Uffizi

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Uffizi
Galleria degli Uffizi court crop.JPG
Narrow courtyard between palace's two wings with view toward the Arno.
Established 1581
Location Piazzale degli Uffizi,
50122 Florence, Italy
Type Art museum, Design/Textile Museum, Historic site
Visitors 1.9 million (2013)[1]
Ranked 25th globally (2013)[1]
Website Uffizi
Restored Niobe room represents Roman copies of late Hellenistic art. View of daughter of Niobe bent by terror.
Niobide rises on a rock
View of hallway. The walls were originally covered with tapestries.

The Uffizi Gallery (Italian: 'Galleria degli Uffizi' , pronounced [ɡalleˈriːa deʎʎ ufˈfittsi]) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.

History

Visitors observing Michelangelo painting Tondo Doni. Uffizi is ranked as the 25th on the most visited art museums in the world, with around 2 million visitors annually.

The building of Uffizi complex was begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici so as to accommodate the offices of the Florentine magistrates, hence the name uffizi, "offices". The construction was later continued by Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti and completed in 1581. The cortile (internal courtyard) is so long and narrow, and open to the Arno at its far end through a Doric screen that articulates the space without blocking it, that architectural historians[2] treat it as the first regularized streetscape of Europe. Vasari, a painter and architect as well, emphasised its perspective length by the matching facades' continuous roof cornices, and unbroken cornices between storeys and the three continuous steps on which the palace-fronts stand. The niches in the piers that alternate with columns filled with sculptures of famous artists in the XIX century.

The Uffizi brought together under one roof the administrative offices, the Tribunal and the Archivio di Stato, the state archive. The project commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany planned to display prime art works of the Medici collections on the piano nobile; the plan was carried out by his son, Grand Duke Francesco I. He commissioned from the architect Buontalenti the design of the Tribuna degli Uffizi that collected a series of masterpieces in one room, and was a highly influential attraction of a Grand Tour.

Over the years, more sections of the palace were recruited to exhibit paintings and sculpture collected or commissioned by the Medici. According to Vasari, who was not only the architect of the Uffizi but also the author of Lives of the Artists, published in 1550 and 1568, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo gathered at the Uffizi "for beauty, for work and for recreation."[3]

After the house of Medici was extinguished, the art treasures remained in Florence by terms of the famous Patto di famiglia negotiated by Anna Maria Luisa, the last Medici heiress; it formed one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public.

Because of its huge collection, some of its works have in the past been transferred to other museums in Florence—for example, some famous statues to the Bargello. A project is currently underway to expand the museum's exhibition space in 2006 from some 6,000 metres² (64,000 ft²) to almost 13,000 metres² (139,000 ft²), allowing public viewing of many artworks that have usually been in storage.

On 27 May 1993, a car bomb exploded in Via dei Georgofili and damaged parts of the palace, killing five people. The most severe damage was to the Niobe room and classical sculptures and neoclassical interior of which have been restored, although its frescoes were damaged beyond repair. The identity of the bomber or bombers are unknown, although it was almost certainly attributable to the Sicilian Mafia who were engaged in a period of terrorism at that time.

Today, the Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Florence. In high season (particularly in July), waiting times can be up to five hours.

In early August 2007, Florence was caught with a large rainstorm, and the Gallery was partially flooded, with water leaking through the ceiling, and the visitors had to be evacuated. There was a much more significant flood in 1966 which damaged most of the art collections in Florence severely, including the Uffizi.

Here is a selection from the painting collection:

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2

The collection also contains some ancient sculptures, such as the Arrotino and the Two Wrestlers.

Selected highlights

  • Tribuna

  • Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi - The Annunciation and Two Saints - WGA15010.jpg

    Simone Martini
    Annunciation, 305 × 265 cm

  • Giotto di Bondone
    Ognissanti Madonna, 325 × 204 cm.

  • Gentile da Fabriano
    Adoration of the Magi, 300 × 282 cm.

  • Fra Angelico
    Coronation of the Virgin, 112 × 114 cm

  • Masaccio
    The Madonna and St. Anna, 175 × 103 cm.

  • Lorenzo Monaco
    Adoration of the Magi, 115 × 177 cm.

  • Sandro Botticelli
    Birth of Venus, 173 × 279 cm.

  • Sandro Botticelli
    La Primavera, 203 × 314 cm.

  • Sandro Botticelli
    Adoration of the Magi, 108 × 173 cm.

  • Sandro Botticelli
    Adoration of the Magi, 111 × 134 cm.

  • Piero della Francesca
    Dukes of Urbino, 47 × 66 cm.

  • Filippo Lippi
    Madonna and Child with Angel, 95 × 64 cm.

  • Leonardo da Vinci
    Adoration of the Magi, 243 × 246 cm.

  • Leonardo da Vinci
    Annunciation, 98 × 217 cm.

  • Andrea del Verrocchio 002.jpg

    Verrocchio & Leonardo da Vinci
    Baptism of Christ, 177 × 151 cm.

  • Giovanni Bellini
    Sacred Allegory, 73 × 119 cm.

  • Piero di Cosimo
    Perseus Freeing Andromeda, 70 × 123 cm

  • Andrea Mantegna
    Adoration of the Magi, 86 × 162 cm.

  • Parmigianino
    Madonna of Long Neck, 216 × 132 cm.

  • Titian
    Venus of Urbino, 119 × 165 cm.

  • Titian
    Flora, 80 × 64 cm.

  • Raphael
    Madonna of the Goldfinch, 107 × 77 cm.

  • Michelangelo
    Doni Tondo, Diameter 120 cm.

  • Raphael
    Pope Leo X and Family, 154 × 119 cm.

  • Giorgione
    Judgement of Solomon, 89 × 72 cm.

  • Paolo Uccello
    Battle of San Romano, 182 × 220 cm.

  • Giorgione
    Moses Trial, 89 × 72 cm.

  • Caravaggio
    Sacrifice of Isaac, 104 × 135 cm

  • Caravaggio
    Medusa, Diameter 55 cm.

  • Correggio
    Rest on Flight to Egypt, 124 × 107 cm.

  • Rogier van der Weyden
    Lamentation of Christ, 96 × 110 cm.

  • Albrecht Dürer
    Adoration of the Magi, 99 × 114 cm.

  • Hans Memling
    Madonna and Angels, 76 x60 cm.

  • Francisco Goya
    Portrait of María Teresa, 83 × 62 cm.

  • Pieter Paul Rubens
    Triumph of Henry IV in Paris, 380 × 692 cm.

  • Diego Velázquez
    Self Portrait, 104 × 83 cm.

  • Caravaggio
    Young Bacchus, 95 × 85 cm.

  • Agnolo Bronzino
    Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo, 115 × 96 cm.

  • Rembrandt
    Portrait of Johan Comenius, 104 × 86 cm.

  • Rembrandt
    Self-Portrait, 74 × 55 cm.

  • Hugo van der Goes
    Portinari Triptych, 253 × 304 cm.

  • Albrecht Altdorfer
    Martyrdom of St Florian, 76 × 67 cm.

  • Anthony van Dyck
    Portrait of Charles V, 191 × 123 cm.

  • Paolo Veronese
    Martyrdom of Saint Justina, 103 × 113 cm.

  • El Greco
    St. John and St. Francis, 110 × 86 cm.

See also

Notes

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External links

 
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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Top 100 Art Museum Attendance, The Art Newspaper, 2014, p. 15. Retrieved on 25 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture (1941) 1962 fig.17.
  3. ↑ Fossi, Gloria. The Uffizi. (Giuniti, 1999), p. 8.
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