Early,tinted 20th-century photograph of the Palazzo Pitti, then still known asLa Residenza Reale following the residency ofKing Victor Emmanuel II between 1865 and 1871, when Florence was the capital of Italy
ThePalazzo Pitti (Italian:[paˈlattsoˈpitti]), in English sometimes called thePitti Palace, is a vast, mainlyRenaissance,palace inFlorence,Italy. It is situated on the south side of the RiverArno, a short distance from thePonte Vecchio. The core of the presentpalazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence ofLuca Pitti,[1] an ambitious Florentine banker.
The palace was bought by theMedici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling family of theGrand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house, for generations amassing paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions. The Medici also added the extensiveBoboli Gardens to the palace estate.
In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base byNapoleon during his conquests of Europe. For a brief period, it later served as the principal royal palace of the newly unitedItaly under theHouse of Savoy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by KingVictor Emmanuel III in 1919.
The palazzo is now the largest museum complex in Florence. The principal palazzo block, often in a building of this design known as thecorps de logis, is 32,000 square metres.[2] It is divided into several principal galleries or museums detailed below.
Virtual reconstruction of the fifteenth-century façade of Palazzo Pitti.[3][1]Luca Pitti (1398–1472) began work on the palazzo in 1458.Eleanor of Toledo,Duchess of Florence, bought the palazzo from the Pitti in 1549 for the Medici. Portrait afterBronzino.
The construction of this severe and forbidding[4] building was commissioned in 1458 by the Florentine bankerLuca Pitti (1398–1472), a principal supporter and friend ofCosimo de' Medici. The early history of the Palazzo Pitti is a mixture of fact and myth. Pitti is alleged to have instructed that the windows be larger than the entrance of thePalazzo Medici. The 16th-century art historianGiorgio Vasari proposed thatBrunelleschi was the palazzo'sarchitect, and that his pupilLuca Fancelli was merely his assistant in the task, but today it is Fancelli who is generally credited.[5] Besides obvious differences from the elder architect's style, Brunelleschi died 12 years before construction of the palazzo began. The design andfenestration suggest that the unknown architect was more experienced in utilitarian domestic architecture than in thehumanist rules defined byAlberti in his bookDe Re Aedificatoria.[6]
Though impressive, the original palazzo would have been no rival to the Florentine Medici residences in terms of either size or content. Whoever the architect of the Palazzo Pitti was, he was moving against the contemporary flow of fashion. Therusticated stonework gives the palazzo a severe and powerful atmosphere, reinforced by the three-times-repeated series of seven arch-headed apertures, reminiscent of aRoman aqueduct. TheRoman-style architecture appealed to the Florentine love of the new styleall'antica. This original design has withstood the test of time: the repetitive formula of the façade was continued during the subsequent additions to the palazzo, and its influence can be seen in numerous 16th-century imitations and 19th-century revivals.[6] Work stopped after Pitti suffered financial losses following the death of Cosimo de' Medici in 1464. Luca Pitti died in 1472 with the building unfinished.[7]
Alunette painted in 1599 byGiusto Utens, depicts the palazzo before its extensions, with theamphitheatre and the Boboli Gardens behind. The red stone excavated from the site was used in extensions to the palazzo.
The building was sold in 1549 toEleonora di Toledo. Raised at the luxurious court ofNaples, Eleonora was the wife ofCosimo I de' Medici of Tuscany, later the Grand Duke.[5] On moving into the palace, Cosimo hadVasari enlarge the structure to fit his tastes; the palace was more than doubled by the addition of a new block along the rear. Vasari also built theVasari Corridor, an above-ground walkway from Cosimo's old palace and the seat of government, thePalazzo Vecchio, through theUffizi, above thePonte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti.[8] This enabled the Grand Duke and his family to move easily and safely from their official residence to the Palazzo Pitti. Initially the Palazzo Pitti was used mostly for lodging official guests and for occasional functions of the court, while the Medicis' principal residence remained the Palazzo Vecchio. It was not until the reign of Eleonora's sonFrancesco I and his wifeJohanna of Austria that the palazzo was occupied on a permanent basis and became home to the Medicis' art collection.[9]
Land on the Boboli hill at the rear of the palazzo was acquired in order to create a large formal park and gardens, today known as theBoboli Gardens.[5] The landscape architect employed for this was the Medici court artistNiccolò Tribolo, who died the following year; he was quickly succeeded byBartolommeo Ammanati. The original design of the gardens centred on an amphitheatre, behind thecorps de logis of the palazzo.[6] The first play recorded as performed there wasAndria byTerence in 1476. It was followed by many classically inspired plays of Florentine playwrights such asGiovan Battista Cini. Performed for the amusement of the cultivated Medici court, they featured elaborate sets designed by the court architectBaldassarre Lanci.[10]
19th-century architectural drawing and plan of the Palazzo Pitti
With the garden project well in hand, Ammanati turned his attentions to creating a large courtyard immediately behind the principal façade, to link the palazzo to its new garden. This courtyard has heavy-banded channelled rustication that has been widely copied, notably for the Parisianpalais ofMarie de' Medici, theLuxembourg. In the principal façade Ammanati also created thefinestre inginocchiate ("kneeling" windows, in reference to their imagined resemblance to aprie-dieu, a device ofMichelangelo's), replacing the entrance bays at each end. During the years 1558–70, Ammanati created a monumental staircase to lead with more pomp to thepiano nobile, and he extended the wings on the garden front that embraced a courtyard excavated into the steeply sloping hillside at the same level as the piazza in front, from which it was visible through the central arch of the basement. On the garden side of the courtyard Amannati constructed agrotto, called the "grotto of Moses" on account of theporphyry statue that inhabits it. On the terrace above it, level with thepiano nobile windows, Ammanati constructed a fountain centered on the axis; it was later replaced by theFontana del Carciofo ("Fountain of the Artichoke"), designed byGiambologna's former assistant,Francesco Susini, and completed in 1641.[11]
In 1616, a competition was held to design extensions to the principal urban façade by three bays at either end.Giulio Parigi won the commission; work on the north side began in 1618, and on the south side in 1631 byAlfonso Parigi. During the 18th century, two perpendicular wings were constructed by the architectGiuseppe Ruggeri to enhance and stress the widening of via Romana, which creates apiazza centered on the façade, the prototype of thecour d'honneur that was copied in France. Sporadic lesser additions and alterations were made for many years thereafter under other rulers and architects.[12]
To one side of the gardens is the bizarre grotto designed byBernardo Buontalenti. The lower façade was begun by Vasari but the architecture of the upper storey is subverted by "dripping" pumice stalactites with the Medici coat of arms at the centre. The interior is similarly poised between architecture and nature; the first chamber has copies ofMichelangelo's four unfinished slaves emerging from the corners which seem to carry the vault with an open oculus at its centre and painted as a rustic bower with animals, figures and vegetation. Figures, animals and trees made of stucco and rough pumice adorn the lower walls. A short passage leads to a small second chamber and to a third which has a central fountain with Giambologna's Venus in the centre of the basin, peering fearfully over her shoulder at the four satyrs spitting jets of water at her from the edge.[13]
When Tuscany passed from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to theHouse of Savoy in 1860, the Palazzo Pitti was included. After theRisorgimento, when Florence was briefly the capital of theKingdom of Italy,Victor Emmanuel II resided in the palazzo until 1871. His grandson,Victor Emmanuel III, presented the palazzo to the nation in 1919.[5] The palazzo and other buildings in the Boboli Gardens were then divided into five separate art galleries and a museum, housing not only many of its original contents, but priceless artefacts from many other collections acquired by the state. The 140 rooms open to the public are part of an interior, which is in large part a later product than the original portion of the structure, mostly created in two phases, one in the 17th century and the other in the early 18th century. Some earlier interiors remain, and there are still later additions such as the Throne Room. In 2005 the surprise discovery of forgotten 18th-century bathrooms in the palazzo revealed remarkable examples of contemporary plumbing very similar in style to the bathrooms of the 21st century.[16]
Cornice of the Jupiter Room, showinglunette frescoes andstucco work by Pietro da Cortona
The Palatine Gallery, the main gallery of Palazzo Pitti, contains a large ensemble ofover 500 principally Renaissance paintings, which were once part of the Medicis' and their successors' private art collection. The gallery, which overflows into the royal apartments, contains works byRaphael,Titian,Perugino (Lamentation over the Dead Christ),Correggio,Peter Paul Rubens, andPietro da Cortona.[17] The character of the gallery is still that of a private collection, and the works of art are displayed and hung much as they would have been in the grand rooms for which they were intended rather than following a chronological sequence, or arranged according to school of art.
The finest rooms were decorated by Pietro da Cortona in the highbaroque style. Initially Cortona frescoed a small room on thepiano nobile called the Sala della Stufa with a series depicting the Four Ages of Man which were very well received; theAge of Gold andAge of Silver were painted in 1637, followed in 1641 by theAge of Bronze andAge of Iron. They are regarded among his masterpieces. The artist was subsequently asked to fresco the grand ducal reception rooms; a suite of five rooms at the front of the palazzo. In these five Planetary Rooms, the hierarchical sequence of the deities is based onPtolomeic cosmology; Venus, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter (the Medici Throne room) and Saturn, but minus Mercury and the Moon which should have come before Venus. These highly ornate ceilings with frescoes and elaborate stucco work essentially celebrate the Medici lineage and the bestowal of virtuous leadership.[18] Cortona left Florence in 1647, and his pupil and collaborator,Ciro Ferri, completed the cycle by the 1660s. They were to inspire the later Planet Rooms atLouis XIV'sPalace of Versailles, designed byCharles Le Brun.
The collection was first opened to the public in the late 18th century, albeit rather reluctantly, by Grand DukeLeopold I, Tuscany's first enlightened ruler, keen to obtain popularity after the demise of the Medici.[11]
The Palatine Gallery has 28 rooms, among them the following:[19]
Room ofCastagnoli: named after the painter of the ceiling frescoes. In this room are displayed portraits of the Medici and Lorraine ruling families, and the Table of the Muses, a masterwork of stone-inlaid table made by theOpificio delle Pietre Dure between 1837 and 1851.
Room of the Ark: contains a painting byGiovan Battista Caracciolo (17th century). In 1816, the ceiling was frescoed byLuigi Ademollo with theTransportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law.
Hall of Poccetti: the frescoes on the vault were once ascribed toBernardino Poccetti, but are now attributed toMatteo Rosselli. In the center of the hall is a table (1716) commissioned by Cosimo III. In the hall are also some works by Rubens andPontormo.
Room of Prometheus: named after the subject of the frescoes by Collignon (19th century), it contains a large collection oftondi (circular paintings); among them are theBartolini Tondo byFilippo Lippi (15th century), two portraits byBotticelli and paintings by Pontormo andDomenico Beccafumi.
Room of Jupiter: containsLa Velata, the famous portrait by Raphael (1516) which, according toGiorgio Vasari, represents the artist's lover. Among the other works in the room are paintings by Rubens, Andrea del Sarto and Perugino.
Room of Mars: contains allegorical paintings by Rubens of theConsequences of War (hence the name of the room) and theFour Philosophers (among them Rubens portrayed himself, on the left). On the vault is a fresco byPietro da Cortona, theTriumph of the Medici.
Room of Venus: contains theVenus Italica (1810) byAntonio Canova, commissioned by Napoleon. On the walls are landscapes (1640–1650) bySalvator Rosa and four paintings by Titian, 1510–1545. Among the Titian paintings is aPortrait of Pope Julius II (1545) andLa Bella (1535).
White Hall: once the ball room of the palace, is characterized by the white decorations and is often used for temporary exhibitions.
The Royal Apartments include 14 rooms. They were redecorated in theEmpire style by the Savoy monarchs, but there are still some rooms retaining decorations and furniture from the age of the Medici.
The Green Room was frescoed byCastagnoli in the early 19th century. It exhibits an intarsia cabinet from the 17th century and a collection of gilded bronzes; the throne room was decorated for King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and is characterized by the red brocade on the walls and by the Japanese and Chinese vases (17th–18th centuries).
The Blue Room contains furniture from the 17th–18th centuries and portraits of members of the Medici family byJustus Sustermans (1597–1681).
This is a suite of 14 rooms, formerly used by the Medici family, and lived in by their successors.[17] These rooms have been largely altered since the era of the Medici, most recently in the 19th century. They contain a collection of Medici portraits, many of them by the artistGiusto Sustermans.[20] In contrast to the great salons containing the Palatine collection, some of these rooms are much smaller and more intimate, and, while still grand and gilded, are more suited to day-to-day living requirements. Period furnishings include four-poster beds and other necessary furnishings not found elsewhere in the palazzo. The Kings of Italy last used the Palazzo Pitti in the 1920s.[21] By that time it had already been converted to a museum, but a suite of rooms in the Meridian wing (now the Gallery of Modern Art) was reserved for them when visiting Florence officially.
This gallery originates from the remodeling of theFlorentine academy in 1748, when a gallery of modern art was established.[22] The gallery was intended to hold those art works which were prize-winners in the academy's competitions. The Palazzo Pitti was being redecorated on a grand scale at this time and the new works of art were being collected to adorn the newly decorated salons. By the mid-19th century so numerous were the modern paintings in the grand ducal collection that many were transferred to thePalazzo della Crocetta [it], which became the first home of the newly formed "Modern Art Museum".
Following theRisorgimento and the expulsion of the grand ducal family from the palazzo, all the grand ducal modern artworks were brought together under one roof in the newly titled "Modern gallery of the Academy".[22] The collection continued to expand, particularly so under the patronage of Victor Emmanuel II. However, it was not until 1922 that this gallery was moved to the Palazzo Pitti, where it was complemented by further modern works of art in the ownership of both the state and the municipality of Florence. The collection was housed in apartments recently vacated by members of the Italian royal family.[23] The gallery was first opened to the public in 1928.
Today, further enlarged and spread over 30 rooms, this large collection includes works by artists of theMacchiaioli movement and other modern Italian schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[24] The pictures by the Macchiaioli are of particular note, as this school of 19th-century Tuscan painters led byGiovanni Fattori were early pioneers and the founders of the Impressionist movement.[25] The title "gallery of modern art" to some may sound incorrect, as the art in the gallery covers the period from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. No examples of later art are included in the collection since in Italy, "modern art" refers to the period before World War II; what has followed is generally known as "contemporary art" (arte contemporanea). In Tuscany this art can be found at theCentro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci atPrato, a city about 15 km (9 mi) from Florence.
The Treasury of the Grand Dukes (Tesoro dei Granduchi), formerly called the Silver Museum (Museo degli Argenti), contains a collection of priceless silverware, ivory objects, jewelry,cameos, and works in semi-preciousgemstones, many of the latter from the collection ofLorenzo de' Medici, including his collection of ancient vases, many with delicate silver gilt mounts added for display purposes in the 15th century. A room displays "curiosities" from the world collected by the Medicis, including a rare Precolumbian jade mask and twoatlatl donated topope Leo X. These rooms, formerly part of the private royal apartments, are decorated with 17th-centuryfrescoes, the most splendid being byGiovanni da San Giovanni, from 1635 to 1636. The Treasury also contains a fine collection of German gold and silver artefacts purchased by Grand DukeFerdinand III after his return from exile in 1815, following the French occupation.[26]
First opened in 1973, this museum is housed in the Casino del Cavaliere in the Boboli Gardens.[27] The porcelain is from many of the most notable European porcelain factories, withSèvres porcelain andMeissen porcelain being well represented. Many items in the collection were gifts to the Florentine rulers from other European sovereigns, while other works were specially commissioned by the grand ducal court. Of particular note are several large dinner services by theVincennes factory, later renamed Sèvres, and a collection of smallbiscuitfigurines.
Situated in a wing known as the "Palazzina della Meridiana [it]", this gallery contains a collection of drresses and theatrical costumes dating from the 16th century until the present. It is also the only museum in Italy detailing the history of Italian fashions.[28] One of the newer collections to the palazzo, it was founded in 1983 byKirsten Aschengreen Piacenti; a suite of fourteen rooms, the Meridiana apartments, were completed in 1858.[29]
In addition to theatrical costumes, the gallery displays garments worn between the 18th century and the present day. Some of the exhibits are unique to the Palazzo Pitti; these include the 16th-century funeral clothes of Grand DukeCosimo I de' Medici, and his wifeEleonora of Toledo and their sonGarzia, both of whom died ofmalaria. Their bodies would have been displayedin state wearing their finest clothes, before being reclad in plainer attire beforeinterment. The gallery also exhibits a collection of mid-20th centurycostume jewellery. TheSala Meridiana originally sponsored a functional solar meridian instrument, built into the fresco decoration byAnton Domenico Gabbiani.
This ground floor museum exhibits half-a dozen ofcarriages and other conveyances used by the Grand Ducal court mainly in the late 18th and 19th century. The extent of the exhibition prompted one visitor in the 19th century to wonder, "In the name of all that is extraordinary, how can they find room for all these carriages and horses".[30] Some of the carriages are highly decorative, being adorned not only by gilt but by painted landscapes on their panels. Those used on the grandest occasions, such as the "Carrozza d'Oro" (golden carriage), are surmounted by gilt crowns which would have indicated the rank and station of the carriage's occupants. Other carriages on view are those used by theKing of the Two Sicilies, andArchbishops and other Florentine dignitaries.
Grand Dukes of Lorrain collectedicons of Russia, which were formerly displayed in theGalleria dell'Accademia. The collection, mostly showcasing 18th-century icons fromMoscow andNovgorod, was opened in a renewed display in theCosimo III summer apartments on the ground floor in 2022.[31] The visit of this museum also includes the neoclassical Palace Chapel (Cappella Palatina), decorated byLuigi Ademollo.
Today, transformed from a royal palace to a museum, the Palazzo Pitti is owned by the Italian state. Once under the management of the Polo Museale Fiorentino, an institution which administered twenty museums, since 2015 it has been a department of theGallerie degli Uffizi, as a separate and independent structure within theMinistry of Culture, and has ultimate responsibility for 250,000 catalogued works of art.[32] In spite of its metamorphosis from royal residence to a state-owned public building, the palazzo, sitting on its elevated site overlooking Florence, still retains the air and atmosphere of a private collection in a grand house. This is to a great extent due to the Amici di Palazzo Pitti (Friends of the Palazzo Pitti), an organisation of volunteers and patrons founded in 1996, which raises funds and makes suggestions for the ongoing maintenance of the palazzo and the collections, and for the continuing improvement of their visual display.[33]
A modern view of the Palazzo Pitti
Southern façade of Palazzo Pitti facing the Boboli amphitheatre andobelisk
TheKönigsbau wing ('King's building / den') of theMunich Residenz, the former royal palace in the capital ofBavaria, was modelled after the Palazzo Pitti.
^Campbell, Malcolm (1977).Pietro da Cortona at the Pitti Palace. A Study of the Planetary Rooms and Related Projects. Princeton University Press. p. 78.
^Polo Museale Fiorentino (2007)."The Gallery of Modern Art".Polo Museale Fiorentino. Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Archived fromthe original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved8 January 2008.
^Broude, Norma (1987).The Macchiaioli: Italian Painters of the Nineteenth Century. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-03547-0
^Polo Museale Fiorentino (2007)."The Porcelain museum".Polo Museale Fiorentino. Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Archived fromthe original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved8 January 2008.
^Polo Museale Fiorentino (2007)."The Costume Gallery".Polo Museale Fiorentino. Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Archived fromthe original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved8 January 2008.
^Polo Museale Fiorentino (2007)."Welcome".Polo Museale Fiorentino. Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Archived fromthe original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved8 January 2008.
^"About us". Amici di Palazzo Pitti. Archived fromthe original on 31 July 2007. Retrieved12 January 2007.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
%2c_by_Giovanni_Fattori.jpg)
