Ferdinando II as a Collector
Grand Duke Ferdinando II inherited the collection formed by his father, Cosimo II, but he did not inherit his father's interest in art. He did, however, exhibit enthusiasm for the Roman baroque as the artistic style that best represented the mores of court life.
Thus, in 1638 Pietro da Cortona, one of the creators of the Roman baroque, began to decorate the apartments, beginning with the “Stove Room”. The ceiling decorations that Pietro produced in five rooms, called “the planets” (two of them actually decorated by his pupil Ciro Ferri), paid homage to Galileo’s discoveries and opened up a new world of images and forms in contemporary Florentine culture. It was Ferdinando II as well who brought the extroverted talents of Salvator Rosa to court, even though Rosa’s real patron was Cardinal Giovan Carlo, brother of the grand duke.
Significant additions were made to the collection with Ferdinando’s marriage to his cousin, Vittoria della Rovere, the last heir to the riches of the Urbino family. The young bride brought her family’s artistic treasures with her to Florence, including Piero della Francesca’s Montefeltro Diptych (in the Uffizi), some of Titian’s major paintings (The Venus of Urbino and the della Rovere portraits in the Uffizi; the Man with Grey Eyes, the Tommaso Mosti portrait, the Mary Magdalen, and “La Bella” in the Pitti), and works by Barocci, Bronzino, and others – taken together, an incredibly important legacy for the local culture.
Thus, in 1638 Pietro da Cortona, one of the creators of the Roman baroque, began to decorate the apartments, beginning with the “Stove Room”. The ceiling decorations that Pietro produced in five rooms, called “the planets” (two of them actually decorated by his pupil Ciro Ferri), paid homage to Galileo’s discoveries and opened up a new world of images and forms in contemporary Florentine culture. It was Ferdinando II as well who brought the extroverted talents of Salvator Rosa to court, even though Rosa’s real patron was Cardinal Giovan Carlo, brother of the grand duke.
Significant additions were made to the collection with Ferdinando’s marriage to his cousin, Vittoria della Rovere, the last heir to the riches of the Urbino family. The young bride brought her family’s artistic treasures with her to Florence, including Piero della Francesca’s Montefeltro Diptych (in the Uffizi), some of Titian’s major paintings (The Venus of Urbino and the della Rovere portraits in the Uffizi; the Man with Grey Eyes, the Tommaso Mosti portrait, the Mary Magdalen, and “La Bella” in the Pitti), and works by Barocci, Bronzino, and others – taken together, an incredibly important legacy for the local culture.
Some Works Acquired by Ferdinando II
Cristofano Allori, Judith and the Head of Holofernes, Pitti
This is perhaps the most famous and most admired picture in seventeenth-century Florentine art. It was painted in 1619--1620 and delivered by Allori to the Medici Guardaroba in the same year. In 1626 Grand Duke Ferdinando II gave it to his uncle Cardinal Carlo de'Medici. Much later, it was removed to Paris and exhibited in the Musée Napoléon from 1799-1815. (Gregori, op. cit., p. 381)
Anthony Van Dyke, Cardinal Guido Benvoglio, Pitti
Commissioned by the cardinal hmself, and executed around 1622, this portrait was given by another Benvoglio to Ferdinando II in 1653. It was exhibited in the Uffizi Tribune in 1687 and then transferred to Grand Prince Ferdinando's apartments in the Pitti Palace. Taken by the French in 1799, it was returned to Italy in 1815.]. (Gregori, op. cit., p. 525.)