Palazzo Medici-Riccardi - Florence - Italy
Designed by Michelozzo for Cosimo the Elder, founder of the Medici dinasty, and built between 1444 and 1484, the palazzo stayed in the family for only one century. In 1540, Cosimo I, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, leaves the place for the more significant Palazzio Vecchio (siege of the political power since the early 14th century) and then the palazzo Pitti, more modern and comfortable.
At that time, the palazzo Medici is sold to another powerful family of Florence, the Riccardi, that keep on making the place more attractive.
Entry by the cortile, via Camillo Cavour...
Collection of antics and statue of Orpheus and Cerberus by Baccio Bandinelli (1519)
From the cortile, you reach a little garden with another entrance via de Ginori
The key appears to be related to the Riccardi coat of arms
Stairwaiy to the piano nobile
Maybe the most amazing of all, is the Magi Chapel, with its walls covered with frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli (1459)
The subject of the Journey of the Magi to Bethleem is used to depict the Medici family herself, in relation with an historical event in which thew played an important role, when the council convoked in Basel to try to unify Christendom was moved to Ferrara and then Florence.
In white, Caspar, often taken for Lorenzo il Magnifico who was actually a young boy at that time.
Piero the Gouty and Cosimo the Elder are following, and then Sigismondo Malatesta, lord of Rimini and Gian Galeazzo Sforza, lord of Milan, guests of the Medici when the frescoes were painted.
In green, Balthazar is played by the byzantine emperor, John VII Palaiologos.
Old Melchior - probably Sigismond, Holy Roman Emperor disappears in the shadows, preceded by the more remarkable rider with a panther on his horse.
The altarpiece if Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Christ Child (1459), made for the chapel and now replaced by a copy
(The original, who has a quite eventful story including Napoleon, Hitler and American army is now in Berlin)
Then, you find a few less remarkable rooms...
(detail of a table)
Last but not least, the Luca Giordano gallery, created in 1685 for the Riccardi family.
♠
At that time, the palazzo Medici is sold to another powerful family of Florence, the Riccardi, that keep on making the place more attractive.
Entry by the cortile, via Camillo Cavour...
Collection of antics and statue of Orpheus and Cerberus by Baccio Bandinelli (1519)
From the cortile, you reach a little garden with another entrance via de Ginori
The key appears to be related to the Riccardi coat of arms
Stairwaiy to the piano nobile
Maybe the most amazing of all, is the Magi Chapel, with its walls covered with frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli (1459)
The subject of the Journey of the Magi to Bethleem is used to depict the Medici family herself, in relation with an historical event in which thew played an important role, when the council convoked in Basel to try to unify Christendom was moved to Ferrara and then Florence.
In white, Caspar, often taken for Lorenzo il Magnifico who was actually a young boy at that time.
Piero the Gouty and Cosimo the Elder are following, and then Sigismondo Malatesta, lord of Rimini and Gian Galeazzo Sforza, lord of Milan, guests of the Medici when the frescoes were painted.
In green, Balthazar is played by the byzantine emperor, John VII Palaiologos.
Old Melchior - probably Sigismond, Holy Roman Emperor disappears in the shadows, preceded by the more remarkable rider with a panther on his horse.
The altarpiece if Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Christ Child (1459), made for the chapel and now replaced by a copy
(The original, who has a quite eventful story including Napoleon, Hitler and American army is now in Berlin)
Then, you find a few less remarkable rooms...
(detail of a table)
Last but not least, the Luca Giordano gallery, created in 1685 for the Riccardi family.
♠