Walking the Hallowed Halls of Italian Renaissance Art - Uffizi Gallery

Day 10 (13 May 2025)

Had a mind-blowing day at Uffizi Gallery. We thought this would be a small gallery like the Accademia, turns out it's HUGE - more than 100 rooms of art 😱

Some background: The Uffizi Gallery was built as an administrative office ("uffizi" literally means offices) by the powerful Medici family which ruled Florence for almost 300 years. They were bankers first (which explained their deep pockets), then ran the government and later became nobility. Uffizi is a U-shaped building with a secret passage that allowed Cosimo I Medici to walk from office to his home in Pitti Palace, past Ponte Vecchio (the oldest bridge in Florence). This is the entrance to the secret corridor and you can see how it joins to Ponte Vecchio in the next photo.

The Medicis were great collectors and appreciators of art, and were a great influence on the birth of the Renaissance in Italy. Eventually, they turned the Uzzifi into a museum and the final Medici descendant bequeathed the entire Medici treasure trove of art to the city of Florence on the condition that all the items can never leave Florence. Detailed records of each artwork and sculpture were kept which came in useful during WWII when Hitler looted and seized many of the items. After the war, Germany was able to identify which items belonged to Florence and returned them.  

Uffizi was designed by artist Vasari and it's beautiful. Hand-painted frescos on the ceilings, ornate arches and high windows. There's something to see everywhere you turn. 

 

Some historical background is kinda critical to appreciating the art, so I'm gonna explain a little. Before the Renaissance (14th-17th C), the church was all powerful. You could only paint religious art and biblical narratives. All the figures are flat and 2D because Jesus, Mary and the saints were considered spiritual beings and therefore should not be painted like regular people. They all had to have halos to show they're special. Live models were forbidden so artists copied from what was the "approved" style of depicting the saints. Mary was always depicted carrying Jesus (who often looked like a miniature man), like the painting by Cimabue from the 13th C. 

 

Interestingly, perspective in painting was not yet discovered, so all the characters looked flat and floating on a plain background. Gold was often used for the background to represent the perfection of heaven.

The Renaissance in the 14th C changed all that. Meaning "rebirth". The focus moved away from religion to humanism and individual potential. Literature, art, architecture, science, philosophy, knowledge were celebrated and patrons supported artists and thinkers. Renaissance began in Italy, specifically Florence, with the Medici family playing a pivotal role.

This transformative period led to ground breaking discoveries in art, such as perspective and realism. Even though artists continued to paint religious themes, they broke away from the old mold. Some of them painted their patrons into biblical scenes, like this one by Botticelli. It depicts the three magi visiting Christ but the three men were painted to bear a resemblance to the senior Medici and his two sons! As was a popular practice then, Botticelli was also thought to have painted himself into the scene (the young blonde man on the right). 

Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli

Uffizi houses the greatest collection of Italian Renaissance art in the world. It was overwhelming being surrounded by so many masterpieces. I'm just going to post some pictures. 

Madonna del Popolo by Barocci

 

Venus of Urbino by Titian

The Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Francesca

 

Bacchus by Caravaggio

Spring by Botticelli

David with the Head of Goliath by Reni

But among the proliferation of artists during the Renassaince, it's generally agreed that the trinity of greatest masters of that period are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. All three were said to be fierce rivals with no love lost among them. All three have artworks in the Uffizi.

Leonardo was considered the ultimate Renassaince man. Even though he was known primarily for his art, he was also scientist, architect, astronomer, botanist, cartographer, even paleontologist! How can one man be born with so many talents? 

To illustrate the giftedness of this man from a young age, this painting "The Baptism of Christ" was by Verrocchio, Leonardo's teacher. As was common at the time for students and collaborators to work on less important parts of a main artist's painting, Verrochio asked young Leonardo to paint the angel on the far left. It was supposed to be a secondary character but Leonardo's angel was so beautifully painted, outshining his teacher's efforts, that Verrocchio, upon seeing the angel, broke his paintbrush into two and vowed never to paint again! 

 

Leonardo was obsessed with accuracy. I guess that was the scientist in him. Even his paintings had to be correct. This can be seen in his painting The Annunciation. Initially, critics thought Leonardo had made a mistake with the proportions as the painting showed Mary's arm too long and an awkward chair arm that made Mary look like she had three legs. It was later postured that Leonardo knew the painting would be hung in a side altar in a church to be seen from the right side. If you look at the painting from the left, the proportions look accurate. He understood perspective even at a young age. 

But if I had to pick just one painting in the entire Uffizi Gallery to be my favourite, it has to be Leonardo's Adoration of the Magi. It's incomplete, never coloured. It shows his sketch and how he envisioned the placement of the people, the horses and the background. The drawing is so intricate, and you can see how he thought about the composition, gestures and expressions. This is the study before colour is added. But he never got around to it because once he'd done the hard part of sketching, he lost interest in the piece and left to help the Milan government design war machines. 😅

I love the piece so much. It helped me appreciate the genius of the man when I saw the planning that went behind his paintings.

Leonardo was largely unrivalled until Michelangelo burst into the scene 23 years later. Michelangelo was an undisputed prodigy and considered the greatest artist of his time. He was the first Western artist to have had his biography published while he was still alive (written by Vasari, the artist and architect of Uffizi). He had the support of both the Pope and the Medici family, which made him practically invincible. 

There's only one Michelangelo painting in the Uffizi. It's a circular panel painting "Doni Tondo" (Holy Family) and it was commissioned by Florence businessman Agnolo Doni to celebrate his marriage. Michelangelo's take on the holy family was very daring. Mary was depicted like a regular person without a halo, sitting on the ground with her upper arm exposed. Instead of being carried by her, Jesus is at her top right corner. Typical of Michelangelo's bodies he painted, Mary was muscular. 

When Agnolo saw it, he rejected the painting saying it was too unconventional and Michelangelo was charging too much. He offered a lower price which incensed the fiery Michelangelo who had already gained fame for carving the David sculpture. Michelangelo refused to let him have the painting and when Agnolo changed his mind later, Michelangelo told him the price had doubled. Agnolo paid up. 😆  Michelangelo was untouchable. He's Mr "I'll do what I want and you'll like it." 

Finally we have the third grandmaster of Renaissance art - Raphael. Eight years younger than Michelangelo, his style is an exquisite softness, all sugar and roses. His people and cherubs have an effortless ease and sweetness about them, he was a favourite for portrait commissions. He had a knack for absorbing and adapting others' styles into his own (Michelangelo accused him of plagiarism!)

What's amazing is how prolific he was, considering he died at a very young age of 37. Most of his paintings are in Vatican City. Raphael was buried in the Pantheon, which showed the prestige he carried in his lifetime.

Apart from art, there are also fantastic sculptures in Uffizi. Let me just mention one. This is rare Greek Venus statue from 1BC. Original Greek statues from 2,000 years ago are extremely rare, most that we see in museums are later Roman copies. The room that houses this was specially designed, with a domed ceiling that is made from 6,000 seashells from the Indian ocean. No one is allowed in the room. There's a long line just to see the statue straight on. We didn't want to queue so we just saw it from the side.

I was astonished to spot three self-portraits by Rembrandt in Uffizi! From youth to old age.

Portrait of an Old Man 

Uffizi is just a dream come true for an art lover. I could stay here all day. We were so blessed to have gotten a great guide whose commentary brought the art to life. Even Andre enjoyed the art, something I didn't quite expect 😍 

Some more amazing pieces to close this commentary. 

Supper with a Lute Player by Honthorst

Testa di Medusa by Caravaggio

Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Ok I've finished talking about filling our souls, now I talk about filling our stomachs! I have to confess, my tummy gave up on me. Before we left Singapore, we thought Italians eating pasta and pizza every day was a stereotype or caricature. Surely it can't be true? Turns out it's true. Our Italian food guide told us he can eat pasta every day, sometimes for lunch and dinner! I told Andre I was going to cop out and have instant noodles for lunch. He decided to buy McDonald's just to see how different the Italian Macs is. It's interesting - they have a Crispy McBacon and a slab of Parmeggiano Reggiano cheese as a snack! 

We also found more delicious gelato... 

And for dinner we went back to Trattoria Za Za. We ordered a plate of assorted antipasti which had a lot of items on the plate that were unfamiliar (it was like some sort of taste test!)

And then we had pasta and gnocchi.

But we kept our eye on the prize. The reason we were here again was for the dessert. This time we ordered the apple pie AND the panna cotta because on the menu, it claims to be the "world's best panna cotta". Again, like apple pie, panna cotta is something I never order in a restaurant. I mean, it's just custard, right?

Ok how do I describe it? It's like heaven in your mouth. Yep. Never could I imagine panna cotta tasting like this. It has a caramelised crust like creme brulee and the custard has a creamy scorched sweetness to it that's out of this world. Simply divine. I believe their claim. This restaurant has the best desserts in the world. I know this is what I'll be dreaming about when I'm back in Singapore!