‘La fortuna dei primitivi – tesori d’arte dalle collezioni italiane fra sette e ottocento’
Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence
24th June – 8th December 2014
If you’re heading to Florence, why not visit the Galleria dell’Accademia, which is currently home to an interesting exhibition on the art of the “Primitives”, and of the Italian collectors who began to take an interest in them between the 17th and 18th century. The exhibition is the eighth of this year to be organised by the “Un anno ad arte” program, and it falls on the 50th anniversary of the publication of a book on the same subject, “La fortuna dei primitivi”, which gives its name to the exhibition.
The book examined the rise in popularity of a number of artists who preceded such figures as Michelangelo and Raffaello, and it was unique in its decision to focus on the art collectors themselves, and their key role in bringing the artworks to public consciousness. The exhibition follows suit, giving an extremely rare insight into the world of the collectors themselves.
This display features around 42 collectors, all selected from the specific timeframe between the middle of the 18th Century and the first twenty years of the 19th, the reason being that the art of the primitives, which hailed from the late Christian antiquity, the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, was rediscovered in this particular period of time.
The set-up of the exhibition puts a spotlight on the works of art and on the people who sought them out and owned them, with fascinating simulations of their historical locations and surroundings and a well-balanced examination of various different regions of Italy, and of many different social and cultural backgrounds.
The pieces are mainly taken from Italian museums, but many of them are on loan from such prestigious galleries as the Louvre, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London’s National Gallery, the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and Washington’s National Gallery.
Don’t miss the opportunity to view some important pieces of art from the artists who came before Michelangelo and Raffaello, and to discover the story of the people responsible for bringing them to light.
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday: 8.15 – 18.50
Closed on Mondays