The Green Room
Sala Verde
The Green Room is the first of the three rooms that make up the "Fabric Quarter", given that name in the 19th century because of the damask silks in various colors that cover the walls. The first room thus has splendid green damask silk with large racemes. In the next room, the Red Room or the Throne Room, the walls are covered with red silk lampas made in France; and the last room, the Blue Room, has the most beautiful walls of any of the rooms, covered in blue silk with an exquisite design of amphora, vases, and lyres inscribed with garlands of flowers. The Green Room, also called the "Guardroom", was the antechamber of Prince Ferdinando's apartment. All that remains from that period (1663-1713) is the canvas depicting the Allegory of the Peace Between the Florentines and the Fiesolani by Luca Giordano, set in the ceiling, which was decorated in 1823 by Giuseppe Castagnoli with monchrome grey, green and gold frescoes. The magnificent baroque appearance of the room is due not only to the elegant and refined furniture but also to the numerous paintings on the walls. These paintings, with elaborately carved frames, include the group of paintings that was brought from Parma in 1868, with works by Jean Marc Nattier, Jean Francois de Troy, and Carl van Loo.
The Portrait of Fra'Marantonio Martelli by Caravaggio, one of the last works by the great Lombard painter, is of particular interest. The small wooden table beside the canvas (in the center of the wall), veneered and with a top inlaid with an ornamental design of semi-precious stones, and the cabinet of ebony and semi-precious stones (which belonged to Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere and stands against the west wall), are, on the other hand, representative of the apex of very high quality reached by Florentine manufacture during the 17th century.
The Portrait of Fra'Marantonio Martelli by Caravaggio, one of the last works by the great Lombard painter, is of particular interest. The small wooden table beside the canvas (in the center of the wall), veneered and with a top inlaid with an ornamental design of semi-precious stones, and the cabinet of ebony and semi-precious stones (which belonged to Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere and stands against the west wall), are, on the other hand, representative of the apex of very high quality reached by Florentine manufacture during the 17th century.