Uffizi Gallery, collection shows Russian Icons

Until February 1 2015 in the space of the Royal Post Office to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence are on display 81 Russian icons in the collections of Florence that form an important nucleus of Orthodox religious art.

The "Collection of Russian icons in the Uffizi" is sponsored by the Friends of the Uffizi and curated by Valentina Conticelli, Daniela Relatives of the Directorate of the Gallery and Vincenzo Gobbo, with the contribution of the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.

Two icons oldest, dated between the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth found since the seventeenth century in the chapel of the Palazzo Pitti, while the most important part of the collection arrived in Florence in Lorraine period and belong to the first half of the eighteenth century.

For their performances seem to come from some provincial workshop of central Russia and probably arrived in Florence by the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity of Livorno, when the Russian fleet of Catherine of Russia stayed in Livorno during the war with the Turks, between the 1768 and the 1774.

"I am grateful to the Friends of the Uffizi and the staff of the Directorate of the Gallery - comments the Interim Superintendent for the Museums of Florence, Alessandra Marino - the desire to keep alive the tradition of the appointment exhibition year-end with 'the unseen'. This year visitors will find waiting for a series of Russian icons belonging to the gallery and that, through this initiative, located place and reason to be admired and appreciated, confirming the collections owned by the dynasties of the Medici and Lorraine that has spanned centuries and has come down to us ".

"A few months ago - recalls Antonio Natali, Director of the Uffizi Gallery - is back in the Uffizi, the Accademia Gallery, collection of icons around 1782 had been exposed by Luigi Lanzi and Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni in the "Cabinet of ancient paintings", in a cohabitation with the tables of hardworking teachers at the dawn of Italian art that is emblematic of a critical rediscovery for which it has become the formula of 'luck of the primitives'. The exhibition covers a field of heritage Uffizi 'seen' by visitors, which will be given at ease to know an ancient culture and new ".

"It is really a pleasure - says Maria Vittoria Rimbotti, President of the Friends of the Uffizi - present to the city our Christmas present. For over a decade the association that I have the honor to chair, participates actively in the organization of the exhibition of the cycle of 'the unseen', proposes that aspects of the collection of the Museum little known and rarely exhibited. This year – Maria Vittoria continues Rimbotti – attention has focused on the oldest collection of Russian icons from the Orthodox world existing outside the property of the Uffizi Gallery, testifying to the refined tastes in collecting Florentine, started already in the field and continued with the Medici dynasty Lorraine, attentive to forms of artistic expression of great refinement, born and developed in countries and cultures seemingly far from those Italian ".

"The Russian icons - said Daniela Parenti - reached the Uffizi to the Palazzo Pitti in the course of the reorganization of the Gallery promoted by Pietro Leopoldo, which involved the displacement of entire branches of the Medici collections and the transfer of many masterpieces from the Uffizi holds grand ducal. The icons 'greek-flies' were placed in the 'Cabinet of ancient paintings' as significant evidence of the rediscovery of Christian antiquity and painting of the origins, and introducing the Tuscan paintings with gold background as well as the cornerstones of the first Renaissance of Angelico, Paolo Uccello, up to Botticelli beside cups paleocristiane, enamels and mosaics. This unusual, but innovative juxtaposition of works "primitive" was dismantled in the late eighteenth to make way for a different sort and Russian icons were relegated in the Medici villa of Castello, where they remained until the twentieth century. Then deposited in the Pitti Palace and then at the Academy Gallery, back again to the Uffizi, by virtue of the spaces in the growth of the project New Uffizi ".

"The exhibition - says Vincenzo Gobbo - the interesting group of Russian icons is divided into three sections that group the painted panels having as theme the Christ, the Mother of God and the various figures of saints that animate the Orthodox creed. From the point of view of art icons Florentine collection constitute a heterogeneous within which are sacred images characterized by a decent quality in the iconography, who alternated those in which the style 'popular' is highlighted by stretches simpler and naive ".

Cecilia Latches

By the number 45 – The Year of 24/12/2014

COLLECTION OF RUSSIAN ICONS TO UFFIZI
Florence, Uffizi Gallery - Sala delle Reali Poste
20 December 2014 – 1 February 2015
Hours: yes martedì of domenica, hours 10.00 – 17.00
Free admission
Information: tel. (+39) 055 285610 – (+39) 055 2646456