Jacopo Ligozzi was an important painter in the court of Francesco I de’ Medici, where he was noted as active from 1577 until his death, in Florence, in 1627. For this reason, the majority of his works are housed in the Uffizi and Pitti collections. This new exhibition at the Galleria Palatina is the first monographic show on Ligozzi, looking at is oeuvre in a thematic manner.
In a series of rooms that have been set up with dark green and dark blue paneling, we follow Ligozzi’s career from his earlier work in the court towards his deeply religious later works. The first areas show his excellence in the representation of nature in numerous beautiful drawings either coloured with watercolours or highlighted with gold.
Although recognized for his exquisite drawings of birds and rabbits amongst other things, in his role as court artist Ligozzi was also an able portraitist, and he planned tapestries and pietre dure tables, some beautifully detailed examples of which we see in the exhibition.
The second section of the exhibition concentrates on his religious production, including altarpieces for the Florentine churches of the Santissima Annunziata and Santa Maria Novella, and for the outlying towns of Siena, San Gimignano and Arezzo. His reformed, devout style was highly influential on figurative painting in Florence at the turn of the 17th century.
The exhibition Jacopo Ligozzi, Pittore Universalissimo is at the Galleria Palatina from May 27 to September 28, 2014.
