On February 15, just a few days shy of the 450th anniversary of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s death, the new displays in rooms 33 and 34 of the Uffizi Gallery were unveiled. Titled ‘Ancient Greek Portraits’ and ‘The Antique and the Garden of San Marco,’ the two rooms are adjoined, but contain works that ‘confront profoundly different themes,’ says Fabrizio Paolucci, the director of the Uffizi’s Classical Antiquity department.
The updated rooms are on the second floor of the gallery. Prior to the new setup, they housed Tuscan and Lombard paintings from the second half of the sixth century. A major impetus behind the changes was the fact that these rooms immediately precede room 35, the Sala di Michelangelo. This is a landmark year to shift the focus of these spaces, setting the stage for what visitors see in the room that follows.
As its name indicates, the first room is a testament to the classical period’s triumphant achievements in depictions of the human figure. The room showcases marble sculptures, many of which are Roman copies of Greek bronze originals dating from between the fifth and third centuries BCE.
The second space was inspired by the Garden of San Marco, which was a center created by Lorenzo the Magnificent. The Garden aimed to provide a space for an exclusive academy of young painters and sculptors, including Michelangelo himself, to study the artistic conventions of classical antiquity. The selection of works in the room, including sarcophagi with mythological scenery and even satyr heads, evokes the spirit of the original garden.
The initiative was funded entirely by the Friends of the Uffizi Association, with a contribution of close to 200 thousand euro. The rooms will be open to the public beginning February 18.
