Free publication on www.friendsoftheuffizigallery.org Polistampa - Firenze JOURNAL OF THE FRIENDS OF THE UFFIZI GALLERY N° 72 - August 2018 The “Rose of the Winds” In the new Michelangelo room, an opportune choice of works offers a panorama of the fundamental tendencies in art development in Italy and Europe for years and centuries to follow he new layout of the Michel- Tangelo room, sponsored by the Amici degli Uffizi and by the Friends of the Uffizi Galleries, conceived by Eike Schmidt and executed by Antonio Godoli, The new Raffaello and Michelangelo room of the Uffizi Galleries: in the center, the famedTondo Doni by Buonarroti. has advantageously put on ex- hibit the Tondo Doni alongside the transfer. The three paintings Another eloquent juxtaposi- as the “Master of Serumido”. Ex- the portraits of its patrons, Agnolo have been joined by Raffaello’s tion is the placement alongside amining more closely the por- Doni and Maddalena Strozzi. other Florentine masterwork, the Tondo Doni of the Dying Al- traits themselves, among the su- The former is an early master- the so-called Madonna of the exander, a fragment of a late Hel- preme masterpieces of all times, piece by Michelangelo; the two Goldfinch and other particularly lenistic sculpture probably from we are reminded that Raffaello portraits are works by Raffaello, significant works by Fra’ Bar- Pergamum. The bust rests on a was just twenty-five when he put dating to his Florentine sojourn tolomeo, all on display in their magnificent ancient column of his hand to the task and still full between 1504 and 1508. protective crystal glass cases Phrygian flowering alabaster, of memories of Urbino. Un- In early Cinquecento Flor- that allow for close examination a gift to the Uffizi by the great doubtedly, he had in mind and ence, the union of Agnolo Doni within the room’s white and art historian Detlef Heikamp. heart the Diptych of the Dukes of and Maddalena Strozzi, both ivory grey tonalities. Together The work exemplifies the An- Urbino by Piero della Francesca heirs of two great Florentine they form what I call the “Rosa tiquity that most inspired the that he knew from the Ducal families, was the marriage of dei Venti (Rose of the Winds)”, young Michelangelo: naturalis- Palace of Urbino and that today the century. Two great fortunes the visual manifestation of what tic, dramatic Antiquity inspired stands within the Uffizi at just a were joined and two young art will be the fundamental tenden- by the pathos of the schools of few meters’ distance. From that lovers united. The heritage of cies in Italian and European art Pergamum and Rhodes; the An- model, he got the idea of repre- their passion is the tondo de- for years and centuries to follow. tiquity of the Vatican Laocoonte, senting the couple not in profile picting the Holy Family painted Because – in the words of still today in the octagonal court- like Piero but frontally against a by Michelangelo and the por- Giorgio Vasari – Michelangelo yard of the Pope’s Museums, that vast background landscape ani- traits of the couple immortal- was like a lantern that illumi- Michelangelo himself witnessed mated by luminous events. And ized by Raffaello. nated the path of painters and emerging from the ground certain reflections of Leonardo Some might protest that the sculptors after him; while Raffa- upon its discovery one winter da Vinci are especially evident Doni portraits’ former place- ello represents in painting that day in the Rome of 1506. Let’s in the female portrait in the fas- ment within the Palatine Gallery idea of harmony, order, felic- now take a closer look at the cination with aerial perspective collection in Palazzo Pitti had by ity and splendor that after him Doni portraits noting the scenes and in the profound humanism. now been historicized. However, passed through Guido Reni, An- now visible on the reverse side But the optic subtleties in his de- the historical significance and nibale Carracci, Poussin, David, of the panels invoking conjugal the didactic objectives of the Ingres, to arrive at Picasso in his fertility by the hand of a man- Antonio Paolucci move to the Uffizi amply justify Classical period. nerist painter known to scholars (ccontinue on p. 2) IL GIORNALE degli UFFIZI 1 scriptions of the garments, the faello studied them. To finally Mariotto Albertinelli of that “vir- the arts through an opportune coiffure, the woman’s jewels, de- come full circle on this handful tuous beauty” that, in the wake selection of works, then we have pend on the vivid recollections of years among the most pro- of the teachings of Girolamo to recognize that the new layout of Flemish masterpieces by Van ductive and richly endowed with Savonarola, had fascinated the of the Michelangelo room in Eyck, Rogier van der Weiden, regards to future developments young Raffaello. the Uffizi has perfectly centered Justus of Ghent that filled the in the history of art, the room If the main job of a museum its target. halls of the Ducal Palace of Ur- also includes some paintings by of ancient art is to render com- bino where the adolescent Raf- Fra’ Bartolomeo, testimony with prehensible the development of Antonio Paolucci Harmony and Practicality In the new Leonardo, Raffaello and Michelangelo rooms, paintings have been placed within innovative climatized display cases. The elegant new layout and the opening of new doors guarantee an improved visitors’ The new Leonardo room. In the center the Adoration of the Magi, the masterpiece flow along the galleries’ itinerary restored thanks to the Amici degli Uffizi. t the beginning of the sum- fered fewer damages during the then exits through the main nality that recalls the spatula Amer, two large rooms along war. The fundamental change door opening onto the third smoothed plaster walls of a the third corridor of the his- that has been made today, be- corridor. The display of the placid church interior; for both toric gallery in the west wing of sides the completely new and works follows the project design rooms, the materials chosen are the Uffizi were opened to the original layout, is the manner of the Uffizi, which has already all traditional, like slaked lime public. We owe the new museo- in which the visitors’ flow has been adopted in the Botticelli and natural pigments which graphic layout also to the gen- been redesigned; this in effect and Caravaggio rooms. The have been applied to the walls erosity of the Amici degli Uffizi has been a major priority in the paintings are on display within using the traditional method of and the Friends of the Uffizi general reconfiguration of the glass cases, located along the multiple applications to obtain Galleries. Both the first room Uffizi as planned and executed rooms’ main axes so they can transparency and vibration. (room 35 - Leonardo), that oc- by Eike Schmidt. The opening be observed at a close distance With the new layout, the sys- cupies the space that was once of the ancient doors rediscov- without barriers that would tem for the regulation of natu- the hall of self-portraits at the ered through the examination otherwise take up useful viewer ral light from the ceiling has time of Cosimo III from the of eighteenth century floor space. The climatic conditions also been renovated; on the in- late Seventeenth to early Eigh- plans and subsequently found within these large prismatic terior of the air space under the teenth centuries, and the sec- within the wall structure, eases encasements, are instrument- roof, a system of sunshades elim- ond (room 41 – Raffaello and visitor movement between the controlled and monitored by inates excess light and captures Michelangelo) follow the same Leonardo room and that of the curators and guarantee an the maximum daylight with cov- design in dimension and archi- Raffaello and Michelangelo. ideal state of conservation that ered skies. In implementing the tectural style. Instead of entering and exit- slows the exchange of air in the sunshades, we strived to re-es- These two rooms, formerly ing through the door opening room with that within the case. tablish the relationship - held to designed by the lead archi- onto the third corridor in each The metal frame support struc- be of primary importance in tect of the Superintendence, of the chambers, as was done ture is also antiseismic protect- contemporary museography - Guido Morozzi between 1950 in the past in an often chaotic ing the paintings within. between the interior of the mu- and 1952 (Superintendent of exchange of the public, now As in the remodeled Cara- seum and the natural environ- the Galleries, Guglielmo Pac- the visitors can pass from the vaggio rooms and for those ment outside perceived through chioni, Director of the Uffizi, Leonardo room through the newly assigned to the Contini the variations in light with the Roberto Salvini) were then newly reopened door to the Bonacossi Collection, much at- passing of clouds. The original opened to the public as the hall of Inscriptions. Worthy of tention has been given to the design of the cases (that have Barocci room (35) and the Ru- note is the upcoming redesign color of the walls. If for the hall been adopted elsewhere in con- bens room (41) on March 20, of the hall by Fabrizio Paolucci of Raffaello and Michelangelo temporary museography) en- 1952. This was when the Uffizi inspired by the eighteenth cen- the colors of the sixteenth cen- hances the observer’s attention reopened for the second time tury layout of the original mar- tury paintings emerge from and the works appear and stand after the Second World War bles.