Uffizi complex

Uffizi complex

The Uffizi complex, while not as ornate or grandiose as many other hallmark examples of Renaissance architecture, encompasses many of the more subtle and social aspects of Renaissance art. It was commissioned by Cosimo de Medici to accommodate the offices of Florentine magistrates, but the top floor was made into a gallery for family and friends to see the Medici art collection ("History"). Structurally, Vasari's design is ripe with classical aspects; a long internal courtyard bisects the complex and leads to the street, and inside, gallery rooms open off of wide hallways resembling modified Greek stoa. Arched entryways are bordered with Doric columns, several rooms have their own pendentive domes, and the screen between the street and the courtyard mimics the open spaces that can be seen in ancient agoras, while still articulating the space. The expert symmetry and emphasis of perspective is a notable detail connecting this building to the Renaissance style that was so focused on living up to classical perfection.

However, the building's uses are even more indicative of its era. Although it was designed and constructed to serve an administrative purpose, housing offices and official spaces for the Florentine judiciary, the plans included space for an art gallery from the get-go, portraying the ubiquitous importance that art held in Renaissance society for those who could afford it. (As the years went on, more and more of the space became dedicated to showing art, and the initial administrative purpose of the space took on a secondary role ("History").) According to Vasari himself, the Uffizi became a site where great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo gathered to appreciate the space and the company of others in the art world. It's important, too, to note that the patron was one of the most powerful players in Florence during the Renaissance: Cosimo de Medici, one of the most active and influential members of one of the most dominant dynastic families in Italy at the time. It's difficult to get a closer view of the patronage system in the Renaissance art world than this: great famed artists (like Vasari) would design and create works of art and architecture that met the specifications of wealthy and powerful people (like Cosimo), almost like contractors. Such was the art world of the Renaissance.

In addition: the Uffizi complex stayed in Medici hands for many years, until the building and the Medici collections were gifted to the city of Florence by the last Medici heiress in the mid-1700s. Now, the Uffizi is one of the largest and most visited art museums in the world.

Architect: Giorgio Vasari
Photos: Sebastien Amiet, Samuli Lintula

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galleria_degli_Uffizi_court_crop.JPG

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gallerie_des_Offices_Florence_(28941190940).jpg

"History: The Uffizi." Le Gallerie degli Uffizi. Accessed September 24, 2018. https://www.uffizi.it/en/the-uffizi/history

Construction began in 1560; it was completed in 1581.
Photos: 2016

Maddie Gartland

Creative Commons 3.0, free re-use
Creative Commons 2.0, free re-use