This major international exhibition provides a detailed survey of the art of Florence during the years that Michelangelo and artists employed by the first Medici grand dukes—such as Cellini, Bronzino, and Pontormo—produced celebrated masterpieces. Works by these artists bolstered the wordly power and status of the ruling family and reflected the sophistication and refinement of Florentine court circles, in which high value was placed upon classical aesthetics and scientific learning. Many of the 200 objects in the exhibition—including sculpture, painting, armor, medals, porcelain, and tapestries—have never before traveled out of Florence. Among the objects on view for the first time in the United States are three sculptures by Michelangelo, some of the greatest paintings of the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries, and works from the famed Studiolo (treasure room) of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio.
The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence is the first major exhibition in North America devoted to this moment of great achievement and artistic innovation, one of the richest periods in the history of art. Before coming to the Art Institute, the exhibition opened at the Strozzi Palace in Florence. After leaving Chicago it will be seen at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Visit the archived exhibition website here.
