I was horrified by the bombing and sent money immediately. I had been an Italian language student at the Universita di Firenze in 1980 and visited the Uffizi almost daily since it was only a short stroll from my pensione.

In those days I remember that it wasn’t very crowded, even during summer afternoons. I spent hours there and learned to appreciate Medieval and Renaissance Art as more than just religious paintings.

I still struggle to understand a world in which someone could bomb the Uffizi or any other art and historical site.

Isobel Sturgeon

Friends of the Uffizi Gallery Member

 

After experiencing the last Florentine Weekend, I knew I would be returning for the 2016 trip. This was the view out of my hotel window in 2014. I’m a little afraid I won’t be able to leave this wonderful city again!

The last Weekend was full of unforgettable places, people and events. As an old art historian and museum professional, I particularly enjoyed seeing how the city’s outstanding art and architecture are being conserved for future generations. I particularly liked that I could watch as conservators worked their magic on these large panels in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore in the Piazza del Duomo.

“The eight sixteenth-century tapestries representing Catherine de Medici and her family observing courtly festivities, collectively known as The Valois Tapestries, are amongst the most important Renaissance tapestries surviving today. Probably springing from the imagination of the celebrated court artist at Fontainebleau, Antoine Caron, the tapestries were certainly created in Brussels, the most admired weaving center in the sixteenth century. Their designs enjoy a cleverly playful spatial complexity, uniting distant panoramas with figures so close to the picture plane, and so carefully observed, that they seem to inhabit the actual rather than the woven realm. In these tapestries, the subtle twist of a head or sight-line of a glance balances the bombast of spectacle viewed from afar. In their subject matter, The Valois Tapestries capture the pageantry and excess of the French court; amongst the protagonists depicted is a veritable portrait gallery of the royal family of France. Their monumental scale (each piece over 14 square meters) epitomizes this monumental art form at its most audacious. Woven only once, this is the unique edition of this extraordinary series”.

Elizabeth Cleland is the Associate Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  Her primary responsibilities are in the area of post-medieval European tapestries in the Met’s Collection.

“The opportunity to join the Friends of the Uffizi was a blessing. Having been born, raised and educated in Milan, I have been imbued with pride that Italy is the epicenter of Western Civilization and Florence its apogee. The Uffizi, of course, is the jewel of Florentine cultural preservation and the world’s most important Renaissance museum.

To support the legacy of Lorenzo The Magnificent and enjoy the companionship of the Friends has been a steadfast joy. Particular has been the inspiration derived from the restorations, lectures and education the Friends brings to so many, especially in the United States”.

Daniela Di Lorenzo
Vice Chairman
Friends of the Uffizi Gallery