The city of Florence hosts an art heritage of exceptional influence. To carry out interdisciplinary researches in Florentine museums, in order to identify natural elements represented in artworks - plants, animals, soil types, landscape features - and to trace the numerous connections that arose in Florence among art, science, agriculture and patronage, is an effort of great scientific and cultural interest. The University of Florence (Department of Biology and Museum of Natural History) and CNR-Ibimet have set up a multidisciplinary research group aimed to the identification of natural elements in cultural heritage, thanks to the experience acquired by some of the components with studies on different artworks hosted in Florence, such as Ghiberti's Porte del Paradiso (Baptistry), Bachiacca's frescoes in the Scrittoio of Cosimo I (Palazzo Vecchio), Benozzo Gozzoli's Cavalcata dei Magi (Palazzo Medici Riccardi), Botticelli's Primavera (Uffizi), the base of Fontana del Porcellino by Tacca (Museo Bardini). On these issues, a working group including botanists, zoologists and soil scientists was recently established. An agreement is currently to be finalized with the City of Florence, for the study of naturalistic elements in artworks housed in Palazzo Vecchio, also in order to propose naturalistic/artistic itineraries. Palazzo Vecchio, which in the past has already been investigated by researchers of this University, is one of the places that best preserve testimonies of some figures of the Medici family - especially Cosimo I and Francesco I -, who were patrons of artists, experimenters and scientists, as well as collectors of marvels and curiosities about natural world. In particular, in the Studiolo of Francesco I 36 paintings and eight statues are kept, most of them also containing images of natural elements: vegetables and fruits, ornamental and medicinal plants, plants related to the myth, forests, birds, mammals, molluscs, rocks, etc. With this research activity trying to link artworks with naturalistic elements, the research group aims to offer an original reading of the artistic heritage to visitors. Tools will be provided to track the many threads that between the 16th and 17th century tied Florence and the Medici to the birth of modern natural sciences and to changes in cultivation of fruits, flowers and horticultural plants, also retracing evidences linking the Medici family to Florentine institutions such as the Botanical Garden of Florence University, founded in 1545 for want of Cosimo I.
Analysis of the naturalistic elements in the Studiolo of Francesco I in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy
2014
Abstract
The city of Florence hosts an art heritage of exceptional influence. To carry out interdisciplinary researches in Florentine museums, in order to identify natural elements represented in artworks - plants, animals, soil types, landscape features - and to trace the numerous connections that arose in Florence among art, science, agriculture and patronage, is an effort of great scientific and cultural interest. The University of Florence (Department of Biology and Museum of Natural History) and CNR-Ibimet have set up a multidisciplinary research group aimed to the identification of natural elements in cultural heritage, thanks to the experience acquired by some of the components with studies on different artworks hosted in Florence, such as Ghiberti's Porte del Paradiso (Baptistry), Bachiacca's frescoes in the Scrittoio of Cosimo I (Palazzo Vecchio), Benozzo Gozzoli's Cavalcata dei Magi (Palazzo Medici Riccardi), Botticelli's Primavera (Uffizi), the base of Fontana del Porcellino by Tacca (Museo Bardini). On these issues, a working group including botanists, zoologists and soil scientists was recently established. An agreement is currently to be finalized with the City of Florence, for the study of naturalistic elements in artworks housed in Palazzo Vecchio, also in order to propose naturalistic/artistic itineraries. Palazzo Vecchio, which in the past has already been investigated by researchers of this University, is one of the places that best preserve testimonies of some figures of the Medici family - especially Cosimo I and Francesco I -, who were patrons of artists, experimenters and scientists, as well as collectors of marvels and curiosities about natural world. In particular, in the Studiolo of Francesco I 36 paintings and eight statues are kept, most of them also containing images of natural elements: vegetables and fruits, ornamental and medicinal plants, plants related to the myth, forests, birds, mammals, molluscs, rocks, etc. With this research activity trying to link artworks with naturalistic elements, the research group aims to offer an original reading of the artistic heritage to visitors. Tools will be provided to track the many threads that between the 16th and 17th century tied Florence and the Medici to the birth of modern natural sciences and to changes in cultivation of fruits, flowers and horticultural plants, also retracing evidences linking the Medici family to Florentine institutions such as the Botanical Garden of Florence University, founded in 1545 for want of Cosimo I.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
