Don Carlo de'Medici as a Collector
The grand duke Cosimo II's taste for collecting was shared by his brother Carlo, a cardinal, whose inventory in the Buontalenti Casino di San Marco reflected Cosimo II's passion for paintings da stanza -- in private rooms. It should be noted that this tendency had its origins in Florence, in the studiolo of Francesco I in the Palazzo Vecchio. Cardinal Carlo was interested as well in other large-scale works such as those by Fra Bartolomeo now in the Pitti and the Accademia. He eventually became the most enthusiastic collector of these large works in the family. He also collected works by other Florentine painters of the sixteenth century, including the artists of the Reformation: Santi di Tito, Cristofano Allori, Jacopo da Empoli, Cesare Dandini, Francesco Curradi, and the Sienese Manetti and Rustici. All of these artists produced huge canvases on biblical and mythological subjects, paintings that are today exhibited in the Pitti and in the Medici villas.
A direct knowledge of the Roman artistic ambiance also led the cardinal to add “modern” paintings to his collection, and among these are early works by the greatest landscape artist of the century, Claude Lorraine (in the Uffizi), and later works by Paul Brill and Filippo Napoletano (in the Pitti). The collection put together by Don Lorenzo de’ Medici (another brother of the grand duke) in the Villa della Petraia was more of an example of Florentine painting from the first half of the seventeenth century, which thus came to be further represented in the family’s collection.
A direct knowledge of the Roman artistic ambiance also led the cardinal to add “modern” paintings to his collection, and among these are early works by the greatest landscape artist of the century, Claude Lorraine (in the Uffizi), and later works by Paul Brill and Filippo Napoletano (in the Pitti). The collection put together by Don Lorenzo de’ Medici (another brother of the grand duke) in the Villa della Petraia was more of an example of Florentine painting from the first half of the seventeenth century, which thus came to be further represented in the family’s collection.