The so-called Vasari/Mariette album and Niccolò Gaddi’s collection of works on paper
From 10 to 12 September 2026, the National Central Library of Florence and the Uffizi Department of Prints and Drawings will host the international conference
The event explores the history and reconstruction of the famous volume of architectural drawings that belonged to Niccolò Gaddi (1537–1591), a key figure in late 16th-century Florence. Bringing together curators, lecturers and internationally renowned scholars from prestigious institutions around the world, the event will consist of six sessions of presentations, a study session at the GDSU, an evening lecture and a concluding round-table discussion. The experts will analyse the provenance of the album — which passed through the collections of Pierre-Jean Mariette and Séroux d’Agincourt before entering the Uffizi in 1798 —, the controversial attribution to Vasari, and the sophisticated graphic layout of the masterpieces by Bramante, the Sangallos and Scamozzi, amongst many others.
This is an important opportunity to rediscover Gaddi’s intellectual vision and reflect on the fundamental transition from private collection to public museum heritage.
The event is funded by the University of St Andrews, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Society for Renaissance Studies (SRS), and organised in collaboration with ETH Zürich and the University of Notre Dame.
