Francesco Montelatici known as Cecco Bravo (Florence 1601- Innsbruck1661)
Armida (1550 ca.)
Oil on canvas, cm 127 x 80
Inv. 1890 no. 10723
Gallery of Statues and Paintings of the Uffizi, Room no. 96
Thanks to the generous donation of the Friends following an animated sale by auction, we succeeded in adding to the Uffizi collection a seventeenth century work by the intriguing artist known as “Cecco Bravo” (baptized Francesco Montelatici). Florence boasts various testaments of his artistry, for example, in the cloister of San Marco, at the Santissima Annunziata, in the library of Casa Buonarroti, in Palazzo Pitti. The painting donated by the Friends to the Gallery of Statues and Paintings is entitled “Armida”, as director Eike Schmidt has well illustrated in this journal issue. But no doubt, the acquisition of the painting by Cecco Bravo on the antique market stands as a particularly positive and festive end of the year celebration, truly a very special ‘Seasons Greetings’ for the city, for all of the Amici and Friends and for the members of the Board thanks to whose generous efforts 2018 will surely begin in the best possible way…
Maria Vittoria Colonna Rimbotti
