Uffizi Lands in Anghiari: an exhibition celebrates two battling intellectuals of the 16th and 17th centuries

From May 27 to September 17, 2023, the Museum of the Battle and Anghiari presents the exhibition Intellectuals in Battle. Fame and Oblivion of Two Literati from the Battle of Anghiari to the Siege of Famagusta, curated by museum director Gabriele Mazzi. Promoted and organized by the Municipality of Anghiari - Museo della Battaglia e di Anghiari, it is part of the project Terre degli Uffizi, conceived and implemented by Le Gallerie degli Uffizi and Fondazione CR Firenze, within their respective projects Uffizi Diffusi and Piccoli Grandi Musei. An exhibition to narrate the exploits and work of Girolamo Magi and Federigo Nomi, two Anghiarese men of letters from the 16th and 17th centuries, respectively.

It will feature manuscript and printed works from important cultural institutions and paintings from the renowned Florentine museum-a true itinerary between the Medici courts and Venice, where Nomi and Magi lived and worked.

The exhibition stemmed from Pietro Giabbanelli’s recent studies highlighting the life and works of Girolamo Magi. Crucial for Magi, who was born in Anghiari presumably in 1523, was his meeting with Pietro Aretino, who helped him in the publication of the volume Le guerre di Fiandra and the commissions of Cosimo I De’ Medici, which later led him to the service of the Serenissima. Significant for Magi was his study of Albrecht Dürer’s treatise on military architecture, which was the reference for the Anghiarian scholar’s own, Della Fortificazione delle Città written in four hands with Giacomo Fusto, known as Castriotto, and published in Venice in 1564. Venice remains the focus of Magi’s mature activity, where he was elevated to the rank of “Knight of St. Mark” and from where he departed as superintendent of fortifications for the defense of the island of Cyprus during the war with the Ottomans, culminating in the latter’s seizure of Famagusta. After the Venetian defeat, Magi was taken prisoner to Constantinople where he was executed. During his imprisonment he had time to compose literary works, including the posthumously published De Tintinnabulis, one of the most significant treatises of all time on the ringing of bells.

For Federigo Nomi, of ancient lineage from Borgo Sansepolcro but born in Anghiari in 1633, the turbulent declining Tuscan cultural milieu, divided between Galileanists and Aristotelianists, led him from Rector of the School of Wisdom in Pisa to exile in Monterchi, where he wrote the Buda liberata later published in 1703 and Al Catorcio d’Anghiari, which remained manuscript and was only given to print in the mid-19th century. The historical and cultural landscape arising from the Battle of Anghiari on June 29, 1440, later depicted by Leonardo Da Vinci, served as the genesis and backdrop for Catorcio’s literary composition. His closeness to Antonio Magliabechi, but especially to his friend Francesco Redi, an intimate of the Medici court, fostered his career as an intellectual, including him among the protégés of Cosimo III de’ Medici.

On display among the loans from the Uffizi Galleries are Nicolas Tournier’s Fame and Oblivion, Gerard Ter Borch’s Woman and the Soldier, and some portraits of the exhibition’s protagonists, such as those of Francesco Redi, Selim II, and Pietro Aretino. Among the works on display, from the Arezzo City Library, some of the printed volumes of Magi’s most significant works, from the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions of theAlta Valle del Tevere of Palazzo Taglieschi (Regional Museums Directorate of Tuscany) the Portrait of Federigo Nomi, from the library of the Nuova Fondazione Pedretti a rare edition of Paolo Giovio’s Elogia, and thanks to the collaboration with the Biblioteca comunale degli Intronati of Siena, a comparison between Dürer’s work and Girolamo Magi’s studies will be possible.

Models of machines invented by Girolamo Magi have also been made, with which it will be possible to experiment directly in the exhibition with the technological inventions he made in the 16th century.

Two intellectuals "in battle," minor personalities in our eyes, but contributing to determine the cultural landscape between the 16th and 17th centuries. Two characters so different and distant, but united by similar fates: tireless literary production succeeded by oblivion. Therefore, the exhibition itinerary aims to ideally redeem the memory of the two by highlighting their extraordinary work.

“This third exhibition in Anghiari is sophisticated and exciting also because it stems from new, important studies, which are brought within the reach of the public by combining written texts and paintings that illustrate the life and environment of the characters who are its protagonists,” said Uffizi Galleries Director Eike Schmidt. “This is the meaning of Terre degli Uffizi and Uffizi Diffusi: to stimulate new reflections on the cultural and artistic fabric of the place that hosts them, to show that every corner of Italy has a fundamental role in the history of the country.”

“Terre degli Uffizi returns for the third time to this beautiful village that demonstrates its attention to culture and art. The Museum of the Battle and Anghiari was also one of the protagonists of our Piccoli Grandi Musei project, of which Terre degli Uffizi is the ideal continuation,” said Fondazione CR Firenze General Director Gabriele Gori. “A new exhibition that gives us the opportunity to admire works of art from the Uffizi Galleries, to delve into historical events of our territories and to get acquainted with personalities such as the figures of the two ’literati combattenti’ we meet at the Museum of the Battle and Anghiari. We are happy to have also supported this institution with our ’Europe Desk’ in the process of accessing European funding that will be used to make the Museum itself more accessible.”

Anghiari Mayor Alessandro Polcri added, “Since 2019 there have been many cultural initiatives of the Municipal Museum that have contributed, in some cases decisively, to enhancing Anghiari’s reputation on the national and international scene, thanks above all to the collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries and the CR Florence Foundation as part of the Terre degli Uffizi program. Girolamo Magi and Federigo Nomi on this occasion are those who announce to us the need not to close oneself within one’s own boundaries, but to have experiences, weave relationships, and above all not to be afraid of the future. Visiting the exhibition we will therefore find a path where Magi and Nomi will introduce us to their lives, unknown to most people today, revealing some of the most significant aspects.”

For info: https://www.battaglia.anghiari.it/

Hours: Daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Uffizi Lands in Anghiari: an exhibition celebrates two battling intellectuals of the 16th and 17th centuries

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.