Cosimo I and Vasari: an exhibition on the Great Hall in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio

In Florence, on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the death of Cosimo I de’ Medici and Giorgio Vasari, Palazzo Vecchio celebrates their extraordinary artistic partnership with an exhibition dedicated to the decoration of the Sala Grande, better known today as the Salone dei Cinquecento. The initiative, promoted by the Florence World Heritage and UNESCO Relations Office of the City of Florence and the MUS.E Foundation, with financial support from the Ministry of Tourism through the UNESCO Sites and Creative Cities Fund, explores one of the most significant projects of Medici Florence. The exhibition, entitled La Sala Grande. Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de’ Medici, is curated by Carlo Francini and Valentina Zucchi and can be visited from December 17, 2024 to March 9, 2025.

The Salone dei Cinquecento, the focus of the exhibition, underwent a radical renovation in the second half of the 16th century under Giorgio Vasari (Arezzo, 1511 - Florence, 1574). The decoration of the room was commissioned by Duke Cosimo I (Florence, 1519 - 1574) on the occasion of the wedding of his eldest son, Prince Francesco, to Joan of Austria, celebrated in December 1565. The work, begun in 1563, transformed the space into a grandiose celebration of Tuscany and Medici power, thanks to the contribution of artists, artisans and craftsmen coordinated by Vasari.

The birth of a masterpiece

The project, carried out with the fundamental contribution of the learned Vincenzo Borghini, included a new wooden coffered ceiling, raising the walls about seven meters and enriching them with monumental paintings. The symbolism of the decoration exalts Florence’s victories over Pisa and Siena, with historical episodes, allegories of city districts and Tuscan cities making up a veritable historical-geographical map.

A central element of the exhibition is the display of preparatory drawings for the ceiling and walls, the work of Vasari himself. These include depictions of the Taking of Porta Camollia and the Battle of Marciano, scenes related to the war against Siena, and sketches for the ceiling, such as the one depicting Cosimo studying the conquest of Siena. The latter underwent a significant change: in fact, the duke asked to be surrounded not by advisers but by his own virtues, to emphasize his moral as well as political authority. Cosimo’s letter to Vasari testifying to this request is a valuable document on display in the exhibition.

Michelangelo’s correspondence and opinion

The exhibition also offers insight into the creative and organizational processes behind such an ambitious undertaking. A series of letters, from the Florence State Archives, documents the continuous exchanges between Cosimo and Vasari. “Since V. E. I. with his usual greatness has deigned to grace me that this present year we put our hands to the great hall [...] of your palace,” Vasari wrote to the duke on March 3, 1563, “a work that will surpass any other that has ever been done by e’ mortals for grandeur et magnificenzia, sì per gli ornamenti di pietre, statues di bronzi, marmi, fontana et per l’invenzione et storie di pitture che s’apparecchiano ora nel palco e nelle facciate di sotto. And in truth no other spirit was needed for such a work than ’His nor lack of greatness, et because all this inventione was born, I say, from the high concepts of Her, together with the richness of the subjects, which not only surpassed all the halls made by the Viniziano Senate and of all e’ kings et emperors and popes that ever were, since, if well ànno auto the treasures, it will not auto any of them in its places a body of walls so great and so magnificent, nor even a soul so invincible, as to know how to put its hand to an enterprise so terrible and of such importance. I thank you after God, my sweetest Lord, since you have prepared me for such an honorable and worthy undertaking, so that my intellect and virtue may live on, as it is in keeping with your very great name [...] And because I have no words, my Lord, to thank you for so great an obligation and honor done me by you, I shall see [...] to prepare me for a new path of labors and studies to ispremer of myself everything good and good that the art of drawing can do, so that what will come out of my hands will be full not only of beautiful inventions, of pride, relief, vivacity and judgment.” Thus Cosimo replied to Vasari on March 14: “Messer Giorgio Nostro carissimo. La descrittione [...], con il disegno che Ci mandare con essa per la sala grande et suo palco, Ci piace assai, massime dimostrando li principi dello stato et a poco a poco la sua propagatione. Two things for now We need to remind you, The one that the crown and assistance of those councillors that You want to put around Us in the deliberation of the war of Siena is not necessary, because We alone were, but You could well figure there the Silentio, with some other Virtue that representessi the same as the councillors. The other, that in one of those pictures of the stage one might see all Our states together, to denote the enlargement et the acquisition, besides that some motto or words are still necessary in every historia, for greater expression of the figured. From Pisa on March 14, 1563. El Duca di Fiorenza a Giorgio Vasari, Pittore et architetto nostro carissimo a Fiorenza.”

Exchanges with other influential figures are also present. One episode of particular note concerns Michelangelo Buonarroti: as early as 1560, Vasari showed a wooden model of the room to the master in Rome, who expressed an enthusiastic opinion (“Illustrissimo Signor Duca,” wrote Michelangelo, “Io ho visto e disegni delle stanze dipinte da Messer Giorgio e il modello della sala grande con il disegnio della fontana di Messer Bartolomeo che va in detto luogo. About the pictura it seemed to me to see marvelous things, as are and will be all those that are and will be made under the shadow of V.E. About the model of the hall as it is it seems to me low: it would be necessary, then that so much expense is made, to raise it to at least braccia 12”). Another significant document is the journal of the Medici Factories, which records details about the interventions, from the workers’ fees to the materials used. Curiosities include the payment made in 1570 to Taddeo di Francesco battiloro for no less than 3,500 gold leaves, used in the decoration and useful for “putting gold in the ornaments of the stories of the facades of said hall.”

The protagonists of the undertaking

A team of excellence participated in the realization of the Salone dei Cinquecento. Vasari, in addition to conceiving and directing the project, was directly responsible for some of the decorations. Working alongside him were master masons such as Bernardo d’Antonio di Monna Mattea and woodworkers such as Battista di Bartolomeo Botticelli. Artists of the caliber of Giovanni Stradano, Giovanni Battista Naldini, and Jacopo Zucchi were involved for the paintings, while decorators such as Stefano Veltroni, Tommaso di Battista, Orazio Porta, and Marco da Faenza took care of the finishes.

In December 1565, in a completely transformed Salone dei Cinquecento, the wedding celebrations of Prince Francis with Joan of Austria took place. As Domenico Mellini recounts, the hall was the scene of a theatrical performance and a sumptuous banquet, illuminated by twelve large lights in the shape of crowns and adorned with monumental canvases with views of Tuscan cities, interspersed with lights and crystal spheres filled with colored water “which rendered by the transparency of a great light behind it that diaphanous body that made a great splendor.”

An exhibition between past and present

The exhibition makes it possible to follow the entire artistic and architectural path that led to the creation of the Great Hall, offering the public the chance to compare the preparatory drawings on display with the decorations still present. This dialogue between past and present is enriched by the video production of Art Media Studio, which offers significant details and comparisons between the works on display and the hall’s frescoes.

In parallel, one of the rooms in Cosimo’s private apartments hosts a contemporary tribute to Vasari. Master goldsmith Paolo Penko has in fact created a replica of the chain and medal given to the artist by Pope Pius V in 1571, when Vasari was awarded the title of knight of the Order of the Golden Spur and the knighthood of St. Peter, as he himself wrote: “A dj 30 di Giugno 1571 [...] S. Santità mj fé Cavaliere Spron doro et mj donò un Cavalierato di San Pietro che cost spedito scudi 900 et dj donativo scudi 150 et una catena di 80 scudi.”

The entire decoration of the Salone dei Cinquecento, together with the later work on the east and west walls, is a monumental tribute to the greatness of Cosimo I and to the extraordinary skill of Giorgio Vasari, who was able to coordinate a complex project quickly. The exhibition is not only a tribute to this artistic feat, but a living testimony to Medici Florence, which was able to influence the European courts of the time and still amaze today with its magnificence.

Cosimo I and Vasari: an exhibition on the Great Hall in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio

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