Uffizi shops at Florence Antiques Biennale

The Uffizi Galleries purchased at the Florence Antiques Biennale three masterpieces-two paintings and one sculpture-that will become part of the permanent collections of the Florentine museum.

They are the Madonna and Child, St. John and St. Barbara by Daniele da Volterra (a purchase we had already told you about a few hours after the opening of the Biennale), the Portrait of the sculptor Antoine Denis Chaudet made by the French painter Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, wife of the artist depicted, and the marble bust depicting Virgil made by Carlo Albacini. As part of the 31st edition of the Biennale dell’Antiquariato, these works were exhibited respectively by Benappi of Turin (here is our focus on the gallery), Orsino Arte Libri of Milan, and Carlo Virgilio of Rome and London.

The painting by Daniele da Volterra, considered by many to be a pupil of Michelangelo, was completed around 1548; the work belonged to the noble Sienese family Pannocchieschi d’Elci, like theElijah of the Desert, purchased last year by the Uffizi. The two paintings by Daniele da Volterra will thus be brought together in the same collection.

The Portrait of Antoine-Denis Chaudet, considered the best-known sculptor of Napoleonic France, was executed in 1802 and is a rarity in art history because it was done by his wife.

Finally, the bust of Virgil is a copy of the Roman bust preserved in the Capitoline Museums, in the Hall of the Philosophers; the latter was itself a 2nd-century AD Roman copy of a lost 4th-century BC Greek original. The sculpture made by Carlo Albacini dates back to 1790.

"The International Antiques Biennale once again proves to be fertile ground for purchases by a great museum like the Uffizi. For the third consecutive edition we managed to win the painting awarded as the most beautiful of the fair, in this case the Madonna and Child, St. John and St. Barbara by Daniele da Volterra. But not only that. With the portrait of her husband executed by painter Jean Elizabeth Chaudet, we enrich our collection of artists’ portraits, which in these very months is preparing to be set up for the public in many new rooms on the second floor of the Gallery. With the very rare bust of Virgil, on the other hand, Palazzo Pitti gains an important iconographic testimony of the poet, since the Middle Ages also celebrated as Dante’s guide in Inferno and Purgatory," said Uffizi Galleries Director Eike Schmidt.

“I am very happy with the three acquisitions made by the Uffizi during the Biennale. This underlines the great level of art in the exhibition. I find the Daniele da Volterra the most beautiful among the many beautiful acquisitions made by the Uffizi in recent years,” commented the secretary general of the Antiques Biennale, Fabrizio Moretti.

Below are photos of the works. Pictured at bottom: Eike D. Schmidt and Fabrizio Moretti at Benappi’s booth.

Daniele Ricciardelli da Volterra, Madonna and Child, St. John and St. Barbara (c. 1548; oil on panel, 131.6 x 100 cm)

Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, Portrait of the sculptor Antoine Denis Chaudet (c. 1802; oil on canvas, 61 x 48.5 cm)

Carlo Albacini, Bust of Virgil (c. 1790; marble, height 58 cm)

Uffizi shops at Florence Antiques Biennale

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