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Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio (Italian pronunciation: [paˈlattso ˈvɛkkjo] "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's David statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi.

Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio overlooks Piazza della Signoria
Interactive fullscreen map
General information
Town or cityFlorence, Italy
Coordinates43°46′10″N 11°15′22″E / 43.76944°N 11.25611°E / 43.76944; 11.25611Coordinates: 43°46′10″N 11°15′22″E / 43.76944°N 11.25611°E / 43.76944; 11.25611
Palazzo Vecchio by night.

Originally called the Palazzo della Signoria, after the Signoria of Florence, the ruling body of the Republic of Florence, this building was also known by several other names: Palazzo del Popolo, Palazzo dei Priori, and Palazzo Ducale, in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history. The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke's residence was moved across the Arno River to the Palazzo Pitti.

History

 
Painting of the Palazzo and the square in 1498, during the execution of Girolamo Savonarola

In 1299, the commune and people of Florence decided to build a palace that would be worthy of the city's importance, and that would be more secure and defensible in times of turbulence for the magistrates of the commune.[1] Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Croce church, began construction upon the ruins of Palazzo dei Fanti and Palazzo dell'Esecutore di Giustizia, once owned by the Uberti family. Giovanni Villani (1276–1348) wrote in his Nuova Cronica that the Uberti were "rebels of Florence and Ghibellines", stating that the palazzo was built to ensure that the Uberti family homes would never be rebuilt on the same location.[1]

The cubical building is made of solid rusticated stonework, with two rows of two-lighted Gothic windows, each with a trefoil arch. In the 15th century, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi added decorative bas-reliefs of the cross and the Florentine lily in the spandrels between the trefoils. The building is crowned with projecting crenellated battlement, supported by small arches and corbels. Under the arches are a repeated series of nine painted coats of arms of the Florentine republic. Some of these arches can be used as embrasures (spiombati) for dropping heated liquids or rocks on invaders.

 
Engraving of a map depicting the palazzo and square with the corridor, by Stefano Buonsignori, 1584

The solid, massive building is enhanced by the simple tower with its clock. Giovanni Villani wrote that Arnolfo di Cambio incorporated the ancient tower of the Foraboschi family (the tower then known as "La Vacca" or "The Cow") into the new tower's facade as its substructure;[1] this is why the rectangular tower (height 94 m) is not directly centered in the building. This tower contains two small cells, that, at different times, imprisoned Cosimo de' Medici (the Elder) (1435) and Girolamo Savonarola (1498). The tower is named after its designer Torre d'Arnolfo. The tower's large, one-handed clock was originally constructed in 1353 by the Florentine Nicolò Bernardo, but was replaced in 1667 with a replica made by Georg Lederle from the German town of Augsburg (Italians refer to him as Giorgio Lederle of Augusta) and installed by Vincenzo Viviani.

Duke Cosimo I de' Medici (later to become grand duke) moved his official seat from the Medici palazzo in via Larga to the Palazzo della Signoria in May 1540, signalling the security of Medici power in Florence.[2] When Cosimo later removed to Palazzo Pitti, he officially renamed his former palace to the Palazzo Vecchio, the "Old Palace", although the adjacent town square, the Piazza della Signoria, still bears the original name. Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build an above-ground walkway, the Vasari corridor, from the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti. Cosimo I also moved the seat of government to the Uffizi.

The palace gained new importance as the seat of united Italy's provisional government from 1865 to 1871, at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Although most of the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum, it remains as the symbol and center of local government; since 1872 it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence, and it is the seat of the City Council. The tower currently has three bells; the oldest was cast in the 13th century.

Entrance

 
Entrance with frontispiece and statues

Above the front entrance door, there is a notable ornamental marble frontispiece, dating from 1528. In the middle, flanked by two gilded lions, is the Monogram of Christ, surrounded by a glory, above the text (in Latin): "Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium" (translation: "King of Kings and Lord of Lords". This text dates from 1851 and does not replace an earlier text by Savonarola[3] as mentioned in guidebooks. Between 1529 and 1851 they were concealed behind a large shield with the grand-ducal coat of arms.

Michelangelo's David also stood at the entrance from its completion in 1504 to 1873, when it was moved to the accademia Gallery. A replica erected in 1910 now stands in its place, flanked by Baccio Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus.

Courtyards

First Courtyard

 
First courtyard with Putto with Dolphin by Verrocchio in the middle, and frescoes of Austrian cities on the wall by Vasari

The first courtyard was designed in 1453 by Michelozzo. In the lunettes, high around the courtyard, are crests of the church and city guilds. In the center, the porphyry fountain is by Battista del Tadda. The Putto with Dolphin on top of the basin is a copy of the original by Andrea del Verrocchio (1476), now on display on the second floor of the palace. This small statue was originally placed in the garden of the Villa Medici at Careggi. The water, flowing through the nose of the dolphin, is brought here by pipes from the Boboli Gardens.

In the niche, in front of the fountain, stands Samson and Philistine by Pierino da Vinci.

The frescoes on the walls are vedute of the cities of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, painted in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari for the wedding celebration of Francesco I de' Medici, the eldest son of Cosimo I de' Medici, to Archduchess Johanna of Austria, sister of the Emperor Maximilian II. Amongst the cities depicted are Graz, Innsbruck, Linz, Vienna, Bratislava (Pozsony), Prague, Hall in Tirol, Freiburg im Breisgau and Konstanz. Some were damaged over the course of time.[4]

The harmoniously proportioned columns, at one time smooth, and untouched, were at the same time richly decorated with gilt stuccoes.

The barrel vaults are furnished with grotesque decorations.

Second Courtyard

The second courtyard, also called "The Customs", contains the massive pillars built in 1494 by Cronaca that sustains the great "Salone dei Cinquecento" on the second floor.

Third Courtyard

The third courtyard was used mainly for offices of the city. Between the first and second courtyard the massive and monumental stairs by Vasari lead up to the "Salone dei Cinquecento".

Salone dei Cinquecento

 
Salone dei Cinquecento. West Wall at left. East Wall at Right

The Salone dei Cinquecento ('Hall of the Five Hundred') is the most imposing chamber, with a length of 52 m (170 ft) and width of 23 m (75 ft). It was built in 1494 by Simone del Pollaiolo, on commission of Savonarola who, replacing the Medici after their exile as the spiritual leader of the Republic, wanted it as a seat of the Grand Council (Consiglio Maggiore) consisting of 500 members.

Later the hall was enlarged by Giorgio Vasari so that Grand Duke Cosimo I could hold his court in this chamber. During this transformation, famous (but unfinished) works were lost, including the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo,[5] and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was commissioned in 1503 to paint one long wall with a battle scene celebrating a famous Florentine victory. He was always trying new methods and materials and decided to mix wax into his pigments. Da Vinci had finished painting part of the wall, but it was not drying fast enough, so he brought in braziers stoked with hot coals to try to hurry the process. As others watched in horror, the wax in the fresco melted under the intense heat and the colors ran down the walls to puddle on the floor.[citation needed] A legend exists that Giorgio Vasari, wanting to preserve Da Vinci's work, had a false wall built over the top of The Battle of Anghiari before painting his fresco. Attempts made to find Da Vinci's original work behind the Vasari fresco have so far been inconclusive.

Michelangelo never proceeded beyond the preparatory drawings for the fresco he was commissioned to paint on the opposite wall. Pope Julius II called him to Rome to paint the Sistine Chapel, and the master's sketches were destroyed by eager young artists who came to study them and took away scraps. The surviving decorations in this hall were made between 1555 and 1572 by Giorgio Vasari and his helpers, among them Livio Agresti from Forlì. They mark the culmination of mannerism and make this hall the showpiece of the palace.

 
Genio della Vittoria by Michelangelo, in the central niche at the south

On the walls are large and expansive frescoes that depict battles and military victories by Florence over Pisa and Siena:

  • The Taking of Siena
  • The Conquest of Porto Ercole
  • The Victory of Cosimo I at Marciano in Val di Chiana
  • Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of San Vincenzo
  • Maximilian of Austria Attempts the Conquest of Leghorn
  • Pisa Attacked by the Florentine Troops

The ceiling consists of 39 panels constructed and painted by Vasari and his assistants, representing Great Episodes from the life of Cosimo I, the quarters of the city, and the city itself. Toward the center is the apotheosis: Scene of His Glorification as Grand Duke of Florence and Tuscany.

On the north side of the hall, illuminated by enormous windows, is the raised stage called the Udienza, built by Bartolommeo Bandinelli for Cosimo I as a place to receive citizens and ambassadors. Above are frescoes of historical events; among these, that of Boniface VIII receiving the ambassadors of foreign States and, seeing that were all Florentines, saying: "You Florentines are the quintessence."

In the niches are sculptures by Bandinelli: in the center the statue of the seated "Leo X" (sculpted assisted by his student Vincenzo de'Rossi), and on the right a statue of "Charles V crowned by Clement VII". The six statues along the walls that represent the "Labors of Hercules" are by de' Rossi.

In the central niche at the south of the Hall is Michelangelo's noted marble group The Genius of Victory (1533–1534), originally intended for the tomb of Julius II. The statue was placed in this hall by Vasari. In 1868 it was removed to the Bargello Museum, but was returned in 1921 by officials.

Studiolo of Francesco I

 
Ceiling of the Studiolo of Francesco I

At the end of the hall is a small side room without windows. The studiolo was a small secret study designed by Vasari in a manneristic style (1570–1575). The walls and the barrel vault are filled with paintings, stucco and sculptures. Most paintings are by the School of Vasari and represent the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. The portrait of Cosimo I and his wife Eleonora of Toledo was painted by Bronzino. The delicate bronze sculptures were made by Giambologna and Bartolomeo Ammanati. From a peep-hole, Francesco spied on his ministers and officers during meetings in the Salone dei Cinquecento. Dismantled within decades of its construction, it was re-assembled in the 20th century.

The other rooms on the first floor are the Quartieri monumentali. These rooms, the Residence of the Priors and the Quarters of Leo X, are used by the mayor as offices and reception rooms. They are not accessible to the public.

Second Floor

A staircase designed by Vasari leads to the second floor. This floor contains the Apartments of the Elements, Priori, and Eleonora of Toledo.

Apartments of the Elements

These apartments (Sala degli Elementi) consist of five rooms (such as the Room of Ceres) and two loggias. The commission for these rooms was originally given by Cosimo I to Giovanni Battista del Tasso. But on his death, the decorations were continued by Vasari and his helpers, working for the first time for the Medicis. These rooms were the private quarters of Cosimo I.

Room of the Elements

The walls in the Room of the Elements are filled with allegorical frescoes Allegories of Water, Fire and Earth and, on the ceiling, represents Saturn.

The original statue "Boy with a Fish" by Verrocchio is on exhibit in one of the smaller rooms (the copy stands on the fountain in the first courtyard).

Terrace of Saturn

Named for the fresco on the ceiling. Has a fabulous view of Florence. There is a southeastern view to Piazzale Michelangelo and the Fortress Belvedere. Also visible are the remains of the Church of San Piero Scheraggio.

The Hercules Room

 
Polychrome "Madonna and Child"
 
Stipo, an ebony cabinet

This room (the Sala di Ercole) gets its name from the subject of the paintings on the ceiling. Also the tapestries show stories of Hercules. The room contains a Madonna and Child and an ebony cabinet called a stipo inlaid with semi-precious stones.

The Lion House

Cosimo the Elder kept a menagerie of lions in a dedicated lion house in the palazzo. He often fought them or baited them against other animals in large festivals for visiting Popes or dignitaries.[7]

The Room of Jupiter

The room is named for the fresco on the ceiling. On the walls are Florentine tapestries made from cartoons by Stradanus (16th century).

The Room of Cybele

On the ceiling, the Triumph of Cybele and the Four Seasons. Against the walls are cabinets in tortoise shell and bronze. The floor was made in 1556. From the window one can see the third courtyard.

The Ceres Room

The room gets its name from the motif on the ceiling, by Doceno, a pupil of Vasari. On the walls are Florentine tapestries with hunting scenes, from cartoons by Stradanus.

Apartments of Eleonora of Toledo

Beginning in 1540 when Cosimo moved the seat of government here, these rooms were refurbished and richly decorated to be the living quarters of Eleonora.

Sala Verde

This room served as Eleonora's bedchamber and was called the Green Room because of the color of the walls. The decorations on the ceiling are by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio. A small door in the room indicates the beginning of the Vasari corridor, a passageway to the Palazzo Pitti built by Vasari for Cosimo I.

Cappella di Eleonora

 
Detail of a Bronzino fresco in the Cappella di Eleonora

The small, richly decorated chapel adjoining the Sala Verde is painted in fresco by the mannerist Angelo Bronzino and includes some of his masterpieces including the Crossing the Red Sea. It was built by Tasso to be Eleonora's private chapel.

The Room of the Sabines

It was named because of the ceiling decoration. At one time it was used for the Ladies-in-waiting at the court of Eleonora di Toledo. It contains Portraits of Medici Princes by Sustermans, statues by a Florentine art school and a tapestry by Fevère.

Dining Room

On the ceiling is the Coronation of Esther decorated by Stradanus, with an inscription in honor of Eleonora di Toledo. The room contains a lavabo and two tapestries by Van Assel representing Spring and Autumn.

The Room of Penelope

On the ceiling Penelope at the loom, in the frieze, episodes from the Odyssey. On the walls: Madonna and Child and a Madonna and Child with St. John by Botticelli.

The Room of Gualdrada

This room is dedicated to Virtue as personified by Gualdrada. The ceiling painting of Gualdrado is by the Flemish painter Stradanus, better known under his Italian name Stradanus. Against the wall is a cabinet with Florentine mosaic designs.

Apartments of the Priori

These rooms were used by the priori (priors) representing the guilds of Florence.

Sala dell'Udienza

 
Triumph of Furius Camillus in the Sala dell'Udienza

The Audience Chamber or Hall of Justice used to house the meetings of the priors. It contains the oldest decorations in the palace.

The carved coffer ceiling, laminated with pure gold, is by Giuliano da Maiano (1470–1476). On the portal to the Chapel of the Signoria is an inscription in honor of Christ (1529). The doorway to the Hall of Lilies has marble mouldings sculpted by the brothers Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano. The inlaid woodwork (intarsia) on the doors was carved by Del Francione and depicts portraits of Dante and Petrarch.

The large frescoes on the walls portraying the Stories of Furius Camillus by Francesco Salviati were made in the middle of the 16th century. Since Salviati had his schooling in the circle around Raphael in Rome, these frescoes are based on Roman models and not typical of Florentine art. Marcus Furius Camillus was a Roman general mentioned in the writings of Plutarch.

Chapel of the Signoria

A small doorway leads into the adjoining small chapel dedicated to St. Bernard, containing a reliquary of the Saint. Here the priors used to supply divine aid in the execution of their duties. In this chapel, Girolamo Savonarola said his last prayers before he was hanged on the Piazza della Signoria and his body burned.

The frescoes on the walls and ceiling, on a background imitating gold mosaic, are by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. Of particular interest are The Holy Trinity on the ceiling and The Annunciation on the wall facing the altar. On the altar was a painting representing the Holy Family by Mariano Graziadei da Pescia, a pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. It is now on exhibition in the corridor of the Uffizi Gallery. Instead, there is a good painting of St. Bernard by an unknown artist.

Sala dei Gigli

 
Ceiling with fleurs-de-lis

The carved ceiling of the Hall of the Lilies, as this room is usually called, decorated with fleur-de-lys, and the Statue of St. John the Baptist and Putti are all by Benedetto da Maiano and his brother Giuliano. The golden fleur-de-lys decorations on blue background on the ceiling and three walls refer to the (short-lived) good relations between Florence and the French Crown.

 
Frescoes in the Hall of Lilies

On the wall are frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted in 1482. The apotheosis of St. Zenobius, first patron saint of Florence, was painted with a perspectival illusion of the background. In this background one can see the cathedral, with Giotto's original facade and bell tower. In the lunette above is a bas-relief of the Madonna and Child. This fresco is flanked on both sides by frescoes of famed Romans: on the left Brutus, Gaius Mucius Scaevola and Camillus, and on the right Decius, Scipio and Cicero. Medaillons of Roman emperors fill the spandrils between the sections.

After its lengthy restoration, the (original) statue "Judith and Holofernes" by Donatello was given a prominent place in this room in 1988.

A door in the east wall leads to the Stanza della Guardaroba (Hall of Geographical Maps). This door is flanked by two dark marble pillars, originally from a Roman temple.

Stanza delle Mappe geografiche o Stanza della Guardaroba

 
Map of the British Isles by Ignazio Danti
 
The "mappa mundi"

The Hall of Geographical Maps or Guardaroba was an ambitious room that set out to represent the known world of the 16th century through the display of a collection of artifacts and murals of cartography, all seen in relation to scientific instruments of time and astronomy. For various reasons, it was not seen to completion, yet the accounts of Giorgio Vasari, the room's designer, detail the proposed purpose and visualisation of the space. The Guardaroba was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany during his major reconstruction of the interior of the Palazzo. Construction of the guardaroba began in 1563.

The idea behind the guardaroba is similar to that of late medieval studioli, which were small private study spaces, containing precious collected artifacts. Many courtly residences possessed similar spaces to the guardaroba, yet the guardaroba of Palazzo della Signoria is one of the earliest examples that integrates cartography into its decorative elements.

Guardaroba best translates to a type of storage space, or ‘wardrobe’ and its purpose was to house a collection; an early wunderkammer of sorts. Evidently, collections of artifacts and precious items existed before the Renaissance, yet it is not until the Renaissance that there consistently appeared collections which were preserved and interpreted, known as wunderkammen. Vasari's account of the program for the guardaroba highlights Cosimo I's instructions to create a space for some of the more precious items in the Medici collection. He had also instructed Vasari to design the space so it was fit for visitors, ultimately becoming a semi-public gallery space.

Master carpenter Dionigi di Matteo Nigetti (active Florence 1565–79) constructed the finely crafted and carved walnut cabinets and ceiling panels that can still all be found in the room today. Each of the doors was to be decorated with an up-to-date map of a particular region. Vasari called the map murals, Tables of Ptolemy, recognising Claudius Ptolemaeus (AD b.127-d.145) significant contributions to the history and progress of cartography. The responsibility of painting the Tables of Ptolemy was entrusted to renowned cosmographer Egnazio Danti, who was later responsible for the maps in the Vatican Galleria, Hall of Maps. Each map mural, of which there were to be 57 in total, was painted directly onto the cabinet doors, 53 of these Murals remain today. The regions depicted in the map would correspond to a collection of objects and artifacts within that cabinet. The map murals were arranged across the cabinet doors in two horizontal rows representing the hemispheres and navigated most of the perimeter of the room, only interrupted at the doorway and window. A layout of maps in this fashion came to be known as a ‘map cycle’, a term Cosimo I's guardaroba likely initiated. The may cycle is divided into sections of the then known four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The guardaroba was one of the more unusual projects commissioned by Cosimo I and therefore, Vasari wrote concisely on its programme and its progress.

Over the doors of those cupboards within their ornaments, Fra Egnazio has distributed fifty seven pictures about two braccia high and wide in proportion, in which are painted in oils on the wood with the greatest diligence, after the manner of miniatures, the Tables of Ptolemy, all measured with perfect accuracy and corrected after the most recent authorities, with exact charts of navigation and their scales for measuring and degrees, done with supreme diligence; and with these are all the names both ancient and modern...The images of plants and animals are exactly in line with the maps...The terrestrial globe is marked distinctly and it is possible to use it for all the operations of the astrolabe perfectly” - Giorgio Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects

As well as the maps on the cabinets, other images adorned the room. Up to 300 portraits of famous people of the day hung around highest perimeters of the walls and would be revealed from beneath green cloth curtains. In between the cabinets doors, were to be mounted natural history drawings of flora and fauna that, as Vasari indicated above, would have been in line with its corresponding regions on the maps in a similar fashion to the objects that are revealed from beneath their corresponding region. The collected artifacts were arranged and maintained by curators and conservators known as guardarobiere, in a similar manner to the role of the contemporary museum.

The rarer an item, the more attractive it was to the collector and desired for the collection. Objects from the Americas or New World as it was then referred to, were particularly valuable at this time as Italians were not allowed to travel there without permission from Spain or Portugal. Instead, they explored this region vicariously through objects and the Medici possessed a significant collection of artifacts from the Americas, largely collecting featherwork.

Vasari intended the worldly representation in the guardaroba to be seen in relation to the larger cosmos, represented by a celestial sphere in the centre of the room and painted constellations on the ceiling. He also had grand visions of two large globes, a terrestrial and celestial hidden behind a false ceiling that could be lowered impressively via a pulley system into the room below. The room was also to display a copy of the 1484 clock made for Lorenzo de Medici by Lorenzo della Volpaia. An Antonio Santucci (b.? d.1613) armillary sphere that is now at the Florence Museum of the History of Science, was also displayed in the guardaroba along with a second, earlier armillary sphere that is now lost. It is the relationships between these objects and maps and the context for which they are shown that produces intended symbolic gestures; the clock, in relation to the maps, in relation to the celestial representations were an attempt to generate an effect of possessed knowledge over all space and time and in the case of the guardaroba, Cosimo I de Medici was to be seen as the possessor and purveyor of this knowledge, generating a narrative of his power.

A digital reconstruction of the room, as it was designed and described by Giorgio Vasari can be found here.

[8][9][10][11]

Old Chancellery

 
Bust of Niccolò Machiavelli

This was Machiavelli's office when he was Secretary of the Republic. His polychrome bust in terracotta and his portrait are by Santi di Tito. They are probably modelled on his death mask.

In the center of the room, on the pedestal is the famous Winged Boy with a Dolphin by Verrocchio, brought to this room from the First Courtyard.

Mezzanine

 
Angolo Bronzino, Ritratto di Laura Battiferri, collezione Loeser

Located in between the first and second floors, these rooms are occupied by Renaissance and Medieval objects given in a bequest by Charles Loeser, an American expat collector and scholar. This collection is one of the most valuable municipal collections for its artistic and historical value. The rooms are located in the old palace, and were renovated in the mid-15th century by Michelozzo. It is the only part of the palace where the original 14th- and 15th-century ceilings are still entirely visible. Cosimo I's mother Maria Salviati lived in these rooms after Cosimo moved the family from Palazzo Medici to the Palazzo Vecchio (at that point Palazzo Ducale).

The first room holds a Madonna con Bambino e san Giovannino, from the school of Lorenzo di Credi, a Madonna col Bambino in stucco painted in the Florentine school in the 15th century, a Madonna in Adoration by Christ with Saint Giovannino by Jacopo del Sellaio, a Madonna and Child attributed to Master of the Griggs Crucifix (15th century), and a Madonna Enthroned by the Tuscan school of the 14th century. Above the stone steps is a little room that was for a time a studiolo for Cosimo I. The window looks out over Piazza della Signoria and the room is decorated with birds, animals, fishes, and vegetal elements works by Bachiacca.

The dining room holds one of the most famous works of the Loeser Collection, The Portrait of Laura Battiferri (wife of Bartolomeo Ammannati), by famous Renaissance painter Bronzino around 1555. Adjacent is another Mannerist work, The Portrait of Ludovico Martelli, by a follower of Pontormo, possibly Michele Tosini. There is also a small sketch on fresco, Battle of the Knights for Vasari's Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of Saint Vincent, by a student Giovan Francesco Naldini, which used to be displayed on the balcony above the Salone dei Cinquecento by Vasari's complementary monumental work. By the fireplace are two Romanesque sculptures, a capital with an eagle (first half of the 13th century) and a Coronation Head (first half of 12th century).

In the corner room, three Madonna and Children paintings are on display. The first, Madonna and Child is by the Master of Saints Flora and Lucilla, from the 14th century. The second, Madonna and Child with Saint Little Saint John is a later Renaissance work by Spanish artist Alonso Berruguete from 1514 to 1518, and the third is Madonna and Child by prominent Sienese artist Pietro Lorenzetti. This room also holds Adoring Angel by Tino di Camaino from around 1321, a Bust of Saint Antonino in painted plaster from the 15th century, and an embroidery designed by Raffaellino del Garbo.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Bartlett, 37.
  2. ^ Caroline P. Murphy, Murder of a Medici Princess 2003:24f.
  3. ^ "mega.it". mega.it. from the original on 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  4. ^ sailko (9 June 2009). "Cortile di michelozzo, affreschi con vedute citta dell'austria". Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2018 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  5. ^ "wga.hu". wga.hu. from the original on 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  6. ^ See page 226 of the 1974 book "The Unknown Leonardo" remarks on the Battle of Anghiari (reference only copyrighted)
  7. ^ Bedini, Silvio The Pope's Elephant (1997) 83.
  8. ^ Koeppe, Wolfram. 2000. "Collecting for the Kunstkammer." New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,. Accessed November 2016.
  9. ^ Rosen, Mark. 2009. "A New Chronology of the Construction and Restoration of the Medici Guardaroba in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence." Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz) (53): 285-308.
  10. ^ Rosen, Mark 2015. The Mapping of Power in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  11. ^ Vasari, Giorgio. 1963, first published 1550. The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects. Edited by William Gaunt. London: Dent.
  12. ^ "BBC - Bradford and West Yorkshire - 360º - Bradford City Hall". www.bbc.co.uk. from the original on 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  13. ^ BBC. "BBC - Bradford and West Yorkshire - In Pictures - Bradford City Hall 1". www.bbc.co.uk. from the original on 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  14. ^ Nuttall, Keith (2012-05-14). "Bradford City Hall: Old Palace | West Yorkshire". YPhotography. from the original on 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  15. ^ . www.emporis.com. Archived from the original on 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  16. ^ Manufacturing Middle Ages: Entangled History of Medievalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Brill. 2013-08-22. p. 343. ISBN 978-90-04-24487-0. from the original on 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2016-03-03. The Palazzo Pubblico of San Marino is a Florentine Palazzo della Signoria in miniature

References

  • Bartlett, Kenneth R. (1992). The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Toronto: D.C. Heath and Company. ISBN 0-669-20900-7 (Paperback).
  • The Monogram of Christ at the entrance : Florence Art Guide

External links

  • Palazzo Vecchio – Musei civici fiorentini
  • Association Mus.e – proposes guided tours and workshops for families
  • Palazzo Vecchio floor plan
  • Palazzo Vecchio within Google Arts & Culture
  •   Media related to Palazzo Vecchio at Wikimedia Commons

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This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian November 2015 Click show for important translation instructions View a machine translated version of the Italian article Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate rather than simply copy pasting machine translated text into the English Wikipedia Consider adding a topic to this template there are already 2 723 articles in the main category and specifying topic will aid in categorization Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low quality If possible verify the text with references provided in the foreign language article You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at it Palazzo Vecchio see its history for attribution You should also add the template Translated it Palazzo Vecchio to the talk page For more guidance see Wikipedia Translation The Palazzo Vecchio Italian pronunciation paˈlattso ˈvɛkkjo Old Palace is the town hall of Florence Italy It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria which holds a copy of Michelangelo s David statue and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi Palazzo VecchioPalazzo Vecchio overlooks Piazza della SignoriaInteractive fullscreen mapGeneral informationTown or cityFlorence ItalyCoordinates43 46 10 N 11 15 22 E 43 76944 N 11 25611 E 43 76944 11 25611 Coordinates 43 46 10 N 11 15 22 E 43 76944 N 11 25611 E 43 76944 11 25611Palazzo Vecchio by night Originally called the Palazzo della Signoria after the Signoria of Florence the ruling body of the Republic of Florence this building was also known by several other names Palazzo del Popolo Palazzo dei Priori and Palazzo Ducale in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke s residence was moved across the Arno River to the Palazzo Pitti Contents 1 History 2 Entrance 3 Courtyards 3 1 First Courtyard 3 2 Second Courtyard 3 3 Third Courtyard 4 Salone dei Cinquecento 4 1 Studiolo of Francesco I 5 Second Floor 5 1 Apartments of the Elements 5 1 1 Room of the Elements 5 1 2 Terrace of Saturn 5 1 3 The Hercules Room 5 1 4 The Lion House 5 1 5 The Room of Jupiter 5 1 6 The Room of Cybele 5 1 7 The Ceres Room 5 2 Apartments of Eleonora of Toledo 5 2 1 Sala Verde 5 2 2 Cappella di Eleonora 5 2 3 The Room of the Sabines 5 2 4 Dining Room 5 2 5 The Room of Penelope 5 2 6 The Room of Gualdrada 5 3 Apartments of the Priori 5 3 1 Sala dell Udienza 5 3 2 Chapel of the Signoria 5 3 3 Sala dei Gigli 5 3 4 Stanza delle Mappe geografiche o Stanza della Guardaroba 5 3 5 Old Chancellery 6 Mezzanine 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External linksHistory Edit Painting of the Palazzo and the square in 1498 during the execution of Girolamo Savonarola In 1299 the commune and people of Florence decided to build a palace that would be worthy of the city s importance and that would be more secure and defensible in times of turbulence for the magistrates of the commune 1 Arnolfo di Cambio the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Croce church began construction upon the ruins of Palazzo dei Fanti and Palazzo dell Esecutore di Giustizia once owned by the Uberti family Giovanni Villani 1276 1348 wrote in his Nuova Cronica that the Uberti were rebels of Florence and Ghibellines stating that the palazzo was built to ensure that the Uberti family homes would never be rebuilt on the same location 1 The cubical building is made of solid rusticated stonework with two rows of two lighted Gothic windows each with a trefoil arch In the 15th century Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi added decorative bas reliefs of the cross and the Florentine lily in the spandrels between the trefoils The building is crowned with projecting crenellated battlement supported by small arches and corbels Under the arches are a repeated series of nine painted coats of arms of the Florentine republic Some of these arches can be used as embrasures spiombati for dropping heated liquids or rocks on invaders Engraving of a map depicting the palazzo and square with the corridor by Stefano Buonsignori 1584 The solid massive building is enhanced by the simple tower with its clock Giovanni Villani wrote that Arnolfo di Cambio incorporated the ancient tower of the Foraboschi family the tower then known as La Vacca or The Cow into the new tower s facade as its substructure 1 this is why the rectangular tower height 94 m is not directly centered in the building This tower contains two small cells that at different times imprisoned Cosimo de Medici the Elder 1435 and Girolamo Savonarola 1498 The tower is named after its designer Torre d Arnolfo The tower s large one handed clock was originally constructed in 1353 by the Florentine Nicolo Bernardo but was replaced in 1667 with a replica made by Georg Lederle from the German town of Augsburg Italians refer to him as Giorgio Lederle of Augusta and installed by Vincenzo Viviani Duke Cosimo I de Medici later to become grand duke moved his official seat from the Medici palazzo in via Larga to the Palazzo della Signoria in May 1540 signalling the security of Medici power in Florence 2 When Cosimo later removed to Palazzo Pitti he officially renamed his former palace to the Palazzo Vecchio the Old Palace although the adjacent town square the Piazza della Signoria still bears the original name Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build an above ground walkway the Vasari corridor from the Palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti Cosimo I also moved the seat of government to the Uffizi The palace gained new importance as the seat of united Italy s provisional government from 1865 to 1871 at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Italy Although most of the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum it remains as the symbol and center of local government since 1872 it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence and it is the seat of the City Council The tower currently has three bells the oldest was cast in the 13th century Entrance Edit Entrance with frontispiece and statues Above the front entrance door there is a notable ornamental marble frontispiece dating from 1528 In the middle flanked by two gilded lions is the Monogram of Christ surrounded by a glory above the text in Latin Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium translation King of Kings and Lord of Lords This text dates from 1851 and does not replace an earlier text by Savonarola 3 as mentioned in guidebooks Between 1529 and 1851 they were concealed behind a large shield with the grand ducal coat of arms Michelangelo s David also stood at the entrance from its completion in 1504 to 1873 when it was moved to the accademia Gallery A replica erected in 1910 now stands in its place flanked by Baccio Bandinelli s Hercules and Cacus Courtyards EditFirst Courtyard Edit First courtyard with Putto with Dolphin by Verrocchio in the middle and frescoes of Austrian cities on the wall by Vasari The first courtyard was designed in 1453 by Michelozzo In the lunettes high around the courtyard are crests of the church and city guilds In the center the porphyry fountain is by Battista del Tadda The Putto with Dolphin on top of the basin is a copy of the original by Andrea del Verrocchio 1476 now on display on the second floor of the palace This small statue was originally placed in the garden of the Villa Medici at Careggi The water flowing through the nose of the dolphin is brought here by pipes from the Boboli Gardens In the niche in front of the fountain stands Samson and Philistine by Pierino da Vinci The frescoes on the walls are vedute of the cities of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy painted in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari for the wedding celebration of Francesco I de Medici the eldest son of Cosimo I de Medici to Archduchess Johanna of Austria sister of the Emperor Maximilian II Amongst the cities depicted are Graz Innsbruck Linz Vienna Bratislava Pozsony Prague Hall in Tirol Freiburg im Breisgau and Konstanz Some were damaged over the course of time 4 The harmoniously proportioned columns at one time smooth and untouched were at the same time richly decorated with gilt stuccoes The barrel vaults are furnished with grotesque decorations Second Courtyard Edit The second courtyard also called The Customs contains the massive pillars built in 1494 by Cronaca that sustains the great Salone dei Cinquecento on the second floor Third Courtyard Edit The third courtyard was used mainly for offices of the city Between the first and second courtyard the massive and monumental stairs by Vasari lead up to the Salone dei Cinquecento Salone dei Cinquecento Edit Salone dei Cinquecento West Wall at left East Wall at Right The Salone dei Cinquecento Hall of the Five Hundred is the most imposing chamber with a length of 52 m 170 ft and width of 23 m 75 ft It was built in 1494 by Simone del Pollaiolo on commission of Savonarola who replacing the Medici after their exile as the spiritual leader of the Republic wanted it as a seat of the Grand Council Consiglio Maggiore consisting of 500 members Later the hall was enlarged by Giorgio Vasari so that Grand Duke Cosimo I could hold his court in this chamber During this transformation famous but unfinished works were lost including the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo 5 and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo was commissioned in 1503 to paint one long wall with a battle scene celebrating a famous Florentine victory He was always trying new methods and materials and decided to mix wax into his pigments Da Vinci had finished painting part of the wall but it was not drying fast enough so he brought in braziers stoked with hot coals to try to hurry the process As others watched in horror the wax in the fresco melted under the intense heat and the colors ran down the walls to puddle on the floor citation needed A legend exists that Giorgio Vasari wanting to preserve Da Vinci s work had a false wall built over the top of The Battle of Anghiari before painting his fresco Attempts made to find Da Vinci s original work behind the Vasari fresco have so far been inconclusive Michelangelo never proceeded beyond the preparatory drawings for the fresco he was commissioned to paint on the opposite wall Pope Julius II called him to Rome to paint the Sistine Chapel and the master s sketches were destroyed by eager young artists who came to study them and took away scraps The surviving decorations in this hall were made between 1555 and 1572 by Giorgio Vasari and his helpers among them Livio Agresti from Forli They mark the culmination of mannerism and make this hall the showpiece of the palace Cartoon of the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo lost fresco West wall Peter Paul Rubens s copy of Da Vinci s The Battle of Anghiari Cartoon 6 Possible copy of original Da Vinci lost fresco East Wall View on the West Wall with huge Battle Frescoes 1494 by Vasari amp Assistants II Site of the never done Battle of Cascina View on the West Wall with huge Battle Frescoes 1494 by Vasari amp Assistants II Site of the never done Battle of Cascina View on the East Wall Battle Fresco 1575 by Vasari amp Assistants Site of the ruined Battle of Anghiari Genio della Vittoria by Michelangelo in the central niche at the south On the walls are large and expansive frescoes that depict battles and military victories by Florence over Pisa and Siena The Taking of Siena The Conquest of Porto Ercole The Victory of Cosimo I at Marciano in Val di Chiana Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of San Vincenzo Maximilian of Austria Attempts the Conquest of Leghorn Pisa Attacked by the Florentine TroopsThe ceiling consists of 39 panels constructed and painted by Vasari and his assistants representing Great Episodes from the life of Cosimo I the quarters of the city and the city itself Toward the center is the apotheosis Scene of His Glorification as Grand Duke of Florence and Tuscany On the north side of the hall illuminated by enormous windows is the raised stage called the Udienza built by Bartolommeo Bandinelli for Cosimo I as a place to receive citizens and ambassadors Above are frescoes of historical events among these that of Boniface VIII receiving the ambassadors of foreign States and seeing that were all Florentines saying You Florentines are the quintessence In the niches are sculptures by Bandinelli in the center the statue of the seated Leo X sculpted assisted by his student Vincenzo de Rossi and on the right a statue of Charles V crowned by Clement VII The six statues along the walls that represent the Labors of Hercules are by de Rossi In the central niche at the south of the Hall is Michelangelo s noted marble group The Genius of Victory 1533 1534 originally intended for the tomb of Julius II The statue was placed in this hall by Vasari In 1868 it was removed to the Bargello Museum but was returned in 1921 by officials Studiolo of Francesco I Edit Ceiling of the Studiolo of Francesco I Main article Studiolo of Francesco I At the end of the hall is a small side room without windows The studiolo was a small secret study designed by Vasari in a manneristic style 1570 1575 The walls and the barrel vault are filled with paintings stucco and sculptures Most paintings are by the School of Vasari and represent the four elements fire water earth and air The portrait of Cosimo I and his wife Eleonora of Toledo was painted by Bronzino The delicate bronze sculptures were made by Giambologna and Bartolomeo Ammanati From a peep hole Francesco spied on his ministers and officers during meetings in the Salone dei Cinquecento Dismantled within decades of its construction it was re assembled in the 20th century The other rooms on the first floor are the Quartieri monumentali These rooms the Residence of the Priors and the Quarters of Leo X are used by the mayor as offices and reception rooms They are not accessible to the public Second Floor EditA staircase designed by Vasari leads to the second floor This floor contains the Apartments of the Elements Priori and Eleonora of Toledo Apartments of the Elements Edit These apartments Sala degli Elementi consist of five rooms such as the Room of Ceres and two loggias The commission for these rooms was originally given by Cosimo I to Giovanni Battista del Tasso But on his death the decorations were continued by Vasari and his helpers working for the first time for the Medicis These rooms were the private quarters of Cosimo I Room of the Elements Edit The walls in the Room of the Elements are filled with allegorical frescoes Allegories of Water Fire and Earth and on the ceiling represents Saturn The original statue Boy with a Fish by Verrocchio is on exhibit in one of the smaller rooms the copy stands on the fountain in the first courtyard Terrace of Saturn Edit Named for the fresco on the ceiling Has a fabulous view of Florence There is a southeastern view to Piazzale Michelangelo and the Fortress Belvedere Also visible are the remains of the Church of San Piero Scheraggio The Hercules Room Edit Polychrome Madonna and Child Stipo an ebony cabinet This room the Sala di Ercole gets its name from the subject of the paintings on the ceiling Also the tapestries show stories of Hercules The room contains a Madonna and Child and an ebony cabinet called a stipo inlaid with semi precious stones The Lion House Edit Cosimo the Elder kept a menagerie of lions in a dedicated lion house in the palazzo He often fought them or baited them against other animals in large festivals for visiting Popes or dignitaries 7 The Room of Jupiter Edit The room is named for the fresco on the ceiling On the walls are Florentine tapestries made from cartoons by Stradanus 16th century The Room of Cybele Edit On the ceiling the Triumph of Cybele and the Four Seasons Against the walls are cabinets in tortoise shell and bronze The floor was made in 1556 From the window one can see the third courtyard The Ceres Room EditThe room gets its name from the motif on the ceiling by Doceno a pupil of Vasari On the walls are Florentine tapestries with hunting scenes from cartoons by Stradanus Apartments of Eleonora of Toledo Edit Beginning in 1540 when Cosimo moved the seat of government here these rooms were refurbished and richly decorated to be the living quarters of Eleonora Sala Verde Edit This room served as Eleonora s bedchamber and was called the Green Room because of the color of the walls The decorations on the ceiling are by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio A small door in the room indicates the beginning of the Vasari corridor a passageway to the Palazzo Pitti built by Vasari for Cosimo I Cappella di Eleonora Edit Detail of a Bronzino fresco in the Cappella di Eleonora The small richly decorated chapel adjoining the Sala Verde is painted in fresco by the mannerist Angelo Bronzino and includes some of his masterpieces including the Crossing the Red Sea It was built by Tasso to be Eleonora s private chapel The Room of the Sabines Edit It was named because of the ceiling decoration At one time it was used for the Ladies in waiting at the court of Eleonora di Toledo It contains Portraits of Medici Princes by Sustermans statues by a Florentine art school and a tapestry by Fevere Dining Room Edit On the ceiling is the Coronation of Esther decorated by Stradanus with an inscription in honor of Eleonora di Toledo The room contains a lavabo and two tapestries by Van Assel representing Spring and Autumn The Room of Penelope Edit On the ceiling Penelope at the loom in the frieze episodes from the Odyssey On the walls Madonna and Child and a Madonna and Child with St John by Botticelli The Room of Gualdrada Edit This room is dedicated to Virtue as personified by Gualdrada The ceiling painting of Gualdrado is by the Flemish painter Stradanus better known under his Italian name Stradanus Against the wall is a cabinet with Florentine mosaic designs Apartments of the Priori Edit These rooms were used by the priori priors representing the guilds of Florence Sala dell Udienza Edit Triumph of Furius Camillus in the Sala dell Udienza The Audience Chamber or Hall of Justice used to house the meetings of the priors It contains the oldest decorations in the palace The carved coffer ceiling laminated with pure gold is by Giuliano da Maiano 1470 1476 On the portal to the Chapel of the Signoria is an inscription in honor of Christ 1529 The doorway to the Hall of Lilies has marble mouldings sculpted by the brothers Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano The inlaid woodwork intarsia on the doors was carved by Del Francione and depicts portraits of Dante and Petrarch The large frescoes on the walls portraying the Stories of Furius Camillus by Francesco Salviati were made in the middle of the 16th century Since Salviati had his schooling in the circle around Raphael in Rome these frescoes are based on Roman models and not typical of Florentine art Marcus Furius Camillus was a Roman general mentioned in the writings of Plutarch Chapel of the Signoria Edit A small doorway leads into the adjoining small chapel dedicated to St Bernard containing a reliquary of the Saint Here the priors used to supply divine aid in the execution of their duties In this chapel Girolamo Savonarola said his last prayers before he was hanged on the Piazza della Signoria and his body burned The frescoes on the walls and ceiling on a background imitating gold mosaic are by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio Of particular interest are The Holy Trinity on the ceiling and The Annunciation on the wall facing the altar On the altar was a painting representing the Holy Family by Mariano Graziadei da Pescia a pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio It is now on exhibition in the corridor of the Uffizi Gallery Instead there is a good painting of St Bernard by an unknown artist Sala dei Gigli Edit Ceiling with fleurs de lis The carved ceiling of the Hall of the Lilies as this room is usually called decorated with fleur de lys and the Statue of St John the Baptist and Putti are all by Benedetto da Maiano and his brother Giuliano The golden fleur de lys decorations on blue background on the ceiling and three walls refer to the short lived good relations between Florence and the French Crown Frescoes in the Hall of Lilies On the wall are frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio painted in 1482 The apotheosis of St Zenobius first patron saint of Florence was painted with a perspectival illusion of the background In this background one can see the cathedral with Giotto s original facade and bell tower In the lunette above is a bas relief of the Madonna and Child This fresco is flanked on both sides by frescoes of famed Romans on the left Brutus Gaius Mucius Scaevola and Camillus and on the right Decius Scipio and Cicero Medaillons of Roman emperors fill the spandrils between the sections After its lengthy restoration the original statue Judith and Holofernes by Donatello was given a prominent place in this room in 1988 A door in the east wall leads to the Stanza della Guardaroba Hall of Geographical Maps This door is flanked by two dark marble pillars originally from a Roman temple Stanza delle Mappe geografiche o Stanza della Guardaroba Edit Map of the British Isles by Ignazio Danti The mappa mundi The Hall of Geographical Maps or Guardaroba was an ambitious room that set out to represent the known world of the 16th century through the display of a collection of artifacts and murals of cartography all seen in relation to scientific instruments of time and astronomy For various reasons it was not seen to completion yet the accounts of Giorgio Vasari the room s designer detail the proposed purpose and visualisation of the space The Guardaroba was commissioned by Cosimo I de Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany during his major reconstruction of the interior of the Palazzo Construction of the guardaroba began in 1563 The idea behind the guardaroba is similar to that of late medieval studioli which were small private study spaces containing precious collected artifacts Many courtly residences possessed similar spaces to the guardaroba yet the guardaroba of Palazzo della Signoria is one of the earliest examples that integrates cartography into its decorative elements Guardaroba best translates to a type of storage space or wardrobe and its purpose was to house a collection an early wunderkammer of sorts Evidently collections of artifacts and precious items existed before the Renaissance yet it is not until the Renaissance that there consistently appeared collections which were preserved and interpreted known as wunderkammen Vasari s account of the program for the guardaroba highlights Cosimo I s instructions to create a space for some of the more precious items in the Medici collection He had also instructed Vasari to design the space so it was fit for visitors ultimately becoming a semi public gallery space Master carpenter Dionigi di Matteo Nigetti active Florence 1565 79 constructed the finely crafted and carved walnut cabinets and ceiling panels that can still all be found in the room today Each of the doors was to be decorated with an up to date map of a particular region Vasari called the map murals Tables of Ptolemy recognising Claudius Ptolemaeus AD b 127 d 145 significant contributions to the history and progress of cartography The responsibility of painting the Tables of Ptolemy was entrusted to renowned cosmographer Egnazio Danti who was later responsible for the maps in the Vatican Galleria Hall of Maps Each map mural of which there were to be 57 in total was painted directly onto the cabinet doors 53 of these Murals remain today The regions depicted in the map would correspond to a collection of objects and artifacts within that cabinet The map murals were arranged across the cabinet doors in two horizontal rows representing the hemispheres and navigated most of the perimeter of the room only interrupted at the doorway and window A layout of maps in this fashion came to be known as a map cycle a term Cosimo I s guardaroba likely initiated The may cycle is divided into sections of the then known four continents Europe Asia Africa and the Americas The guardaroba was one of the more unusual projects commissioned by Cosimo I and therefore Vasari wrote concisely on its programme and its progress Over the doors of those cupboards within their ornaments Fra Egnazio has distributed fifty seven pictures about two braccia high and wide in proportion in which are painted in oils on the wood with the greatest diligence after the manner of miniatures the Tables of Ptolemy all measured with perfect accuracy and corrected after the most recent authorities with exact charts of navigation and their scales for measuring and degrees done with supreme diligence and with these are all the names both ancient and modern The images of plants and animals are exactly in line with the maps The terrestrial globe is marked distinctly and it is possible to use it for all the operations of the astrolabe perfectly Giorgio Vasari Lives of the Most Excellent Painters Sculptors and ArchitectsAs well as the maps on the cabinets other images adorned the room Up to 300 portraits of famous people of the day hung around highest perimeters of the walls and would be revealed from beneath green cloth curtains In between the cabinets doors were to be mounted natural history drawings of flora and fauna that as Vasari indicated above would have been in line with its corresponding regions on the maps in a similar fashion to the objects that are revealed from beneath their corresponding region The collected artifacts were arranged and maintained by curators and conservators known as guardarobiere in a similar manner to the role of the contemporary museum The rarer an item the more attractive it was to the collector and desired for the collection Objects from the Americas or New World as it was then referred to were particularly valuable at this time as Italians were not allowed to travel there without permission from Spain or Portugal Instead they explored this region vicariously through objects and the Medici possessed a significant collection of artifacts from the Americas largely collecting featherwork Vasari intended the worldly representation in the guardaroba to be seen in relation to the larger cosmos represented by a celestial sphere in the centre of the room and painted constellations on the ceiling He also had grand visions of two large globes a terrestrial and celestial hidden behind a false ceiling that could be lowered impressively via a pulley system into the room below The room was also to display a copy of the 1484 clock made for Lorenzo de Medici by Lorenzo della Volpaia An Antonio Santucci b d 1613 armillary sphere that is now at the Florence Museum of the History of Science was also displayed in the guardaroba along with a second earlier armillary sphere that is now lost It is the relationships between these objects and maps and the context for which they are shown that produces intended symbolic gestures the clock in relation to the maps in relation to the celestial representations were an attempt to generate an effect of possessed knowledge over all space and time and in the case of the guardaroba Cosimo I de Medici was to be seen as the possessor and purveyor of this knowledge generating a narrative of his power A digital reconstruction of the room as it was designed and described by Giorgio Vasari can be found here 8 9 10 11 Old Chancellery Edit Bust of Niccolo Machiavelli This was Machiavelli s office when he was Secretary of the Republic His polychrome bust in terracotta and his portrait are by Santi di Tito They are probably modelled on his death mask In the center of the room on the pedestal is the famous Winged Boy with a Dolphin by Verrocchio brought to this room from the First Courtyard Mezzanine Edit Angolo Bronzino Ritratto di Laura Battiferri collezione Loeser Located in between the first and second floors these rooms are occupied by Renaissance and Medieval objects given in a bequest by Charles Loeser an American expat collector and scholar This collection is one of the most valuable municipal collections for its artistic and historical value The rooms are located in the old palace and were renovated in the mid 15th century by Michelozzo It is the only part of the palace where the original 14th and 15th century ceilings are still entirely visible Cosimo I s mother Maria Salviati lived in these rooms after Cosimo moved the family from Palazzo Medici to the Palazzo Vecchio at that point Palazzo Ducale The first room holds a Madonna con Bambino e san Giovannino from the school of Lorenzo di Credi a Madonna col Bambino in stucco painted in the Florentine school in the 15th century a Madonna in Adoration by Christ with Saint Giovannino by Jacopo del Sellaio a Madonna and Child attributed to Master of the Griggs Crucifix 15th century and a Madonna Enthroned by the Tuscan school of the 14th century Above the stone steps is a little room that was for a time a studiolo for Cosimo I The window looks out over Piazza della Signoria and the room is decorated with birds animals fishes and vegetal elements works by Bachiacca The dining room holds one of the most famous works of the Loeser Collection The Portrait of Laura Battiferri wife of Bartolomeo Ammannati by famous Renaissance painter Bronzino around 1555 Adjacent is another Mannerist work The Portrait of Ludovico Martelli by a follower of Pontormo possibly Michele Tosini There is also a small sketch on fresco Battle of the Knights for Vasari s Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of Saint Vincent by a student Giovan Francesco Naldini which used to be displayed on the balcony above the Salone dei Cinquecento by Vasari s complementary monumental work By the fireplace are two Romanesque sculptures a capital with an eagle first half of the 13th century and a Coronation Head first half of 12th century In the corner room three Madonna and Children paintings are on display The first Madonna and Child is by the Master of Saints Flora and Lucilla from the 14th century The second Madonna and Child with Saint Little Saint John is a later Renaissance work by Spanish artist Alonso Berruguete from 1514 to 1518 and the third is Madonna and Child by prominent Sienese artist Pietro Lorenzetti This room also holds Adoring Angel by Tino di Camaino from around 1321 a Bust of Saint Antonino in painted plaster from the 15th century and an embroidery designed by Raffaellino del Garbo See also EditItalian Gothic architecture Eagle Warehouse amp Storage Company a Richardsonian Romanesque warehouse in Brooklyn New York which has been likened to the Palazzo Vecchio Emerson Bromo Seltzer Tower in Baltimore Maryland 1911 patterned after the Palazzo Vecchio City Hall Chicopee Massachusetts 1871 inspired by the Palazzo Vecchio Bradford City Hall 1873 clock and bell tower based on the Palazzo Vecchio 12 13 14 15 Palazzo Pubblico the city hall of San Marino 1884 likened to the Palazzo 16 The Hydraulic Tower in Birkenhead Docks Wirral is a replica of the Palazzo and designed by Jesse Hartley who also designed the Albert Dock in LiverpoolNotes Edit a b c Bartlett 37 Caroline P Murphy Murder of a Medici Princess 2003 24f mega it mega it Archived from the original on 2019 06 19 Retrieved 2010 12 15 sailko 9 June 2009 Cortile di michelozzo affreschi con vedute citta dell austria Archived from the original on 26 February 2017 Retrieved 17 March 2018 via Wikimedia Commons wga hu wga hu Archived from the original on 2018 12 16 Retrieved 2010 12 15 See page 226 of the 1974 book The Unknown Leonardo remarks on the Battle of Anghiari reference only copyrighted Bedini Silvio The Pope s Elephant 1997 83 Koeppe Wolfram 2000 Collecting for the Kunstkammer New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art Accessed November 2016 Rosen Mark 2009 A New Chronology of the Construction and Restoration of the Medici Guardaroba in the Palazzo Vecchio Florence Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz 53 285 308 Rosen Mark 2015 The Mapping of Power in Renaissance Italy Cambridge Cambridge University Press Vasari Giorgio 1963 first published 1550 The Lives of the Painters Sculptors and Architects Edited by William Gaunt London Dent BBC Bradford and West Yorkshire 360º Bradford City Hall www bbc co uk Archived from the original on 2020 02 25 Retrieved 2020 03 21 BBC BBC Bradford and West Yorkshire In Pictures Bradford City Hall 1 www bbc co uk Archived from the original on 2020 03 21 Retrieved 2020 03 21 Nuttall Keith 2012 05 14 Bradford City Hall Old Palace West Yorkshire YPhotography Archived from the original on 2020 03 21 Retrieved 2020 03 21 Bradford City Hall Bradford 156503 EMPORIS www emporis com Archived from the original on 2020 03 21 Retrieved 2020 03 21 Manufacturing Middle Ages Entangled History of Medievalism in Nineteenth Century Europe Brill 2013 08 22 p 343 ISBN 978 90 04 24487 0 Archived from the original on 2017 03 02 Retrieved 2016 03 03 The Palazzo Pubblico of San Marino is a Florentine Palazzo della Signoria in miniatureReferences EditBartlett Kenneth R 1992 The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance Toronto D C Heath and Company ISBN 0 669 20900 7 Paperback The Monogram of Christ at the entrance Florence Art GuideExternal links EditPalazzo Vecchio Musei civici fiorentini Association Mus e proposes guided tours and workshops for families Palazzo Vecchio floor plan Palazzo Vecchio within Google Arts amp Culture Media related to Palazzo Vecchio at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Palazzo Vecchio amp oldid 1123413644, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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