Unveiled Faces. Antique and passion for antiquity. The 11th edition of the “I mai visti” exhibition series. Masterpieces from the Uffizi storage

The Uffizi hosts the eleventh edition of the “I Mai Visti” (never seen before) series with the exhibition entitled Unveiled Faces. Once again, the organisers of the exhibition have delved into the Uffizi’s storage rooms and present works hardly ever seen by the public in a temporary exhibit.

The exhibition brings together 44 Roman marble busts and sculptures of emperors, empresses and unknown private individuals that were among the Medici’s art collection in the fifteenth century. Presented alongside the selection of busts are 23 works (paintings and drawings), portraits and self-portraits that illustrate how great the interest in the antique was among the artists, while at the same time also revealing direct references to the heads themselves.

The exhibition gives the visitors the opportunity to admire a central segment of the collection of classical sculptures belonging to the grand-ducal collections; that of the portraits of emperors and private citizens which have always been displayed at intervals along the corridors of the Uffizi.

The Uffizi’s second floor continues to be home to the Medici’s large collection of Roman and classic sculptures and busts, but the present display shows works according to an eighteenth century setup. Many portraits and busts from the villas were put into storage in the late 1990s. The exhibit is a wonderful chance to see some of these “forgotten” works of art as well as to highlight how important they were between the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in Europe when there was a passion for Classical civilization and ancient cultures.