Tag: Medici

Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano (c.1500) and the Visitation by Pontormo (c.1528), Tuscany.

Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano (c.1500) and the Visitation by Pontormo (c.1528), Tuscany.

Pontormo (1494 – 1557)

Poggio a Caiano, Tuscany.

The Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano is located between Florence and Prato in Tuscany. It was commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici around 1485 and designed by Giuliano da Sangallo. The building is considered an early example of Renaissance villa architecture, with classical elements such as a symmetrical layout, a central loggia, and a raised platform. Its elevated platform, symmetrical structure, and central loggia reflect the ideals of Vitruvian proportion and balance, making it a model for later villas across Europe.

Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano, seen from the entrance and reception area.

The villa was used as a country residence by the Medici family. Pope Leo X (born Giovanni de’ Medici, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s son and the first Medici pope), stayed there regularly. In the 16th century, major decorative works were added, including frescoes in the main hall by Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo (a depiction of Vertumnus and Pomona), a.o. These works reflect Medici political ambitions and classical themes. The main hall and ceiling decoration is dedicated to Pope Leo X.

Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano, main hall ceiling, Pope Leo X coat of arms, a combination of the Papal and Medici symbols.

Later, the villa was used by the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty and by the House of Savoy. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it served as a royal residence. Today, it is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is open to the public.

The villa currently houses The Visitation by Pontormo, on temporary display while its original location – the church of Santi Michele e Francesco in Carmignano – is undergoing restoration. The painting, a key example of early Mannerism, remains accessible to the public during this period.

Visitation (c.1528), Pontormo (1494 - 1557), Oil on board, 202x156cm, San Michele e San Francesco, Carmignano, now on view in the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, Italy.
Visitation (c.1528), Pontormo (1494 – 1557), Oil on board, 202x156cm, San Michele e San Francesco, Carmignano, now on view in the Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, Italy.

The villa also houses the Museo della Natura Morta, a museum dedicated to still-life painting, with works from the 17th to 18th centuries. The villa is surrounded by a historic park and gardens, with beautiful citrus trees and a Limonaia (Orangery).

  • The Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano is off the beaten track, outside Florence and absolutely worth a visit. Reservations are needed, for English or Italian tours. The villa can be visited free of charge from Tuesday to Sunday. Guided tours lasting about an hour with admission every hour from 8.30 to 15.30. No visit at 13.30. Reservations required on +39 055 877012 (just call them, they speak English and it’s very easy to book a slot).
  • For directions, click here. Bus 210 connect the station of Signa with the Villa, the stop is right in front of the Villa. For bus 210, just tap in and out with your bankcard.
Silenus and Bacchus (c.1572) shine again in the Uffizi.

Silenus and Bacchus (c.1572) shine again in the Uffizi.

Jacopo Del Duca aka Jacopo Siciliano (Italian, 1520 – 1604)

Le Gallerie degli Uffize, Florence

After a complex restoration which lasted over six months, the bronze sculpture and one of the leading lights of the Verone Corridor on the first floor of the Uffizi Gallery is glowing again: we are talking about the large statue of Silenus with Bacchus as a Child by the sixteenth-century artist Jacopo del Duca.

Silenus with Bacchus as a Child (c.1572), Jacopo Del Duca aka Jacopo Siciliano (Italian, 1520 – 1604), Bronze, height 187cm, Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence.

The restoration has been the first recovery intervention carried out on the statue in modern times. It had become necessary because of the excessive darkening of the bronze caused by many retouchings and corrections made on the surface of the Silenus over the centuries. Also, its base needed to be reinforced because of the presence of microcracks in several points.

Silenus with the Infant Bacchus, marble statue created in Rome around 1st century AD after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from around 300 BC, discovered in Rome in the Gardens of Sallustius around 1566, height 198cm, Louvre, Paris.

The subject derives from a marble statue, now preserved in the Louvre, which is a Roman copy from the Imperial era after a bronze dating back to the late 4th century BC allegedly by the Greek sculptor Lysippos. The Louvre Silenus (the so-called Borghese Silenus) was found in the second half of the sixteenth century in a garden in Rome. The bronze copy of the Uffizi, was commissioned by Ferdinando I de’ Medici. In 1588, the Grand Duke placed the sculpture inside the gallery of Villa Medici in Rome and later moved in front of the villa’s portico. In 1787, Silenus with Bacchus as a Child was brought to Florence and displayed in the Uffizi Gallery, where it’s still found today.

In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Bacchus (or in Greek Dionysus). A notorious consumer of wine, he was usually drunk and had to be supported by satyrs or carried by a donkey. But Silenus was also wise prophet and the bearer of terrible wisdom; he was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Bacchus.

Drunken Silenus (c.1620), Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577 – 1640), 212x215cm, Alte Pinakothek, München.

When Bacchus was born, Hermes – the messenger of the gods – took the infant and gave it to Silenus, then a minor forest god who loved getting drunk and making wine. Silenus took young Bacchus under his care and raised the child which grew to become one of the most important gods of Greek mythology. Eventually, Silenus, from a foster father became a follower of Bacchus and he became inextricably linked with the wine god.

The Thriumph of Silenus (c.1625), Gerrit van Honthorst (Netherlandish, 1590 – 1656), 209x272cm, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France.
  • More about the restoration, click here.
  • Some info about visiting the Uffizi in Florence, click here.

Hans Memling (1430 – 1494)

Hans Memling from Bruges, Belgium, died on this day August 11 in 1494. Besides producing the standard devotional paintings, he also became one of the most sought-after Netherlandish portrait painters. He invented an unique and totally new style of portrait, with a landscape in the background, as if the sitter is portrayed outside or in front of a window.

Hans Memling (1430 – 1494), “Portrait of a Man with a Letter” (c1485), 35x26cm, Oil on Panel, Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy.

Memling’s clientele was quite international. Bruges had many visitors from Florence, Tuscany, as the Italians and the Flemish were partners in textile trading and banking. The Medici family even had their permanent representatives in Bruges. These wealthy merchant guys with haircuts fashionable in Florence, asked to be portrayed against a Flemish background.

Hans Memling (1430 – 1494), “Portrait of a Young Man” (c1472), 38x27cm, Oil on Panel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The portraits were shipped to Florence and many of these are now in Italian museums. Already a few years after the first Memling portraits were sent home to Florence, painters from Tuscany started to use similar Flemish backgrounds in their own paintings. Memling is the perfect example of the influence of Netherlandish art on the Italian Renaissance. Memling revolutionized Italian painting.