Palazzo Vecchio is hosting the traveling exhibition ‘The Prince of Dreams: Joseph in the Medici Tapestries of Bronzino and Pontormo’ until February 15, 2016. The exhibition features 20 16th-century tapestries, commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici for the Sala dei Duecento, now returned to their rightful home.
Ten of the ‘Joseph tapestries’ have been housed in Rome’s Quirinale since 1882. This traveling exhibition, part of Expo 2015, marks the first time that all 20 tapestries have been displayed together since the unification of Italy. The exhibition previously made stops in Rome and at the Palazzo Reale in Milan.
Flemish artists Jan Rost and Nicolas Karcher wove the tapestries, following designs by Bronzino, Jacopo Pontormo and Francesco Salviati. The Opificio delle Pietre Dure di Firenze carried out a restoration on them in 1985. Today, visitors can see them in their full splendor, enhanced by special lighting for the Sala dei Duecento.
photos by Andrea Paoletti
