Studiolo of Francesco I
Encyclopedia
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.- Biography :...
. It was completed for the duke from 1570-1572, by teams of artists under the supervision of Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
and the scholars Giovanni Batista Adriani and Vincenzo Borghini. This small room was part-office, part-laboratory, part-hiding place, and part-cabinet of curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
. Here the prince tinkered with alchemy and fingered his collection of small, precious, unusual or rare objects, under the organizing vista of thematic canvases, which are rather larger than most cabinet painting
Cabinet painting
A cabinet painting is a small painting, typically no larger than about two feet in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used of paintings that show full-length figures at a small scale, as opposed to say a head painted nearly life-size, and that are painted very...
s.
The late-Mannerist
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
decorative program of paintings and sculpture was based on items encompassed by the collection. The object collection itself was stored in ~ 20 cabinets. In the center is a fresco of Prometheus
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...
receiving jewels from nature, commenting on the interplay of divine, nature, and humanity, that is the goal of both artistic and scientific interests.
The walls were also covered with 34 paintings that were emblematic, some distantly, of the objects in the cabinets below. The themes of the paintings were mythologic, religious, or representing trades. For example, Mirabello Cavalori
Mirabello Cavalori
Mirabello Cavalori was an Italian painter of Mannerist style, active mainly in Florence.Cavalori was born in Salincorno, near Montefortino. He was a contemporary of Maso da San Friano and younger than Vasari. The latter painter employed Cavalori in the decoration of the Studiolo of Francesco I in...
's Wool Factory (image) would have abutted the wall under the fresco of fire. A number of the pictures related to sea and ocean activities. Ultimately, the exact wall arrangement of the extant paintings and the contents of the collection are partially speculative. The painting by Giovanni Battista Naldini
Giovanni Battista Naldini
Giovanni Battista Naldini was an Italian painter of a late-Mannerism in Florence.His first apprenticeship was in the studio of Jacopo Pontormo. He went from Rome for a number of months following 1560, and was recruited to work for Giorgio Vasari in 1562...
of the House of the Dreams emphasized the relationship with the adjacent bedroom of the Prince. The Studiolo is arrayed and visible through an arched opening and lacks cabinets, which fails to accurately recreate the claustrophobic feel of the original. In addition, originally a portrait of Francesco's mother, Eleonora of Toledo by Bronzino, kept vigil.
While the Studiolo employed many of the best of contemporary Florentine painters; for most, this likely does not represent their individual best efforts. The paintings and the room itself are now more interesting as an example of monarchic eccentricity. The pseudo-allegiance to the sciences couple with the sense that they illuminated the educated monarch, suggest a prescient hint of the encyclopedic philosophy of Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. However, Francesco ultimately was a poor representative of the inquisitive mind; at best this room served as a place for this personally awkward monarch to remain secluded from his wife and family. Not long after the death of the Grand Duke, it was neglected and dismantled by 1590, only to be partially reconstructed in the twentieth century as an Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
oddity within the medieval palace.
Contributing Artists to the Studiolo
- Alessandro AlloriAlessandro AlloriAlessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori was an Italian portrait painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school....
(Pearl Fisherman). - Niccolò Betti
- Ludovico ButiLudovico ButiLudovico Buti was an Italian painter, active mostly in Florence.Belonging to the late-Mannerist period, he worked along with more famous figures as Alessandro Allori, Bernardino Poccetti or Santi di Tito on large projects, including the decoration of certain ceilings of the Uffizi and the Grand...
The armory - Giovanni Maria ButteriGiovanni Maria ButteriGiovanni Maria Butteri , also known as Giovanmaria Butteri, was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, active in his native Florence....
(Francesco visiting glassworks)]. - Vittore Casini (The Forge of Vulcan
- Mirabello CavaloriMirabello CavaloriMirabello Cavalori was an Italian painter of Mannerist style, active mainly in Florence.Cavalori was born in Salincorno, near Montefortino. He was a contemporary of Maso da San Friano and younger than Vasari. The latter painter employed Cavalori in the decoration of the Studiolo of Francesco I in...
( Lavinia at the altar). - Jacopo Coppi called "il Meglio" ("the Best") (The invention of gunpowder)
- Francesco del Coscia
- Giovanni Fedini
- Alessandro Fei called il Barbiere (the Barber)
- Sebastiano Marsili
- Girolamo MacchiettiGirolamo Macchietti-Origins and apprentice:Girolamo Macchietti was an Italian painter active in Florence, working in a Mannerist style. He was a pupil of Michele di Ridolfi. During 1556-62, worked as an assistant to Giorgio Vasari in the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio, where he worked with Mirabello Cavalori...
(Medea and Jason) - Andrea del Minga
- Lorenzo dello Sciorino (Hercules and Ladon
- Francesco MorandiniFrancesco MorandiniFrancesco Morandini was an Italian painter active in Florence, working in a Mannerist style. He was also called il Poppi after his native town...
(called il "Poppi") and Jacopo ZucchiJacopo ZucchiJacopo Zucchi was a Florentine painter of the Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome.His training began in the studio of Giorgio Vasari, and he participated in decoration of the Studiolo and the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio. Moving to Rome in the early 1570s, he worked for...
for the ceiling - Giovanni Battista NaldiniGiovanni Battista NaldiniGiovanni Battista Naldini was an Italian painter of a late-Mannerism in Florence.His first apprenticeship was in the studio of Jacopo Pontormo. He went from Rome for a number of months following 1560, and was recruited to work for Giorgio Vasari in 1562...
Allegory of Dreams and the Gathering of Ambergris. - Carlo PortelliCarlo PortelliCarlo Portelli was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Florence. He is also called Porteolli or Carlo di Galeotto Partelli da Loro...
- Maso da Sanfriano (Flight of Icarus).
- Giovanni Stradano (Francesco in his laboratory).(Alchemy laboratory)
- Santi di TitoSanti di TitoSanti di Tito was an Italian painter of Late-Mannerist or proto-Baroque style, what is sometimes referred to as Contra-Maniera or Counter-Mannerism.-Biography:...
with (The Sisters of Fetonte) & [ (:File:Santi di Tito Hercules y Omfale Studiolo.jpg|Hercules and Iole] - Bartolomeo Traballesi (Danae)
- Lorenzo Vaiani "dello Sciorina"
- Giorgio Vasari himself
- Jacopo ZucchiJacopo ZucchiJacopo Zucchi was a Florentine painter of the Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome.His training began in the studio of Giorgio Vasari, and he participated in decoration of the Studiolo and the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio. Moving to Rome in the early 1570s, he worked for...
- For excellent photos see http://www.abaxjp.com/gw04-studiolo/gw04-studiolo.html