Summary for the Annunciation (2061)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Summary for the Annunciation (2061) KRESS COLLECTION DIGITAL ARCHIVE Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1406-1469 The Annunciation KRESS CATALOGUE NUMBER IDENTIFIER K1241 2061 ARTIST NATIONALITY Lippi, Filippo, Fra, c. 1406-1469 Italian DATE MEDIUM c. 1435/1440 tempera on panel TYPE OF OBJECT Painting DIMENSIONS 100 x 161 cm (39 3/8 x 63 3/8 in) LOCATION National Gallery of Art, Washington, District of Columbia PROVENANCE Possibly Tommaso Puccini [1749-1811], Villa a Scornio, near Pistoia. [1] possibly (Sangiorgi, Rome), early 1900s. [2] Achillito Chiesa, Milan. [3] (Piero Tozzi [1882-1974], New York), by 1925 until at least 1927. [4] Percy S. Straus, New York, by 1932. [5] (Bachstitz Gallery, The Hague), by 1934. [6] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris), by 1937; [7] sold 1940 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; [8] gift 1943 to NGA. [1] In commentary on Filippo Lippi, Tommaso Puccini writes ("Dialoghi sulle Vite del Vasari," Archive of the Gallerie Fiorentine, Florence, c. 1800, Ms. no. 46, fol. 199): "Io possiedo di questo Autore un quadretto conservatissimo esprimente l'Annunziata...Genuflette davanti alla Vergine, assorta in contemplazione del S. Spirito che viene a deporla nel seno il Messia, bianco vestito, con un giglio in mano, un grazioso Angeletto che non tocca coi ginocchi il terreno, ma sta sull'ali sospeso. Il fondo rappresenta l'interno della Camera con una prospettiva intesa a meraviglia..." ("I possess by this author a very well preserved little picture representing the Annunciate...Kneeling before the Virgin, rapt in contemplation of the Holy Spirit who comes to place the Messiah in her womb, dressed in white, with a lily in his hand, a lovely little angel who does not touch the ground with his knees but floats on wings. The background represents the interior of a room with a perspective which is marvelously understood"). Apart from the detail concerning the knees which do not touch the floor, the description is quite similar to the NGA painting, but it may refer, of course, to some other of Lippi's paintings on this subject. [2] The name "S. Giorgi" is written on the back of a photograph of the painting belonging to the Biblioteca Berenson at Villa I Tatti near Florence and coming from Bernard Berenson's files, indicating the panel's earliest known location. This was Berenson's customary abbreviation for the name of the Roman dealer Sangiorgi. [3] The art collection of Achille Chiesa in Milan, inherited after his death by his son Achillito, was sold at the American Art Association Galleries in New York at various sales between 1925 and 1927. The NGA painting, however, which is not listed in the auction catalogues, must have been sold privately sometime earlier. [4] According to Odoardo H. Giglioli, "Una pittura ignota di Fra Filippo Lippi," BdA, n.s. 6 (1925-1926): 553, the painting was brought to Florence NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, GALLERY ARCHIVES Page 1 KRESS COLLECTION DIGITAL ARCHIVE for restoration. Records of the Florentine Soprintendenza dei Beni Artistici e Storici (pratica no. 630 of 27 January 1925) show that the panel, belonging to the dealer Tozzi, entered Italy in January 1925 and left for New York in March 1927. No records concerning this painting have been discovered in The Tozzi Archive, housed in The Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. [5] See Berenson Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance , Oxford, 1932: 288. Possibly the painting passed through various hands before entering, sometime around 1930, the Straus collection. The annotation on Berenson's photograph, cited in note 2, also records the Florence dealer Albrighi as owner. [6] The painting was illustrated in 1934, in a partially cleaned state, in an advertisement of the Bachstitz Gallery in the December issue of The Burlington Magazine 65, xvi. [7] See Robert Oertel, Fra Filippo Lippi, Vienna, 1942: 67. [8] Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:263. ACCESSION NUMBER 1943.4.35 KRESS NUMBER 1241 PICHETTO NUMBER 10515 LEGACY NGA NUMBER 536 1 ACQUISITION Duveen Brothers, May 27, 1940 2 DISTRIBUTIONS Loan to National Gallery of Art, February 21, 1941 Gift to National Gallery of Art, March 31, 1943 EXTERNAL LINKS Related Collection Record https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.12133.html Related National Gallery of Art Library Image Collections Record https://library.nga.gov/permalink/01NGA_INST/1p5jkvq/alma99291283804896 Related National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalog https://library.nga.gov/permalink/01NGA_INST/1cl1g8d/alma992014793504896 8 ARCHIVAL ITEMS K1241 - Expert opinion by Berenson, circa 1920s-1950s NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, GALLERY ARCHIVES Page 2 KRESS COLLECTION DIGITAL ARCHIVE K1241 - Art object record, circa 1930s-1950s K1241 - Alan Burroughs report, circa 1930s-1940s K1241 - Alan Burroughs report, 1940 K1241 - Work summary log, 1941-1943 K1241 - Expert opinion by Berenson, 1945 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, GALLERY ARCHIVES Page 3 KRESS COLLECTION DIGITAL ARCHIVE K1241 - Condition and restoration record, circa 1950s-1960s K1241 - Examination summary, 1989 RECORD LINK https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2061 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, GALLERY ARCHIVES Page 4.
Recommended publications
  • Renaissance Theories of Vision Edited by John Hendrix, University of Lincoln, UK and Rhode Island School of Design and Roger Williams University, USA, and Charles H
    Renaissance Theories of Vision Edited by John Hendrix, University of Lincoln, UK and Rhode Island School of Design and Roger Williams University, USA, and Charles H. Carman, University at Buffalo, USA Visual Culture in Early Modernity December 2010 244 x 172 mm 258 pages Hardback 978-1-4094-0024-0 £65.00 Includes 18 b&w illustrations How are processes of vision, perception, and sensation conceived in the Renaissance? How are those conceptions made manifest in the arts? The essays in this volume address these and similar questions to establish important theoretical and philosophical bases for artistic production in the Renaissance and beyond. The essays also attend to the views of historically significant writers from the ancient classical period to the eighteenth century, including Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, St Augustine, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), Ibn Sahl, Marsilio Ficino, Nicholas of Cusa, Leon Battista Alberti, Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Gregorio Comanini, John Davies, Rene Descartes, Samuel van Hoogstraten, and George Berkeley. Contributors carefully scrutinize and illustrate the effect of changing and evolving ideas of intellectual and physical vision on artistic practice in Florence, Rome, Venice, England, Austria, and the Netherlands. The artists whose work and practices are discussed include Fra Angelico, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Filippino Lippi, Giovanni Bellini, Raphael, Parmigianino, Titian, Bronzino, Johannes Gumpp and Rembrandt van Rijn. Taken together, the essays provide the reader with a fresh perspective on the intellectual confluence between art, science, philosophy, and literature across Renaissance Europe. Contents Introduction, John S. Hendrix and Charles H. Carman; Classical optics and the perspectivae traditions leading to the Renaissance, Nader El-Bizri; Meanings of perspective in the Renaissance: tensions and resolution, Charles H.
    [Show full text]
  • 60A. Early Italian Renaissance Lippi
    HUMANISM and the CLASSICAL TRADITION: EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE: (Fra Filippo Lippi and Botticelli) EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Online Links: Sandro Botticelli – Wikipedia The Birth of Venus – Wikipedia Primavera – Wikipedia Birth of Venus - Smarthistory Primavera – Smarthistory Fra Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child – Smarthistory Man and Woman at a Casement – Smarthistory Birth of Venus - Uffizi Gallery Birth of Venus - Google Art Project (for closeup details) Fra Filippo Lippi. Madonna and Child with Angels, c. 1455, tempera on wood Fra Filippo Lippi (c. 1406-1469) was the son of a Florentine butcher with too many children to support. He and one of his brothers were therefore placed in the Camaldolese monastery of the Carmine. Unlike Fra Angelico, however, Filippo lacked the temperament of a friar. At one point, he had several nuns living in his house, allegedly using them as models. When one of the nuns, Lucrezia Buti, produced a son, Filippo was brought to trial and tortured. But he was fortunate in having the backing of Cosimo de’Medici and the humanist pope, Pius II. They arranged for him to withdraw from the Order, marry Lucrezia, and have their son Filippino legitimized. The prominent rock formations directly behind Christ’s head refer to the Church and the distant city to the heavenly Jerusalem. At the left, the landscape opens into a body of water, alluding to Mary’s association with the sea. In this painting, there is a particular emphasis on the motif of the pearl, which is a product of the sea. Small pearl clasps hold together the embroidered pillowcase on the arm rest and are repeated in Mary’s hair.
    [Show full text]
  • Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects
    Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Giorgio Vasari Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Table of Contents Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects.......................................................................1 Giorgio Vasari..........................................................................................................................................2 LIFE OF FILIPPO LIPPI, CALLED FILIPPINO...................................................................................9 BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO........................................................................................................13 LIFE OF BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO.........................................................................................14 FRANCESCO FRANCIA.....................................................................................................................17 LIFE OF FRANCESCO FRANCIA......................................................................................................18 PIETRO PERUGINO............................................................................................................................22 LIFE OF PIETRO PERUGINO.............................................................................................................23 VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO), AND OTHER VENETIAN AND LOMBARD PAINTERS...........................................................................................................................................31
    [Show full text]
  • Visualizing Dynasty and Dissent in Jacopo Pontormo's Portrait Of
    Visualizing dynasty and dissent in Jacopo Pontormo’s Portrait of Cosimo il Vecchio Mary Hogan Camp Figure 1 Pontormo, Portrait of Cosimo il Vecchio, c. 1519, oil on panel, 90 x 72 cm Uffizi Gallery (inv. 1890, n. 3574), Florence. Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain) The Portrait of Cosimo il Vecchio, c. 1519, marked the first Medicean portrait commission for the rising young Florentine artist Jacopo Pontormo (b.1494). [Figure1] It proved pivotal in his career, garnering him the favour and patronage of the Medici, who would continue to give him commissions and eventually place him on their payroll, where he remained for over twenty-four years until his death in 1556.1 At the time this commission was given, however, there was no such future surety: the family was facing a crisis, and the survival of the Medici line was in grave doubt. In 1516, Duke Giuliano de’ Medici, the youngest son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and ruler of Florence, had died childless at the age of thirty-seven. In 1519, his twenty-six-year-old nephew and successor, Duke Lorenzo, succumbed to a combination of syphilis and tuberculosis just twenty-one days after the birth of his only daughter Catherine. Their unexpected deaths left the family with no legitimate heir to power. There was one 1 Elizabeth Pilliod, Pontormo, Bronzino, Allori: a genealogy of Florentine art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001, 17. Journal of Art Historiography Number 17 December 2017 Mary Hogan Camp Visualizing dynasty and dissent in Jacopo Pontormo’s Portrait of Cosimo il Vecchio glimmer of hope, and of a hoped-for change in fortune: the birth of a healthy son to Maria Salviati, granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, on 12 June 1519, only one month after Duke Lorenzo’s death.
    [Show full text]
  • Telling Stories “When They Saw the Star, They Were Overjoyed
    Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1440 / 1460, tempera on panel, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection A Long Journey 1 As told in the Gospels of the New Testament, the life of Florence, Italy, in the fifteenth century. The journey of Jesus began with his extraordinary yet humble birth in the three wise men was often depicted in Florentine art Bethlehem. Shepherds and three Magi (wise men from and reenacted in Epiphany processions through the city. the East) visited the manger where Jesus was born to In Renaissance Italy, religious images, from large altar- pay their respects. The Adoration of the Magi depicts the pieces for churches to small paintings for private devo- moment when the three wise men, bringing gifts of tion in homes, were the mainstay of artists’ workshops. gold, frankincense, and myhrr, kneel before the infant. At the time, not all common people could read. Stories The story of the Magi was particularly popular in from the Bible were reproduced in paintings filled with symbols that viewers could easily understand. 70 Telling Stories “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:10 – 11 Look Around 2 The Adoration of the Magi is one of the first examples of a tondo (Italian for “round painting”), a popular form for religious paintings in the 1400s.
    [Show full text]
  • Course Units 2013-2014
    UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION Course Units 2013-2014 Reading Examination: LCIA6801: Italian for Art Historians This examination counts for 40% of your final mark. It comprises: Reading Skills 40% Duration: 2 hours Date: XX-May-2014 Time: 10:00/14:30 Version: v1.01 2014-02-26 © 2014 University College London ITALIAN FOR ART HISTORIANS: LCIA6801 Page 2 CONTINUED ITALIAN FOR ART HISTORIANS: LCIA6801 Page 3 In this examination you can obtain a maximum of 100 points which are awarded as follows: Reading Skills: 100 points Reading Competence: 100 points Answer ALL TASKS in ENGLISH in the separate EXAMINATION ANSWER BOOK(S) provided. Answer only ONE TASK ON EACH PAGE and begin EACH answer on a fresh page. YOU MAY USE A DICTIONARY OF YOUR CHOICE. In order for your answers to remain anonymous do NOT use your name when completing the tasks. Document A L’«Officina» dei colori La grande stagione artistica della città che nel Quattrocento vide presenti e attivi Donatello, Paolo Uccello e Filippo Lippi. Una mostra nel restaurato Palazzo Pretorio A. [Title 1] Angustiata da una crisi economica senza precedenti e alle prese con il problema di un’immigrazione biblica sostanzialmente fuori controllo, la città di Prato ha deciso di reagire. E lo ha fatto puntando5 sulla cultura e sulla valorizzazione del proprio patrimonio artistico, un patrimonio così ingente, intatto e rilevante da poter rammentare al mondo che la città fu, nel Quattrocento, una delle piccole gloriose capitali del Rinascimento italiano.10 B. [Title 2] Prato iniziò a distinguersi già nel Medioevo. Divenuta libero comune nel 1140 e vittoriosa su Pistoia nel 1193, la città conobbe una costante ascesa economica legata alla produzione della lana e della carta.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations of Self and City in Botticelli's Illustrations of Dante's Commedia
    University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM UVM College of Arts and Sciences College Honors Theses Undergraduate Theses 2017 Representations of Self and City in Botticelli's Illustrations of Dante's Commedia Julia C. Spelman Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/castheses Recommended Citation Spelman, Julia C., "Representations of Self and City in Botticelli's Illustrations of Dante's Commedia" (2017). UVM College of Arts and Sciences College Honors Theses. 35. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/castheses/35 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in UVM College of Arts and Sciences College Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Representations of Self and City in Botticelli’s Illustrations of Dante’s Commedia An Undergraduate Thesis Submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences for the Completion of College Honors by Julia Spelman Department of Art History College of Arts and Sciences University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont 2016-2017 1 Contents Introduction 3 Chapter 1: Dante Commentary in the Renaissance 14 Chapter 2: Botticelli, Humanism, and the Rising Status of Artists 24 Chapter 3: Elevation of Painting as a Liberal Art 36 Chapter 4: The Illustrations 42 Concluding Remarks 69 Figures 73 Bibliography 78 2 Introduction Sandro Botticelli’s ninety-two illustrations of Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia represent a fifteenth-century product of Florentine civic pride, the reclaiming of Dante as the defender of Florence, the rising status and intellect of the artist, and the elevation of painting as a prestigious liberal art.
    [Show full text]
  • Tuscany Travels Through Art
    TUSCANY TRAVELS THROUGH ART Searching for beauty in the footsteps of great artists tuscany TRAVELS THROUGH ART Searching for beauty in the footsteps of great artists For the first time, a guide presents itineraries that let you discover the lives and works of the great artists who have made Tuscany unique. Architects, sculptors, painters, draughtsmen, inventors and unrivalled genius– es have claimed Tuscany as their native land, working at the service of famous patrons of the arts and leaving a heritage of unrivalled beauty throughout the territory. This guide is essential not only for readers approaching these famous names, ranging from Cimabue to Modigliani, for the first time, but also for those intent on enriching their knowledge of art through new discoveries. An innovative approach, a different way of exploring the art of Tuscany through places of inspiration and itineraries that offer a new look at the illustrious mas– ters who have left their mark on our history. IN THE ITINERARIES, SOME IMPORTANT PLACES IS PRESENTED ** DON’T MISS * INTERESTING EACH ARTIST’S MAIN FIELD OF ACTIVITY IS DISCUSSED ARCHITECT CERAMIST ENGINEER MATHEMATICIAN PAINTER SCIENTIST WRITER SCULPTOR Buon Voyage on your reading trip! Index of artists 4 Leona Battista Alberti 56 Caravaggio 116 Leonardo da Vinci 168 The Pollaiolo Brothers 6 Bartolomeo Ammannati 58 Galileo Chini 118 Filippo Lippi 170 Pontormo 8 Andrea del Castagno 62 Cimabue 120 Filippino Lippi 172 Raffaello Sanzio 10 Andrea del Sarto 64 Matteo Civitali 124 Ambrogio Lorenzetti 174 Antonio Rossellino
    [Show full text]
  • Andrea Della Robbia's Annunciation and Adoration Altarpieces At
    religions Article The Incarnation of the Word: Andrea Della Robbia’s Annunciation and Adoration Altarpieces at La Verna Stephanie R. Miller Department of Visual Arts, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29528, USA; [email protected] Abstract: On the mountainous crest of the Apennines are several buildings comprising the monastic site of La Verna where St. Francis received his stigmata in 1224. Described in 1493 as another Jerusalem in the West, the monastery’s Chiesa Maggiore, Santa Maria degli Angeli, and the Chapel of the Stigmata house its most prominent images, Andrea della Robbia’s five altarpieces (c. 1476-c. 1493). This essay explores the beholder’s experiences before Andrea’s earliest two altarpieces at the Observant Franciscan monastery, the Annunciation and Adoration. The history and function of this monastery are considered in light of the themes of these altarpieces and their theological significance. Of relevance are the inscriptions on the altarpieces, which rather than simply identifying the accompanying images, propose interesting interpretations and influences for the altarpieces and which suggest interactive involvement between beholder and the altarpieces in the monastic spaces. Taken together, these works reveal a sensitivity to the specific needs of the Franciscan audience, context, and location and an awareness of Renaissance devotional practices. Keywords: Andrea della Robbia; Franciscan; La Verna; altarpiece; Incarnation; inscriptions Citation: Miller, Stephanie R. 2021. 1. Introduction The Incarnation of the Word: Andrea Della Robbia’s Annunciation and Situated in the peak of the Apennine Mountains is the remote Franciscan monastery Adoration Altarpieces at La Verna. of La Verna, described in 1493 by Fra Alexandro de Riciis as another Jerusalem in the Religions 12: 624.
    [Show full text]
  • Filippo Lippi
    Filippo Lippi By Paul G. Konody Filippo Lippi I IN Vasari's gossipy Lives of the Painters, and indeed in most art histories written before the era of scientific critical research, there is an inclination, in the absence of documentary material, to reconstruct the old masters' characters and lives from the evidence of their extant works. Many a charming legend, that was originally suggested by the expression of the painter's personality in his art, and has been handed down from generation to generation, had to be shelved as dusty archives yielded new knowledge of indisputable prosaic facts to the diligent searcher. Whilst the serious student owes a debt of deep gratitude to those who devote their time and labour to the investigation of documentary evidence, and to establishing critical standards for the sifting of the great masters' works from those of their followers and imitators, the elimination of romance from the history of art is a hindrance rather than a help to the ordinary person who cares not a jot about morphological characteristics, but loves nevertheless to spend an hour now and then in communion with the old masters. For him, paradoxical though it may seem, there is more significant truth in many an entirely fictitious anecdote, than in the dry facts recorded by the conscientious historian. Thus we know now that Domenico Veneziano outlived Andrea dal Castagno by several years, and could therefore not have been foully murdered by his jealous rival. But does not the fable of this act of violence, suggested no doubt by the fierceness
    [Show full text]
  • The Italian Renaissance What Was
    The [Italian] Renaissance What was it? Why then? Why there? Objective 1 • To understand the values that defined the era and to understand the importance of thought and values to defining the era • To know that art was informed by the values, especially in the choice of the subject, the way in which the subject was depicted, and the overall composition and message. Proto-Renaissance High Renaissance Giotto Leonardo da Vinci Early Renaissance Raphael (Raffaelle Sanzio) Fra Angelico Michelangelo Filippo Brunelleschi High and Late Renaissance Donatello Michelangelo Masaccio Titian Domenico Ghirlandaio Giorgione Fra Filippo Lippi Veronese Andrea Mantegna Tintoretto Piero della Francesca Mannerism Verrocchio Parmigianino Botticelli Bronzino Giovanni Bellini Pontormo Gentile Bellini • Poggio Bracciolini • Coluccio Salutati • Angelo Poliziano • Marsilio Ficino Francesco Petrarca (aka Petrarch) • Giovanni Pico della Mirandola “father of humanism” • Leonardo Bruni • Niccolò Niccolì • Vespasiano da’Bisticci Baldassare Castiglione • Tommaso Parentucelli Niccolò Machiavelli (aka Pope Nicholas V) • Aeneus Silvius Piccolomini (aka Pope Pius II) • Manuel Chrysoloras • Demetrius the Greek Objective 2 • To put forward a definition of Renaissance that is narrower in geographical scope and shorter in time span than that usually seen in most popular and many scholarly histories and that is a more coherent era characterized by a commonly-held set of values and ideas. A French word meaning “rebirth,” Renaissance refers to a period of intellectual, cultural, and artistic flowering that occurred in Italy between about 1350 and 1530, reaching its zenith in Florence in the 1460s to mid-1490s. The “rebirth” (Rinascimento in Italian) referred to the revival of classical Greco-Roman culture and values, but it occurred with a decidedly Christian tone.
    [Show full text]
  • Visit to the Uffizi Gallery, Florence by Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig Phd Originally Published in Spanish in Letra Urbana
    Visit to the Uffizi Gallery, Florence By Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig PhD Originally published in Spanish in Letra Urbana During the "Florentine Weekend", organized by Friends of the Uffizi, the director of the museum offered a guided tour in which he highlighted the newest restoration and conservation projects as well as the Palace’s newly renovated rooms. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, is one of the most important museums in the world. The complex includes not only the institution of the same name, which occupies the first two floors of the large building designed and built by Giorgio Vasari between 1560 and 1580, but also the Pitti Palace, connected through the Vasari Corridor built on the famous Ponte Vecchio , and the Boboli Gardens. The Uffizi building was commissioned in the sixteenth century by Cosimo I de Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, to house Florence’s administrative and judicial offices, hence its name “Uffizi”, which means "office" in Italian. Centuries later, the Medici family donated its important collection to the city with the condition of being exhibited in perpetuity in said building. Today, the museum is renowned for its collections of sculptures and paintings dating from the Middle Ages to modern times, and in particular for being the repository of masterpieces by artists such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna , Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Artemisia Gentileschi, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyck, among others. In 1993, a terrorist act caused great damage to the museum. Faced with the need to restore the building and works damaged by explosives, a group led by Countess Maria Vittoria Colonna Rimbotti founded the organization Amici degli Uffizi.
    [Show full text]