The Loggiato is the semi-enclosed courtyard (Italian : cortile) space between the two long galleries of the Uffizi Gallery located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the historic center of Florence, capital of Tuscany, Italy. Because the facade of the arcaded corridor parallel to the Arno River also continues the sculptural display of the cortile, it can also be included in the description.
In addition, to hosting the entrance to the museum housed in the upper galleries, the loggiato is known for its display of statues of famous Tuscans housed in niches carved from the inner ground floor pilasters. It is stated that Cosimo I de Medici for his original plan for the Uffizi planned to display statues of famous Tuscans in the ground floor. In 1574, just before the death of Cosimo, the sculptor Vincenzo Danti had his statue of the former Duke placed in the ground floor. [1] His son, Francesco, in 1584 substituted this statue with one by Giambologna, standing on a plinth on the second floor, above the arches of the interior of the river corridor, with Cosimo flanked by two figures, Rigor and Equity. However, not until the middle of the 19th century, was such an ambitious plan to display a statues of 28 famous Italians active in Tuscany was put into effect.
The project was restarted in 1834-1835 as an initiative of the editor and philanthropist Vincenzo Batelli, [2] who wished to celebrate the Italian genius. Initially, he hoped to fund his project with a public subscription and engage young local artists, early in their careers. [3] Public funding, however, fell far short of what was needed. In 1842, the Grand-Ducal government selected a "Florentine Deputation to complete the decoration of the Logge degli Uffizi and honor Illustrious Tuscans". The deputation selected the subjects and approved the statues based on designs with no modifications allowed. [4] Their choices guided by the government of the Grand-Duchy. For example, the suggestions for including Frate Guittone d'Arezzo (1230 – 1294) and the jurist Cino da Pistoia (1270 – 1336) were declined. Ultimately the project was funded by a lottery, and experienced sculptors were patronized. Prior to installation or completion of the statues following sculptors died: Bartolini, Pampaloni, Pozzi, Nencini, Leoni, and Torrini. [5] The original sculptor for the statue of Guicciardini declined the commission, believing the historian had not been evil.?! The series was completed in 1856. [6]
Starting in the northeast corner, closest to the Palazzo della Signoria, are two statues flanking an entrance: the statues of Cosimo and Lorenzo (1 and 2). In the courtyard pilasters, the niches begin with Andrea Orcagna (3), and followed by Nicola Pisano, and proceeding clockwise along courtyard as described in the list below. The statues 16-19 are on the Arno facade of the Loggiato.
Some of statues were positioned aptly: the Medici stand guard over the entrance to the building: Orcagna gazes on his main architectural project the Loggia dei Lanzi in front of the Signoria, while Cellini's statue is placed nearest to the city's former mint (Zecca), where he engraved some medals for the Medici. The warriors and defenders of Florence, Fainata, Ferrucio, Capponi, and Delle Bande Nere; all stand vigil on the Arno side of the building. Their choices must have been difficult for the Lorraine government seeking to portray themselves as defenders of the Tuscan territory.
In other statues, the wit is more subtly expressed: Galileo looks at the heavens, Dante glares at the Florentines that condemned him to step into exile; while Farinata, who was condemned by Dante to the Inferno, stares off to a distance lowering his sword toward the shield bearing the heraldic lily of the Florence he defended against his fellow Ghibellines. Unlike Farinata, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere unsheaves his sword. The statue of Cellini, always the strutter of his passions, [7] is constructed with both stone and metal. It is stated that the statue of Michelangelo, who backed the republican efforts, shows him refusing to build a fortress for Alessandro de Medici. Contemporary critics complained that Giotto seemed too realistic and St Anthony appeared asleep. [8]
The entire project was completed by mainly foreign Lorraine dynasty, which had long sought to represent autochthony, but which in a few years (1848) would face transient exile by republicans, followed in a few years by permanent banishment and condemnation that some of these famous Tuscans also experienced.
Bartolomeo Ammannati was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence, Italy. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo.
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 364,073 inhabitants in 2024, and 990,527 in its metropolitan area.
The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best-known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian and biographer, who is best known for his work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the ideological foundation of all art-historical writing, and still much cited in modern biographies of the many Italian Renaissance artists he covers, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, although he is now regarded as including many factual errors, especially when covering artists from before he was born.
Baccio Bandinelli, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter.
Cosimo I de' Medici was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. He built the Uffizi (office) to organize his administration, and conquered Siena to consolidate Florence's rule in Tuscany. He bought and expanded the Pitti Palace and most of the Boboli Gardens were also laid out during his reign.
Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, also known as Giovann'Agnolo Montorsoli, was a Florentine sculptor and Servite friar. He is today as often remembered for his restorations of famous classical works as his original creations.
The Boboli Gardens is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, which later served as inspiration for many European courts. Statues of various styles and periods, ancient and Renaissance, dot the garden. It also has large fountains and artificial caves, notably a grotto built by the artist, architect, and sculptor Bernardo Buontalenti between 1536 and 1608.
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's David statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi.
Piazza della Signoria is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery.
The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The wide arches appealed so much to the Florentines that Michelangelo proposed that they should be continued all around the Piazza della Signoria.
The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a 15th-century Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It was built for the Medici family, who dominated the politics of the Republic of Florence. It is now the seat of the administration of the Metropolitan City of Florence and a museum.
Hercules and Cacus is an Italian Renaissance sculpture in marble to the right of the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy.
Vincenzo Danti was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Perugia.
The Vasari Corridor is an elevated enclosed passageway in Florence, central Italy, connecting the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, it joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing the Lungarno dei Archibusieri, then following the north bank of the River Arno until it crosses the river at Ponte Vecchio. At the time of construction, the corridor had to be built around the Torre dei Mannelli, using brackets, because the tower's owners refused to alter it. The corridor conceals part of the façade of the Church of Santa Felicità. It then snakes its way over rows of houses in the Oltrarno district, becoming narrower, to finally join the Palazzo Pitti. The corridor's full length is approximately one kilometre.
Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode, known in Italy as Guglielmo Fiammingo, was a sixteenth-century sculptor of Dutch origin who served as a pupil of Benvenuto Cellini in Florence. On his return to Delft in the Netherlands in 1567–68, it has been suggested that he may have trained the young Adriaen de Vries and encouraged him to go to Florence.
Perseus with the Head of Medusa is a bronze sculpture made by Benvenuto Cellini in the period 1545–1554. The sculpture stands on a square base which has bronze relief panels depicting the story of Perseus and Andromeda, similar to a predella on an altarpiece. It is located in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. The second Florentine duke, Cosimo I de' Medici, commissioned the work with specific political connections to the other sculptural works in the piazza. When the piece was revealed to the public on 27 April 1554, Michelangelo's David, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes were already installed in the piazza.
Apollo, also known as Apollo-David, David-Apollo, or Apollino, is a 1.46 m unfinished marble sculpture by Michelangelo that dates from approximately 1530. It now stands in the Bargello museum in Florence.
The Monument to Giovanni delle Bande Nere is an Italian Renaissance sculpture in marble, by Baccio Bandinelli and his workshop, now in Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The work took from 1540 to after 1560 to carve, and the base and statue, though always meant to be together, were only so placed in 1850.
Italian Renaissance sculpture was an important part of the art of the Italian Renaissance, in the early stages arguably representing the leading edge. The example of Ancient Roman sculpture hung very heavily over it, both in terms of style and the uses to which sculpture was put. In complete contrast to painting, there were many surviving Roman sculptures around Italy, above all in Rome, and new ones were being excavated all the time, and keenly collected. Apart from a handful of major figures, especially Michelangelo and Donatello, it is today less well-known than Italian Renaissance painting, but this was not the case at the time.
43°46′06″N11°15′20″E / 43.7684°N 11.2556°E
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