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NETHERLANDS
Mauritshuis Art Museum
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ART GALLERIES IN USA
Best Art Museums in America.
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Collections
The Palazzo Pitti houses the following art galleries:
Palatine Gallery (Galleria Palatina)
The Palatine Gallery occupies the West Wing of the first floor of the
Palace. It was the former residence of the Medici Grand Duke's family.
Their collection of art was first opened to the public in 1828 by Grand
Duke Leopold, who was keen to retain popularity after the demise of the
Medici family. The gallery houses over 500 paintings, principally originating
from the High Renaissance
era. There are works by Titian
(1488/90–1576), Correggio
(1489-1534), Parmigianino
(1503-40), Caravaggio (1573-1610), and Raphael
(1483-1520). Later, other European Masters and paintings from the Baroque
period were added to the collection. The paintings are hung as they
were intended, as decorative pieces in sumptuously richly decorated rooms,
rather than in typical museum fashion according to art school or chronological
date. The finest rooms in the wing were decorated with fresco
paintings and ornate stucco work by the great Pietro
da Cortona (1596-1669), in a high Baroque style. His pupil Ciro Ferri
(1634-89) completed the work in the 1660s. The so-called 'Planet Rooms'
which were decorated with images based on Ptolomeic cosmology, inspired
Le Brun's (1619-90) Planet Rooms at the magnificent Palace
of Versailles, home of the royal court of King Louis XIV.
Highlights of the Palatine Collection
- Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1495) by Perugino (1446/50–1523).
- Portrait
of Pope Leo X with Cardinals (1518) by Raphael.
- Madonna
with the Long Neck (1535) by Parmigianino.
- Mary Magdalene (c.1531) by Titian.
- The Sleeping Cupid (1608) by Caravaggio.
- Philip IV of Spain on Horseback (1635) by Velazquez.
Gallery Of Modern Art
Situated on the second floor of the Pitti Palace is the Gallery of Modern
Art which contains paintings and sculpture dating from the late 18th century
to the early 20th century. The rooms themselves are decorated in a neo-classical
and romantic style. Of particular note are paintings by members of the
Macchiaioli movement (including
works by Giovanni Fattori), a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany
in the second part of the 19th century. The artists broke with conventions
to paint outdoors and their ideas were to influence the French Impressionists
who came a few years later.
The Porcelain Museum
The museum contains a grand collection of European table porcelain which
was collected by the Grand Dukes and Royal Houses of the Medici, Lorraine
and Savoy families. Many pieces in the collection were gifts from other
European heads of states.
The Costume Gallery
The Costume Gallery is situated in the Palazzina della Meridiana, a wing
added to the Pitti Palace in the 18th century, and which overlooks the
Bobli Gardens. The gallery houses over 6,000 items dating from the 1500s
to the 1900s, including theatrical costumes and jewellery. It is the most
important historical fashion museum in the world providing an inspirational
insight for any would-be fashion designer today. A selection of the collection
is exhibited and rotated every two years, although there are additional
exhibitions.
The Medici Treasury (Museo degli Argenti)
Located on the ground floor of the Pitti Palace, also known as the Summer
Apartments, this museum houses valuable decorative arts and jewellery.
Granduke Ferdinando I decorated this wing of the Palace in 1635 to celebrate
his wedding to Vittoria della Rovere. Here, visitors can view the precious
stone vases of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the ambers of Maria Maddalena
of Austria, the ivory vases of Mattia de Medici, the cameos (small miniature
portraits) of Cosimo I, and the famous jewellery collection of Anna Maria
Luisa (the last member of the Medici family). The museum also houses jewels
created between the 17th and 20th century by important European and Italian
workshops. Recently a new section was opened which is devoted entirely
to contemporary works.
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