52. cast Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence: Picture Gallery,
The Masterpieces (Part 1)
images and text credit www.
Music wav.
created olga.e.
thanks for watching
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
The Birth of Venus (detail)
c. 1485
Tempera on canvas
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
54. Galleria degli UffiziThe Uffizi Gallery is the chief public gallery of Florence. The
nucleus of the collection derives from the collections of the Medici family, and the
Uffizi Palace was begun by Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
The ground floor housed government offices (Italian uffizi), hence the building's name.
In 1565 Vasari built the corridor over the Ponte Vecchio connecting the Uffizi with the
Pitti Palace. Subsequently the building has been much altered, enlarged, and restored
(it was damaged in the Second World War and by flooding in 1966).
The last of the Medici line, Maria Ludovica, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, bequeathed
the family collections to the State of Tuscany in 1737, and in 1789 they were
reorganized to allow regular public visiting.
55. In the 19th century, the Uffizi was subjected to radical reorganization. Much
archaeological material was placed in the Archaeological Museum in the Palazzo della
Crocetta, while the medieval and Renaissance sculpture and the rich collection of
applied art were transferred to the Bargello.
Galleria degli UffiziThe Uffizi collection on the other hand was enriched by early Italian
paintings resulting from suppressions of churches and monasteries and confiscations
of religious property.
Although it is primarily famous for its incomparable representation of Florentine
Renaissance painting, the Uffizi also has outstanding works from other Italian and non-
Italian schools (for example, Hugo van der Goes's Portinari Altarpiece) and important
examples of antique sculpture.
The collection of prints and drawings in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe is one of the
finest in the world, and the gallery of artists' self-portraits, begun by Cardinal Leopoldo
de' Medici in the 17th century, is unrivalled.