Uffizi Galleries acquires two rare drawings by Luigi Ademollo

New acquisitions at the Uffizi Galleries: two large-format drawings by 19th-century Lombard painter Luigi Ademollo (Milan, 1764 - Florence, 1849) have joined the Florentine museum’s collection. These depict The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the Crucifixion and can be considered preparatory for wall paintings with the same subjects made by Ademollo in the Palatine Chapel of the Pitti Palace. They are executed in pen, brown ink and white tenpera on virgin paper and applied to canvas.

The Uffizi decided to purchase these two works because of their high quality of execution and rarity: in fact, they are theonly evidence known today of the design phase of the Christological scenes painted by the Lombard artist in the chapel.

“In our opinion we might even find ourselves in front of two of the four models presented by Ademollo to Grand Duke Ferdinand III in 1791 - expressly mentioned in a document preserved in the Fabbriche Lorenesi fund of the Florence State Archives - and approved by him as preparatory for the decoration of the new Palatine Chapel, designed in the same years by thearchitect Bernardo Fallani in the ancient rooms formerly inhabited in the Medici era by Cosimo III and Marguerite d’Orleans that overlooked the Ammannati courtyard in Palazzo Pitti,” said art historians from the Florence and Bologna Superintendencies Vanessa Gavioli and Elena Marconi.

“It is really a nice coincidence that this year it is possible for us to celebrate Holy Week with the purchase of two very important drawings like these, by Luigi Ademollo. They are preparatory works for the wall paintings in the Palatine Chapel, so they are even more precious works for us because they are intrinsically connected with the wonderful heritage that we are called to guard,” added the director of the Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt.

Image: Luigi Ademollo, Crucifixion (pen, brown ink and white tempera on paper; 76.5 x 122 cm)

Uffizi Galleries acquires two rare drawings by Luigi Ademollo

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