A Suitable Piece of Furniture for Writing a Magnum Opus - By Sanne Roefs

Francesco di Piero Guicciardini (1478-1540), also known as Francesco ‘the historian’, is by far the most famous member of the Guicciardini family from Florence. Close friend of Niccolò Macchiavelli, important advisor of several popes in Rome, a leading force in the election of Duke Cosimo I as the successor of the murdered Duke Alessandro in 1537, but most notable of all, the writer of the Storia d’Italia: a series of twenty books describing the – then – modern history of the Italian peninsula. It was published posthumously for the first time in 1561 by his nephew Agnolo di Girolamo Guicciardini (1525-1581) and it was to be this publication that gave him an everlasting fame as a historian and political thinker. 

Against the Medici – By Julia Dijkstra

A few years ago, I was one of the first interns of the Patrician Patronage Project (PPP) who had the opportunity to stay in Florence for three months and to discover the magnificent cultural heritage of this city. My assignment was to delve into the art patronage of several Florentine patrician families, and to add all the artworks that were commissioned in the period between 1530 – 1670 to the PPP-database. Furthermore, I was assigned with the ‘special’ task to research three patrons in particular: Niccolò Gaddi (1499 – 1552), Niccolò Ridolfi (1501 – 1550) and Giovanni Salviati (1490 – 1553). Before starting my research, I knew very little about these men. Yet, they seemed to have a lot in common: they were (1) descendants of important Florentine families, (2) cardinals residing in Rome and (3) important art patrons in sixteenth-century Italy. Furthermore, these three cardinals were so-called fuorusciti (exiles), exiled by the Medici family after the fall of the Florentine Republic in 1530.

Behind closed doors - By Lotte van ter Toolen

With its high walls and few windows, Via Senese number 101 might trick the inattentive passer-by into thinking it to be a fortress. However, as the sign next to the door indicates, this large and uninviting building is in fact a former fourteenth-century convent, which behind its walls still holds the church of San Gaggio. 

A Special Encounter - By Charley Ladee

As I walk along Via dei Leoni, the rusticated façade of a majestic Florentine palazzo looms up. “Should I just ring the bell? Which of the thirteen options would it be?” Suddenly, a rather neat looking gatekeeper opens the door. In my broken Italian I tell him that I’ve come to see the Marchesa, Vittoria Gondi Citernesi.

Farewell symposium for Professor Henk Th. Van Veen

On the 9^th and 10^th of January a farewell symposium was organized at the University of Groningen to honour the work of Professor Van Veen, who retired last October. Van Veen’s scholarly career in the history of art, however, is far from over! In the coming years he will dedicate himself to the continuation and professionalization of the Patrician Patronage Project (PPP), a project that aims to gain further insight into the interesting world of Florentine patrician patronage during (grand-)ducal rule in Tuscany (1530-1670).

Call for Papers

EXTENDED DEADLINE!  
Februari 1, 2016 

Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Bruges, August 18-20, 2016

Panel: Power in the city. The cultural impact of traditional urban elites on absolutist rulership and princely courts in the XVIth and early XVIIth centuries

A Forgotten World. First post..

Welcome to our blog. We have created this platform to share our ideas on the nature and intentions of patrician art patronage and their collecting activities in Florence. But we also love to reach anyone who's interested in Florence and art history in general. We hope you enjoy it!   

Because this is our very first post, we would like to tell you a little bit more about our project.