Artists and patrons who renewed the image of Florence

Even after the fall of the House of Medici, Florence did not lose its prestige as capital of culture and the arts, thanks to the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. The grand duchy of Tuscany was assigned to Peter Leopold (1747 – 1792) who gave the city an international profile and brought the European version of Rococo and Neoclassicism to Tuscany.

The exhibition focuses its attention on the principal artistic events that took place in the eighteenth-century Florence. 140 works on display including paintings, sculptures, art objects and furnishing record the changes in taste from late Baroque period to Neoclassicism.

The first section of the exhibition is dedicated to Cosimo III and his son the Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici patron of the arts, who opened the city to “foreign” artists like Sebastiano Ricci and Giuseppe Maria Crespi.

In this context, the most influential families of the Florentine aristocracy played an important role in spreading the famed Doccia porcelain manufactory, and in keeping constant relations with Rome. All these episodes contributed to defining the image of a vital and modern city, crossroads of experiences, a key destination of the Grand Tour and a workshop of original artistic productions.

 

Giuseppe Maria Crespi detto lo Spagnolo o lo Spagnoletto (Bologna 1665 - 1747), Amore e Psiche, 1709, olio su tela. Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi, DepositiRanieri del Pace (Pisa 1681 - Firenze 1738), Annunciazione, XVIII secolo, olio su tela. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Palatina ed Appartamenti Reali, uffico Mori Francesco Conti (Firenze 1681 - 1760), Crocifissione, olio su tela. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Palatina ed Appartamenti Reali, Depositi Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 - Roma 1787), Achille dal centauro Chirone, 1746, olio su tela. Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi, DepositiSebastiano Ricci (Belluno 1659 - Venezia 1734), Allegoria della Toscana, 1706 ca., olio su tela. Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi, Depositi
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Splendour and Reason. Art in Eighteenth-Century Florence

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

30 May – 13 December 209

Exhibition curated by Carlo Sisi and Riccardo Spinelli

Exhibition catalogue published by Giunti Editore (available only in Italian)

Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali con la Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Toscana, la Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino, la Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze Musei e l'Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze