October 4–11, 2001

art

Family Ties

Power and the Glory: Medici Portraits from the Uffizi Gallery

Through Dec. 9, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118 N. Broad St., 215-972-7600

Frans Pourbus the Younger, Maria de’Medici, regina di Francia.

Though the "Splendor of Florence" festival had to be postponed due to the recent terrorist attacks, you can still see a strange and spectacular selection of 16th- and 17th-century paintings from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, here in Philadelphia. At first glance it’s a little puzzling that the Uffizi, a museum that owns so many great masterpieces of the Renaissance, has chosen to send only a group of portraits from the collection of the Medicis — a 300-year dynasty of Florentine merchants, clerics and nobles. The Medicis had a reputation for patronage of the arts and sciences, mercantile and political achievements, intrigue and even murder. But they transformed the world politically and economically, and their sustained patronage of metalworkers, weavers, jewelers, painters and other artist/craftsmen created traditions that have survived to this day.

The purpose of the 22 portraits on display was to strengthen the position of the Medici family in various ways and to display their wealth, taste and patronage of fine craftsmanship. Some were intended to forecast glorious prospects for the children, some were used in marriage negotiations and some to show the health and vigor of the rulers. One of the most over-the-top paintings in the exhibition, Maria de’Medici, Queen of France (1611-13), was painted by the Flemish artist Frans Pourbus the Younger to commemorate Maria’s coronation. Shown at the height of her power, she wears a crown, cape and opulent cobalt-blue gown covered with an embroidered pattern of gold fleurs-de-lis. Details of this amazing dress include an ermine bodice, clusters of enormous pearls, numerous diamonds, a lace collar and cuffs and puckered silk decorations on the sleeves. Maria’s face and décolletage are pearly white with a shell-pink tinge and smooth as enamel.

The exhibition includes a number of un-romanticized depictions of children as, simply, smaller versions of the adults around them. Justus Susterman’s painting, Giovan Carlo, Son of Cosimo II de’Medici (1622), shows the boy affecting a grown-up pose, his right hand on his hip and his left holding the hilt of his sword. Giovan is wearing a charming little outfit of red embroidered silk with an appliquéd cross of the Knights of Malta, with puffy short trousers and an Elizabethan collar. I like his insouciant attitude, and the way his left side is hidden in shadow to illustrate that his future (symbolized by military attributes) is yet to be discovered. It was interesting to read that the military career never panned out; he became a bon vivant, renowned for his art collection and his wit at letter writing. Portraits of several subjects show them at different times during their lives. For example, Francesco, son of Ferdinand I de’Medici, was painted first as a cocky 3-year-old and then again, posthumously, at age 20.

Unlike the portraits meant to emphasize the subject’s power or wealth, there are a few in the show that seem to highlight other virtues. In Isabella de’Medici, c. 1565 (painted by Alessandro Allori, a student and follower of Bronzino), the subject has a gentle and refined bearing. A lovely miniature ruffled collar and a sheer silk veil frame her rosy face, and she wears a simple strand of pearls (old-fashioned even in those days) around her neck and on her headdress. Isabella was extolled for her beauty, her love of the arts and her vivacious character, and it was sad to read that a few years later she was murdered by her husband.

The portraits in this show may not be on everyone’s list for what first to see at the Uffizi, but they offer a wonderful opportunity to learn more about European history, Renaissance politics and Florentine culture and arts. Best of all, the paintings are unexpectedly beguiling. Far from the idealism of the most well-known Renaissance masterpieces in the Uffizi, by means of a plethora of real-life details, these magnificent paintings capture the specifics of each individual subject along with their personalities, ambitions and pretenses.

—Susan Hagen