uffizi room 62 di vasari e allori

Leading player in Florentine artistic life during the decades of the mid-sixteenth century, some of the most representative works of Giorgio Vasari, creator of Mannerism together with Francesco Salviati, are exhibited here. They show a style based on drawing and chiaroscuro, according to the best Tuscan tradition, but without neglecting attention to refined colouring drawn from Raphael.

He touched on all genres a little: portraits, sacred themes and mythology (well-represented in this room); although adhering to the moral principles of the Counter-Reformation, he attempted to reconcile them with the beauty of form.

In the small oil on copper, Vulcan's Forge, the artist centres all his attention on the allegory, thus rendering the work full of cultural references in a rather complex composition.

By his hand are the portraits of Alessandro de' Medici and the more famous portrait of Lorenzo the Magnificent, in which the idea of movement is introduced by placing the figure at an ablique angle, and special importance is given to the physiognomy.

There is also a sacred subject: the Adoration of the Shepherds.

The artistic activity of Alessandro Allori is expressed by works with both sacred and profane themes, such as Hercules crowned by the Muses, Venus and Love and Saint Peter Walking on Water. In the latter painting, as also verified in all of his works, the composition is forceful and the scenography graceful.

In Portrait of Bianca Cappello what stands out is the compromise between the formal purity derived from Bronzino and the gusto for the exaggerated form, dealt with by Michelangelo, as well as the balanced space of Raphael. It is interesting to note that the work is also painted on the back with the Allegory of Human Life, based on a sketch by Michelangelo.

Together with room 63, it is one of the Ademollo Rooms.

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