If you have found a luxury villa in Florence and are planning to take in the art and culture for which the city is so famous, you have, no doubt, pencilled in a visit to the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi Gallery, or Galleria degli Uffizi, in Piazza della Signoria is one of the oldest and most famous art museums in Europe and the world and was originally begun under Vasari for Cosimo I de' Medici in 1560. The name comes from the Italian word for “offices” which is what the building was intended to house when it was first constructed.
More and more space was dedicated to the display of artworks over time until that became its primary function. In the sixteenth century, access could be granted to visitors who requested it and in 1765, it was officially opened to public access. On display are largely great works of Renaissance art by the likes of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Cimabue, Botticelli, Giotto, Van der Weyden, Durer, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi and Rembrandt.
The Birth of Venus is undoubtedly one of the great highlights of the museum and one of world’s most famous and appreciated works of art. Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it portrays a scene from Ovid’s great work, “Metamorphoses”; the birth of the goddess Venus, who is portrayed naked on a shell on the seashore.
The pose and layout of the image is iconic and can be seen reproduced in pop culture over and over again and has been referenced by the likes of The Simpsons and Lady Gaga. In the painting, Venus is seen with winds blowing her hair gently to the left of the images with a shower of roses falling around her and her handmaid, Ora, on the right of the image awaiting the goddess with a robe. Venus is depicted as the Venus Pudica, an iconographic rendering found in ancient art, that sees her covering herself shyly, with a hand across her breast and another over her groin.
Commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, a cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent, it is the first example in Tuscany of a painting on canvas. The special use of expensive alabaster powder, means that the colors are even brighter and timeless and make for an even greater impact upon viewing.
Don't expect a clear view, this is one of the works that people wait their whole lives to see, so there will be a crowd. However, this crowd may be made up of people who cry at the sight of it and nothing can replicate how moving the experience of seeing it in real life can be. For art lovers visiting Florence, it truly is a must.
The Birth of Venus is undoubtedly one of the great highlights of the museum and one of world’s most famous and appreciated works of art. Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it portrays a scene from Ovid’s great work, “Metamorphoses”; the birth of the goddess Venus, who is portrayed naked on a shell on the seashore.
The pose and layout of the image is iconic and can be seen reproduced in pop culture over and over again and has been referenced by the likes of The Simpsons and Lady Gaga. In the painting, Venus is seen with winds blowing her hair gently to the left of the images with a shower of roses falling around her and her handmaid, Ora, on the right of the image awaiting the goddess with a robe. Venus is depicted as the Venus Pudica, an iconographic rendering found in ancient art, that sees her covering herself shyly, with a hand across her breast and another over her groin.
Commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, a cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent, it is the first example in Tuscany of a painting on canvas. The special use of expensive alabaster powder, means that the colors are even brighter and timeless and make for an even greater impact upon viewing.
Don't expect a clear view, this is one of the works that people wait their whole lives to see, so there will be a crowd. However, this crowd may be made up of people who cry at the sight of it and nothing can replicate how moving the experience of seeing it in real life can be. For art lovers visiting Florence, it truly is a must.
