Palatina Gallery
Galleria Palatina
 
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Raphael
Madonna of the Chair with St. John the Baptiste as Child
c. 1514



The Gallery takes its name from the fact that it is located in the palace of the reigning family and was opened to the pubblic by the House of Lorraine in 1828. Even today it still preserves the typical layout of a private collection, with a sumptuous combination of lavish interior decoration and the original rich picture frames.

Unlike most of the museums reorganised in recent times, the Palatine Gallery does not follow a chronological order nor schools of paintings, revealing instead the lavishness and personal taste of the inhabitants of the palace. The rooms that house the gallery can be entered from the staircase erected by Ammannati. At the time of the Medici, these rooms formed the apartments of the Grand Duke and his audience rooms. They are partially frescoed by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) with an imposing decorative cycle that makes use of classical myth to allude to the Life and education of the Prince. This complex of frescoes and stuccoes, perhaps the most representative example of Florentine Baroque, provides a splendid framework for the displayed works ranging from the 16th to the 17th centuries.

One of the most significant groups of works of the collection is formed by the works of Titian and Raphael, which were received by the Medici through the will of Vittoria della Rovere, the last daughter of the Dukes ol Urbino and wife of Ferdinando II de' Medici. It is sufficient to remember the Portrait of a gentleman and Magdalene by Titian and the Madonna of the Grand Duke, the Madonna of the Chair and the portrait of Maddalena Doni by Raphael.

The Gallery also offers a full view of 17th century European painting, displaying very famous works like the paintings of Rubens (The four Philosophers, The Allegory of war), the portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio by Van Dyck, the portraits by Giusto Sustermans, which portray some of the personalities of the grand ducal family, the Madonna with Child by Murillo, the Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio, and other portraits by Frans Pourbus or Velazquez. There are also older works, all very exceptional, painted by Bronzino, Fra Bartolomeo, Piero del Pollaiolo and Filippo Lippi.

Some of the most important rooms, from an historical and artistic point of view, are the Music Room decorated and furnished in a neo-classic style; the Putti room entirely dedicated to Flemish painting and the Stove room, a masterpiece by Pietro da Cortona who painted it in 1637 with the Four Ages of Man, commissioned by the Medici, which represented the inauguration of the Baroque season for the Florentine painting school.



 
Godfried Schalcken
Girl with a Candle
c. 1650
 
Giorgione
The Three Ages of Man
c. 1500 - 1510
 
Paul Rubens
Portrait of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham
1625
 
Caravaggio
Sleeping Cupid
c. 1608
Caravaggio
The Tooth Puller
c. 1608
 
Raphael
Portrait of Agnolo Doni
c. 1505 - 1506
Raphael
Portrait of Maddalena Doni
c. 1505 - 1506
 
Rubens
Portrait of Kaspar Scioppius
1606
Andrea del Sarto
The Holy Family
c. 1520
 
Caravaggio
Portrait of Frá Marcantonio Martelli
c. 1608
Sandro Botticelli
The Fair Simonetta
c. 1475
 
Tintoretto
Portrait of Alvise Cornaro
1550 - 1565
Raphael
Woman with Veil
c. 1516
 
Raphael
Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena
1516
Crisifano Allori
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
c. 1620
 
Veronese
Portrait of a Man in Furs
1550 - 1560
Rubens
The Four Philosophers
c. 1611
 
Tiziano
Portrait of a Gentleman
c. 1540 - 1545
Annibale Carracci
Head of a Man
1595 - 1599
 
Andrea del Sarto
Dispute over the Holy Trinity
1520
Bronzino
Guidobaldo II della Rovere
1532
 
Tiziano
Portrait of Felipe II of Spain
1551
Bronzino
The Dwarf Morgante
1552
 
Raphael
Madonna del Granduca
1505
Bronzino
Portrait of Luca Martini
1555
Raffaello
The Vision of Ezekiel
1518

This painting is a typical example how some elements
deriving from Michelangelo are present
in Raphael's works from the period after 1517.
Raffaello
Self-portrait
1504 - 1506
 
Venus Hall
Antonio Canova
Venere Italica
Menelaus supporting the Body of Patroclus

It is an ancient Roman sculpture from the Flavian era,
copied from a Greek original from 230 - 240 BC.
This statue, discovery in Rome in 1541,
was a gift of Pope Pius IV to Cosimo I de Medici in 1579.
There is a similar under la loggia della Signoria and the problem is that no one can say which is the original!
 
Hall of Mars
Hall of Saturn
 
Hall of Venus
Statue's Gallery
 
 
 
 
 
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