Palazzo Vecchio’s Salone dei Cinquecento is currently home to the Sala Grande exhibition that brings us back to when Giorgio Vasari went about enhancing the most magnificent of the Palazzo’s rooms. On display until March 9 will be La Sala Grande: Giorgio Vasari per Cosimo I De’ Medici, a small but significant display to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the architect and the Grand Duke who both passed away in 1574, and the glorious project that remains at the heart of Florentine civic life.
Sala Grande, Palazzo Vecchio Museum ph. Nicola Neri
Sala Grande, Palazzo Vecchio Museum ph. Nicola Neri
Curated by Carlo Francini and Valentina Zucchi, the show serves as a means to contextualize the magnificent surroundings that date to the late 15th century, providing detail around its current guise that came about when the Duke wished to enhance its decoration in honour of the celebrations for the wedding of his first born, Prince Francesco, with Giovanna d’Asburgo, in December 1565. The contracts signed in April 1563 brought together many artists, artisans and laborers, with the walls raised by about 7 meters, a suggestion that is detailed in a letter from Michelangelo that forms part of the display. The ornate coffered ceiling with its solid wooden structure conjures a symbolic historical-geographical map of Tuscany centred on the figure of Cosimo, featuring episodes from the history of Florence and its victories against Pisa and Siena, alongside other allegories.
Giorgio Vasari Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana, circa 1571, Central Institute for Graphics (on loan from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei) Rome
Giovanni Battista Naldini (attr.), Pope Clement IV donates his insignia to the Captains of the Guelph Party (bottom right), 1563-1564, Siena, Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati, in Album S.I.7, c. 11r
Giovanni Stradano (attr.), Cosimo I de’ Medici studies the capture of Siena, 1563-1564, Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia, 394
Letter from Giovan Francesco Lottini to Cosimo I, 23 April 1560, State Archives of Florence, 484, c. 562r
Giorgio Vasari, Storming of Porta Camollia, 1570, Rome, Central Institute for Graphics (on loan with the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei), 124190
The decorative project was developed by Giorgio Vasari with the contribution of Vincenzo Borghini and underwent significant changes over the course of the work, revealed in three drawings that form part of the exhibition along with letters on loan from the State Archives of Florence and the Uffizi Galleries. The display allows us to retrace the artistic process that had such a significant impact throughout Italy and the courts of Europe, with the drawings positioned in the room in which they were realized. A video production by Art Media Studio provides ample information to detail this connection, providing analysis and comparisons that prove illuminating.
Inaugurated on December 16, the day on which Francesco I de’ Medici and Giovanna of Austria made their entry into the city to great celebration, visitors can gain an in-depth understanding around how the great hall came about. With ceiling designs, preparatory drawings by Vasari and letters that provide great insight into the how’s and why’s of various choices, the exhibition proves revelatory.
