). cording to some hypothesis this statue would museum”. In addition to the sculpture which are displayed on a rotating basis, style, the sculpture clearly heralds the artist’s the Marzocco) to the Della Robbia family, The Virgin Mary, with her intent expression be a portrait of Lorenzino de’ Medici (the collection that includes works by other the museum periodically hosts exhibits new, revolutionary language. from Ghiberti and Brunelleschi (two seems to herald one of the Sibyls in the Sistine ‘Lorenzaccio’ who killed the Duke Alessandro artists, there is the painting gallery (with Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564 (Poliziano, Ficino, Pico della Mirandola), and It was during this period, that was also the era (after long resistance the city capitulated to focusing on Michelangelo’s world, his life panels for the famous competition held Chapel, and in the unfinished background we de’ Medici in 1537), and a tribute to the man works dating from the thirteenth to the this had a great impact on his development. It of the first Florentine Republic (1494-1512), that the imperial siege in 1530, and the emperor and the family’s collections. 2 in 1401) to Verrocchio, from Cellini to sixteenth century) and the Museum of The Buonarroti family had its roots in was in this context that he carved his earliest Michelangelo came into contact with Leonardo sanctioned the return of the Medicis). The THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS can see the figure of the Young Saint John. who did away with the tyrant. Florence and lived on the Santa Croce district. masterpieces, the Battle of the Centaurs and da Vinci. The two artists were commissioned to David-Apollo now in the Bargello dates from This sculpture also dates from Michelangelo’s Giambologna to Bernini. A rich and very Antique Musical Instruments. Michelangelo himself was born at Caprese, the Madonna of the Stairs, both of which are paint two grandiose frescoes in the Sala del Gran this period. 1 MADONNA OF THE STAIRS youth and it was Agnolo Poliziano, the famous fine grouping of weapons, small bronzes, 6 BRUTUS 7 DAVID/APOLLO near Arezzo, where his father was the “podestà” conserved in the Casa Buonarroti Museum. Consiglio in Palazzo Vecchio. Neither of these In 1534 Michelangelo departed – this time Michelangelo carved this bas-relief of the Vir- poet of the Medici entourage, who suggested majolica items, ivory and other objects of This bust, clearly inspired by classical statu- The dual name of this statue is due to the un- 8 DAVID or chief magistrate. The family moved back to Shortly thereafter he carved the wooden frescoes have survived; Michelangelo had only definitively – for Rome where other great projects gin and Child against a background of steep the subject. Based on an episode from Ovid’s the so-called “minor” arts completes the ary was carved in Rome around 1540 on the certainties in the interpretation of the subject. This statue was originally commissioned by the Florence shortly after the boy’s birth. Crucifix for the Prior of Santo Spirito, done the preparatory cartoons for the Battle of were waiting: the Last Judgment in the Sistine stairs (hence the name) when he was 15 and Metamorphoses, it portrays a lively melee of museum’s collection. advice of Donato Giannotti, a Florentine who At the end of the siege of 1530 (that sanc- Opera del Duomo in 1501 and was completed When he was thirteen he was apprenticed to following the death of his first patron, Lorenzo Cascina, but these drawings were lost over time. Chapel (where more than in any other of his Ghirlandaio’s flourishing workshop (scholars the Magnificent, and perhaps partly because Over the following years Michelangelo was busy works he revealed a profound, and tormented “heroic nudes” in a great variety of poses and tioned the return of the Medicis to Florence) three years later. Out of a block of marble that have said that he worked on the choir frescoes in of it, Michelangelo embarked on a series of with two very important commissions for Pope religious spirit), the final version of the tomb of expressions. Michelangelo drew the inspira- Michelangelo was practically forced to carve another artist had begun carving and aban- the church of Santa Maria Novella), and studied travels that would take him to Rome (1496). Julius II in Rome – the tortured project that Julius II in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli tion for this test of skill from antique sarcopha- this statue for Baccio Valori, papal governor of doned Michelangelo created a revolutionary the great masters of Tuscan painting, Giotto and was modified several times for the pope’s tomb (this project had been considerably downsized There, contact with the classical world had an gi depicting similar themes. Florence as a condition to regain the favor of interpretation of the biblical hero as well as the Masaccio. Shortly thereafter he entered what important influence on his future works. He (for this he carved the Slaves that are in the with respect to the original plans and includes the Medicis. archetype of the Renaissance ideal of beauty. was known as the Garden of San Marco: an obtained important commissions from cardinals Academy Gallery and the Louvre in Paris, as the famous statue of Moses) and his final, great academy founded by Lorenzo the Magnificent such as the classical Bacchus that is now in well as the Victory in Palazzo Vecchio) - and the architectural achievement, the dome of Saint CHURCH OF SANTO SPIRITO The statue, immediately rechristened as “the and directed by one of Donatello’s pupils the Bargello Museum, and the famous Pietà in titanic task of frescoing the ceiling of the Sistine Peter’s Basilica. The distinctive façade of the church ACADEMY GALLERY giant” was placed in front of the Palazzo Vec- (the famous sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni), Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. During Chapel (1508-12). His last two sculptures were the Pietà is the backdrop for the lively, typically This museum’s name is practically chio in Piazza della Signoria and became the where ancient sculptures were kept partly for Back in Florence, between 1515-34, under the (“Bandini”) in the Opera del Duomo Museum this period he also made the first of many trips Florentine piazza of the same name. synonymous with Michelangelo’s David, symbol of the proud Florentine Republic. The teaching purposes. Lorenzo the Magnificent to the marble quarries at Carrara to choose Medici pontiffs Leo X and Clement VII (Lorenzo and the “Rondanini” Pietà (in Milan) that he was The church that also houses works by but there is much more to see. It was original was moved to this museum in 1873 quickly recognized the young Michelangelo’s the material for his statues. In 1501, back in the Magnificent’s son and nephew respectively) working on shortly before his death in 1564 at talents and took him to live in his palace on Via Florence, within a few years he created two he worked on the San Lorenzo, the complex that the age of 89. Perugino, Filippino Lippi and Andrea established in the eighteenth century and a copy was raised in Piazza della Signoria. Larga (that is now known as Palazzo Medici- of his greatest masterpieces: the David in the had always been the Medici family church and His body was brought back to Florence Sansovino – was designed by Brunelleschi as a teaching facility for the students Riccardi, where Michelangelo would later design Academy Gallery and the Doni Tondo, a mausoleum: the façade that was never built, the shortly after his death. After a lavish funeral (1432), and can be considered the apex of of the adjacent Accademia di Belle 9 SLAVES the “kneeling windows” to enclose the loggia famous New Sacristy and the Laurentian Michelangelo was buried in the Basilica of painting in the Uffizi Gallery, as well as the Pitti his artistic career. Michelangelo’s crucifix Arti. Then, since 1873 when the David These 4, unfinished statues were begun for designed by Michelozzo). In the Medici palace Tondo in the Bargello and the Saint Matthew Library. Michelangelo had also been active in Santa Croce, where a few years later the funeral is in the sacristy designed by Giuliano da was moved there, and other works by one of the many versions of the tomb of Pope the young artist was exposed to the humanistic in the Academy Gallery the second Florentine Republic, he served as monument designed by Vasari was erected. environment of the Medici cultural circle superintendent of the city’s military fortifications Sangallo. Michelangelo were acquired (including Julius II in Rome; two other slaves from the 1 3 4 Family is portrayed against a background with of Cascina – as the companion fresco to anoth- from the dark crypt one can reach the The Great nudes, probably allusions to the pagan world, er battle scene by Leonardo. This statue, that majestic Chapel of the Princes (built 4 Artists with the Young Saint John in a significant inter- has more than a few similarities to the David, between the seventeenth and eighteenth mediate position. The splendidly carved frame was carved for one of the many versions of the centuries and sumptuously clad with dates from the same period as the painting. tomb of Pope Julius II in Rome. semiprecious stone inlays by the famous FLORENTINE Opificio delle Pietre Dure that houses the 7 ITINERARIES PALAZZO VECCHIO MUSEUM THE SAN LORENZO COMPLEX tombs of the Medici Grand Dukes) which 8 This monument and symbol of the city is a group of monuments (the Basilica, leads into Michelangelo’s Medici Chapel, was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio at the Laurentian Library and the Medici also known as New Sacristy the end of the 1200s, and is still the Chapels) all erected around the site of seat of the city government. With the the church and under the patronage of 13 NEW SACRISTY 14 advent of Cosimo I de’ Medici, who the Medici family. The original church It is new in relation to the “old” sacristy desi- 14 1 chose it as his residence (1540) a project of San Lorenzo dates from 393 A.D., and gned by Brunelleschi on the opposite side of LAURENTIAN LIBRARY 5 3 was launched to decorate the interior it was Brunelleschi who designed the the transept of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. This collection of books, manuscripts and 6 – Vasari and his pupils centered the splendid Renaissance interior (including This extraordinary room, a sublime blend of parchments, begun by Cosimo the Elder with design on a celebration of the Medici the “Old Sacristy” which is the first the assistance of renowned humanists is the sculpture and architecture, is particularly rich 2 House. In the oldest part of the building, nucleus of the Medici mausoleum). in symbolism. Michelangelo worked on it for only one of its kind in the world. In 1523 the 15 where there are still decorations dating Here we can admire works by Donatello, 14 years during the period that coincided with Medici pope, Clement VII, commissioned 8 9 15 PIETA’ from the republican period, we can Verrocchio, Filippo Lippi and Rosso the dramatic events of the siege of 1530. The Michelangelo to design the library, and he This is a masterpiece of great dramatic in- same project are now in the Louvre. Known XVIII century. The museum’s many rooms admire masterpieces such as Judith and Fiorentino. Michelangelo’s wooden model tombs of Giuliano Duke of Nemours and Lo- continued monitoring the work even after his tensity. Originally conceived for his own fu- by different names (the Awakening Slave, the that open onto the splendid corridor Holofernes by Donatello and the Puttino for the façade that was never built - so renzo Duke of Urbino (with their famous al- definitive departure for Rome in 1534. The nerary monument in the church Santa Maria Bearded Slave, the Young Slave and Atlas) they that is decorated with paintings and by Verrocchio. the church still has its original rough legorical statues of Day and Night, Dusk and magnificent vestibule, “sculpted architecture”, Maggiore in Rome, the elderly artist carved have been interpreted in several ways. As we ancient statuary, house over 1,600 works stone exterior – is in the Casa Buonarotti Dawn respectively) are completed. On the un- is dominated by the tripartite staircase that the statue around 1550. Then, unsatisfied, he see them, in various stages of completion they arranged by school and chronology. The 12 VICTORY Museum. finished tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent and leads into the main room – the reading room damaged it himself and it was restored and 1 • Casa Buonarroti Museum, Via Ghibellina 70 evoke the enormous strength of the creative museum was established in the middle This allegorical statue stands in the Sa- Giuliano de’ Medici, between the patron saints - which was entirely decorated (from the walls completed by one of his pupils. At the apex of 2 • Church of Santo Spirito, Piazza S. Spirito concept as they try to free themselves from of the sixteenth century with the Medici lone de’ Cinquecento, the same room (then MEDICI CHAPELS of the Medici dynasty (carved by pupils) is the to the design of the desks) according to precise the pyramidal composition is Nicodemus (that 3 • Bargello Museum, Via del Proconsolo 4 the bonds and physical weight of the marble. collections as its core, and then over known as the Sala del Gran Consiglio) where This is the dynasty’s mausoleum and sublime Madonna and Child by the master’s instructions from the master. It is reachable is actually a self-portrait) holding and contem- 4 • Academy Gallery, Via Ricasoli 60 They were originally purchased by Cosimo I the years was profoundly changed and Michelangelo was to have painted the Battle comprises several clearly separate areas: hand. through the main cloister of the Basilica. plating the body of the dead Christ. 5 • Palazzo Vecchio Museum, Piazza Signoria who had them placed in Buontalenti’s Grotto enriched. The Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe 6 • Galleria degli Uffizi, Piazzale degli Uffizi in the Boboli Gardens. (that has many drawings by Michelangelo) OPERA DEL DUOMO MUSEUM 7 • Complex of San Lorenzo, and the Vasari Corridor, with its amazing This museum features a group of – Medici Chapels, Piazza Madonna d. Aldobrandini 10 SAINT MATTHEW collection of self-portraits, linking the important, original masterpieces that By Andrea Giordani – Laurentian Library, Piazza S. Lorenzo Michelangelo did only one of the statues for Uffizi to Palazzo Pitti complete the relate to the history of the cathedral. Visitor Promotion and Service City of Florence 8 • Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Piazza Duomo 9 the ambitious project calling for twelve marble amazing museum offer of the Uffizi. From the sculptures for the original Apostles for the cathedral of Florence, and he façade by Arnolfo di Cambio, to the For the authorization to use the pictures, thanks to: left it unfinished. 11 DONI TONDO choirs by Luca della Robbia and Donatello Michelangelo (as well as the latter’s Magdalene and Fondazione Casa Buonarroti This painting, the only by Michelangelo in for information: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali in Florence UFFIZI GALLERY Florence, was done for the marriage of Agnolo the Prophets carved for the bell tower) - Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale City of Florence Visitor Information Bureaus: This is one of the most important Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, shortly before he to Ghiberti’s panels from the Door of Fiorentino - Piazza Stazione 4 – tel. + 39 055212245 His Masterpieces museums in the world. It offers an Paradise of the Baptistry. Other sections embarked on the frescoes of the ceiling of the - Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana - Borgo Santa Croce 29r – tel. + 39 0552340444 in His City extraordinary overview of Italian and Sistine Chapel, and we can see the same rich, of the museum are dedicated to Comune di Firenze, Sevizio Musei European painting from the XIII to the bright Mannerist colors and style. The Holy reliquaries and Brunelleschi’s dome. Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore 11 12 13 Comune di Firenze Assessorato alle Attività Produttive e Turismo