The Studiolo is a small painting-encrusted barrel-vaulted room in the

Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, Italy. It was commissioned by

Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I (25 March 1541 – 19 October 1587) was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 until his death in 1587. He was a member of the House of Medici. Biography Born in Florence, Francesco was the son of Cosimo I de' Medici ...

. It was completed for the duke from 1570 to 1572, by teams of artists under the supervision of

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

and the scholars Giovanni Batista Adriani and

Vincenzo Borghini Vincenzo Borghini (29 October 1515 – 15 August 1580) was an Italian monk, artist, philologist, and art collector of Florence, Italy. Borghini was a learned Benedictine cleric. He was the luogotenente of the Accademia del Disegno (from 1563) ...

. This small room was part-office, part-laboratory, part-hiding place, and part- cabinet of curiosities. Here the prince tinkered with alchemy and kept his collection of small, precious, unusual or rare objects. The walls and ceiling were decorated with paintings showing a similar variety of subjects, some showing exotic forms of industry and others mythology. The inset paintings are now all that remains in the room of the original contents. They are rather larger than what is normally meant by the term

cabinet painting A cabinet painting (or "cabinet picture") is a small painting, typically no larger than two feet (0.6 meters) in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a ...

. The late-

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

decorative program of paintings and sculpture was based on items encompassed by the collection. The object collection itself was stored in ~ 20 cabinets. In the center is a fresco of

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...

receiving jewels from nature, commenting on the interplay of divine, nature, and humanity, that is the goal of both artistic and scientific interests.

Paintings

302x302px, The ''Invention of Gunpowder'' by Jacopo Coppi The walls were also covered with 34 paintings representing mythologic or religious subjects, or representing trades. The arrangement was such that paintings were somehow related to their neighbors, and emblematic of the objects in the cabinets below. The arrangement we see today is somewhat speculative; and the relationships are not always clear. For example, Tommaso d'Antonio Manzuoli's ''Diamond Mines'' hangs above Maso de Sanfriano's ''Fall of Icarus''. The painting by

Giovanni Battista Naldini Giovanni Battista Naldini (1535–1591) was an Italian Painting, painter in a late-Mannerism, Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome. Biography His first apprenticeship (1549–1557) was in the studio of Jacopo Pontormo. He went from Rom ...

of the ''House of the Dreams'' emphasized the relationship with the adjacent bedroom of the Prince. In addition, originally a portrait of Francesco's mother,

Eleonora of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: ''Eleonora di Toledo'', 11 January 1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman and Duchess of Florence as the first wife of Cosimo I de' Medici. A keen business ...

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or red ...

, kept vigil. While the Studiolo employed many of the best of contemporary Florentine painters, their work in this room, for most, does not represent their best efforts. The room itself is now more interesting as an example of an introverted and eccentric monarch; from an artistic viewpoint, the style of these paintings is the high point of Florentine

Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ital ...

, as reflected in the affected and contorted crowds in the canvases. The pseudo-allegiance to the sciences couple with the sense that they illuminated the educated monarch, suggest a prescient hint of the encyclopedic philosophy of Enlightenment. However, Francesco ultimately was a poor representative of the inquisitive mind; at best this room served as a tinkerer's closet, a place for this personally awkward monarch to find seclusion from his wife, family, and court. Not long after the death of the Grand Duke, it was neglected and dismantled by 1590, only to be partially reconstructed in the twentieth century as a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

oddity within the medieval palace. Lacking furniture or a closed door, this reconstruction fails to accurately recreate the claustrophobic feel of the original.

Contributing artists to the Studiolo

Alessandro Allori Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori (Florence, 31 May 153522 September 1607) was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school. Biography In 1540, after the death of his father, Allori was brought up and train ...

br>(''Pearl Fisherman'')
*

Bartolomeo Ammannati Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 151113 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the design of the Library of St. Mark's, the ''Bibli ...

(''Ops'') * Niccolò Betti *

Ludovico Buti Ludovico Buti (c. 1560 - after 1611) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Florence. Belonging to the late-Mannerist period, he worked along with more famous figures as Alessandro Allori, Bernardino Poccetti or Santi di Tito on large projec ...

(''The Armory'') *

Giovanni Maria Butteri Giovanni Maria Butteri (1540–1606), also known as Giovanmaria Butteri, was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, active in his native Florence. He was a pupil of Alessandro Allori and Francesco Salviati. He participated in the fresco d ...

(''Francesco Visiting Glassworks'') * Elia Candido (''Aeolus'') * Vittore Casini ( ''The Forge of Vulcan'') *

Mirabello Cavalori Mirabello Cavalori (1535–1572) was an Italian painter of Mannerist style, active mainly in Florence. Cavalori was born in Salincorno, near Montefortino. He was a contemporary of Maso da San Friano and younger than Vasari. The latter pain ...

br>(''Lavinia at the Altar'')
*

Jacopo Coppi Jacopo Coppi, also called ''Giacomo Coppi'' or "'Jacopo del Meglio'" ("the Best") (Peretola, 1546 1591) was an Italian painter, mainly active in Florence and Rome in a Mannerist style. Other sources call him Giacinto Coppi. Biography He w ...

, called "il Meglio" (''The Invention of Gunpowder'')Schaefer S. The Invention of Gunpowder Journal of the Warburg and Courtald Institutes. (1981) p209-211. *

Francesco del Coscia Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

Giovanni Fedini Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

* Alessandro Fei, called "il Barbiere" *

Stoldo Lorenzi Stoldo Lorenzi (''Stoldo di Gino Lorenzi''; 1534 – after 1583) was an Italian Mannerist sculptor active in Florence and Pisa. Born 1534 in Settignano, Tuscany, close to Florence. He was born the son of Gino Lorenzi, of a family of renowned sto ...

(''Galatea'') * Sebastiano Marsili * Girolamo Macchiettibr> (''Medea and Jason'')
* Andrea del Minga * Lorenzo dello Sciorino ( ''Hercules and Ladon'') *

Francesco Morandini Francesco Morandini (c. 1544–1597) was an Italian painter active in Florence, working in a Mannerist style. He was also called il Poppi after his native town. He was a pupil of Vincenzo Borghini, and later he was Giorgio Vasari's assistant ...

, called "il Poppi", and

Jacopo Zucchi Jacopo Zucchi (c. 1541- c. 1590) was a Florentine painter of the Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome. His training began in the studio of Giorgio Vasari, and he participated in decoration of the ''Studiolo'' and the ''Salone dei Cinque ...

(ceiling paintings) *

(''Allegory of Dreams'', ''Gathering of Ambergris'') *

Carlo Portelli Carlo Portelli (died 1574) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Florence. He is also called ''Porteolli'' or ''Carlo di Galeotto Partelli da Loro''. Born in Loro in the Valdarno, he was a pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlan ...

* Maso da Sanfrianobr> (''Flight of Icarus'')
*

Stradanus Stradanus, Johannes Stradanus, Jan van der Straet or Giovanni StradanoMore name variations: Johannes Stradanus, Giovanni della Strada, Johannes della Strada, Giovanni Stradano, Johannes Stradano, Giovanni Stradanus, Johannes Stradanus, Jan van St ...

br>(''Francesco in his Laboratory'')
*

Santi di Tito Santi di Tito (5 December 1536 – 25 July 1603) was one of the most influential and leading Italian painters of the proto-Baroque style – what is sometimes referred to as "Counter-Maniera" or Counter-Mannerism. Biography He was born in Flor ...

br>(''The Sisters of Phaethon''
''Hercules and Iole'') * Bartolomeo Traballesibr> (''Danae'')
*Lorenzo Vaiani, called "dello Sciorina" *Giorgio Vasari *

Gallery

References

*http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/medici/themes.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20060305135411/http://www.italica.rai.it/rinascimento/parole_chiave/schede/studiolo.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20040829205611/http://www.museoragazzi.it/MuseoRagazzi/db36cedt.nsf/pages/fr_studiolo *https://web.archive.org/web/20051113175416/http://mypage.bluewin.ch/schupposc/studio.htm

External links

*For excellent photos see http://www.abaxjp.com/gw04-studiolo/gw04-studiolo.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Studiolo Of Francesco I Palazzo Vecchio Renaissance art Studiolo de Francesco de Medici I painters Italian art Individual rooms Paintings in Florence