Villa Poggio a Caiano - frescoes by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Pontormo, Allori, Bronzino
Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano was begun in 1485 by Lorenzo the Magnificent with Giuliano da Sangallo (1445-1516) as an architect. It was the first building at the time which was started and built explicitly as a country villa and not a fortress. The video takes you through Il Teatro, Sala dei Biliardi (frescoes by Domenico Ferri, 1865), Appartamento di BIanca Cappello and to the second floor, arriving first at the dining room. And then we enter Salon of Leo X. Salone di Leone X (the son of Lorenzo Il Magnifico) is the main artistic attraction, decorated between 1513 - 1582 with frescoes by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Pontormo, Alessandro Allori and Bronzino. The frescoes are, in the order of appearance in the video: - King Syphax of Numidia receiving Scipio (Siface re di Numidia che riceve Scipione) by Alessandro Allori and Agnolo Bronzino, 1532; - Return of Cicero from exile (Ritorno di Cicerone dall'esilio) by Franciabigio, 1520; - Vertumnus and Pomona - the lunette by Jacopo Pontormo, 1521; - Titus Quinctius Flamininus dissuading the Achaeans from their alliance with Antiochus the Great (Flaminio che parla agli Achei) - by Alessandro Allori in 1578-82. The inscription that the dog holds in its mouth reads: SI LATRABITIS, LATRABO - if you bite, I bite; - Tribute to Caesar (Il Tributo a Cesare) by Andrea del Sarto, 1521 (two thirds on the right, including the Medici giraffe) with later addition by Alessandro Allori in 1582 (one third on the left: boy with the turkey, the horse, etc); - Hercules in the garden of Hesperides (Ercole nel giardino delle Esperidi) - the lunette opposite the Pontormo's - by Alessandro Allori, 1578-82. The conclusion is the glazed terracotta frieze is by Bertoldo di Giovanni (Florence, c. 1440 - Poggio a Caiano 1491) and Andrea Sansovino (1467 - 1529) made in 1490. The iconography is: Mother Earth and the Birth of the Soul; the Myth of Jupiter; Janus and Mars; the Months and Seasons; the Chariot of the Sun or of the Soul. And the cat is the spirit of Bianca Cappello!
Villa Medicea di Poggio a Caiano was begun in 1485 by Lorenzo the Magnificent with Giuliano da Sangallo (1445-1516) as an architect. It was the first building at the time which was started and built explicitly as a country villa and not a fortress. The video takes you through Il Teatro, Sala dei Biliardi (frescoes by Domenico Ferri, 1865), Appartamento di BIanca Cappello and to the second floor, arriving first at the dining room. And then we enter Salon of Leo X. Salone di Leone X (the son of Lorenzo Il Magnifico) is the main artistic attraction, decorated between 1513 - 1582 with frescoes by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Pontormo, Alessandro Allori and Bronzino. The frescoes are, in the order of appearance in the video: - King Syphax of Numidia receiving Scipio (Siface re di Numidia che riceve Scipione) by Alessandro Allori and Agnolo Bronzino, 1532; - Return of Cicero from exile (Ritorno di Cicerone dall'esilio) by Franciabigio, 1520; - Vertumnus and Pomona - the lunette by Jacopo Pontormo, 1521; - Titus Quinctius Flamininus dissuading the Achaeans from their alliance with Antiochus the Great (Flaminio che parla agli Achei) - by Alessandro Allori in 1578-82. The inscription that the dog holds in its mouth reads: SI LATRABITIS, LATRABO - if you bite, I bite; - Tribute to Caesar (Il Tributo a Cesare) by Andrea del Sarto, 1521 (two thirds on the right, including the Medici giraffe) with later addition by Alessandro Allori in 1582 (one third on the left: boy with the turkey, the horse, etc); - Hercules in the garden of Hesperides (Ercole nel giardino delle Esperidi) - the lunette opposite the Pontormo's - by Alessandro Allori, 1578-82. The conclusion is the glazed terracotta frieze is by Bertoldo di Giovanni (Florence, c. 1440 - Poggio a Caiano 1491) and Andrea Sansovino (1467 - 1529) made in 1490. The iconography is: Mother Earth and the Birth of the Soul; the Myth of Jupiter; Janus and Mars; the Months and Seasons; the Chariot of the Sun or of the Soul. And the cat is the spirit of Bianca Cappello!