The
standard tourist itinerary often features the familiar triumvirate: the Uffizi,
the Accademia and the Duomo. Slim-hipped and lean, Michelangelo’s David spearheads the movement to overshadow quieter and less well-known artistic
destinations.
The Museo di
Casa Martelli is one such destination. Once property of the
Martelli family, it became a state museum in 1999. As demonstrated by the
extensive collection, the Martelli family was an important patron of the arts.
Perhaps what allowed them to amass the collection was the substantial wealth
the family acquired as bankers. Roberto Martelli even commissioned many works from
Renaissance artist and sculptor Donatello, who received his education at the
Martelli house.
More than reasonable, the five-euro entrance fee includes the option of
having a tour guide lead the way.
It is the only museum-house that escaped refurbishment in a subsequent
stage by a later collector. For this reason, the Martelli museum offers a
curious juxtaposition of domestic life with the lush splendor of several dozen
art pieces. Amongst these are the paintings Magdalene, by Sebastiano
Conca, and Cerealia, by Domenico
Beccafumi. Nevertheless, even if emptied of all their art, each room might
still promise a rich spectacle. The walls of the Martelli living room are
painted golden-yellow while a voluptuous chandelier glitters above a cluster of
chairs. One of the most intriguing features of the museum-house is the frescoed
winter garden, where painted vines forever uncoil and cats are frozen mid-dip
into fountains. Together, these images recall the splendidly warm and pink
summer months.
The Ospedale degli Innocenti provides another refreshing deviation from
the usual crowd-tempting locations. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1419, this museum
once functioned as a children’s orphanage. In this way-along with Museo di Casa
Martelli- it carries the peculiar intimacy of a place where lives long-ago
unfolded and developed. For instance, one room is noticeably longer and
narrower than the other rooms. Quite quickly, one understands that it was the
children’s sleeping quarters. Aside from the delicate sentimentality of the
small, hidden rooms and the imaginings that their history inspires, there are
several paintings so richly detailed that they leave nothing to be imagined,
the most striking of these being Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the
Magi.
At the Horne Museum, domestic life also finds a place amongst precious
art pieces. The museum acquired its name from British architect Herbert Percy
Horne, who purchased the building and later bequeathed the palace and his
treasured collection to the Italian state. Horne’s interest in Renaissance
art is also captured by Botticelli: Painter of Florence, the book he
later wrote about the Renaissance artist and sculptor. In 1904, Horne moved
permanently to Italy. Soon afterward, he bought the Palazzo Corsi and converted
the fifteenth-century building into a living museum. Therefore, the Horne
Museum not only includes sculptures and paintings, but also embraces everything
from exquisite furniture pieces to seals and fabrics. Open every day except for
Sundays, the Horne Museum’s five-euro entrance fee covers unlimited ogling at
Giotto’s St.
Stephen, Bernini’s Angels in Glory, as well as works by
Desiderio da Settignano and Giambologna.
From sprawling libraries to cutlery pieces, most everything that one
discovers at these three museums not only separates them from the more
recognizable trinity, but also contributes to their delicate sentimentality.
Museo di
Casa Martelli
Via
Ferdinando Zannetti, 8
www.uffizi.firenze.it/musei/casamartelli
Tel.
055/216725
Ospedale
degli Innocenti
P.za
della Santissima Annunziata, 12
http://www.istitutodegliinnocenti.it
Tel.
055/264406
Horne Museum
Via
dei Benci, 6
Tel.
055/244661
