New Leonardo Hall at the Uffizi Gallery

Do not miss the new Leonardo Hall at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, just inaugurated and open to the public inside the museum path, accessible with the traditional ticket. The inauguration of the new exhibition opens the celebrations that will take place in 2019 and that will be dedicated to the 500^th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo Da Vinci had begun his studies in Florence, at the workshop of Verrocchio and precisely the works of his youth are kept in the Uffizi, from the first autonomous steps in the art world at the time of departure.

Now it will be possible to admire them in a new location, in the Hall 35 of the west wing of the Uffizi, as a tribute to a newfound respect for the chronological narrative principle of the Gallery. In fact, now the Leonardo Hall precedes that dedicated to Michelangelo and Raffaello.

Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings at the Uffizi Gallery

The three paintings housed in it were executed for buildings of worship and for this reason, in the new mounting, it was decided to paint the walls of this room with a spatula, repeating the ancient technique, in a pale gray colour that recalls which recalls the walls of the churches of the time. The works have been inserted, as was done in the latest mountings of the Caravaggio halls, of the 17^th century and of Michelangelo and Raffaello halls, in showcases that guarantee an optimal microclimate situation, minimizing the impact of heat and humidity produced by the huge tourist flow. Moreover, the display cases are closed by special glasses that cancel the effects of light refraction, to the benefit of visitors who can admire the works without the interposition of apparent barriers.

By entering on the left there is the Baptism of Christ, created for the church of San Salvi in 1475-78, years in which the artist still collaborated with Verrocchio: the work testifies both the divisions of the tasks inside the shops and the stylistic and technical leap between the teacher and the student. In fact, Leonardo made use of oil painting for the parts he performed, which was much more suitable for obtaining the effects of nuance, for which he would later become famous. The elegant angel in profile that holds the garment of Christ is due to Leonardo, so sublime as to give birth to the legend (reported by Vasari) that Verrocchio, overwhelmed by Leonardo’s superiority abandoned painting forever since then.

On the opposite wall there is the Annunciation, coming from the church of Monteoliveto, with an angel so real and material to cast his shadow on the flowered meadow, while landing, closing the wings, clearly studied from life on those of birds. In the background, a landscape of sea and mountains in which the Marian symbology translates into a test among the highest of the artist on the atmospheric yield of the “far away”.

At the centre of the hall you can admire the Adoration of the Magi, commissioned by the regular Augustinian canons for the church of San Donato a Scopeto, and left unfinished at the time when Leonardo left for Milan, in 1482.