Author: Alexandra Bonfante-Warren

Publisher: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 1

ISBN-13: 0883635143

This boxed set features two books showcasing two of the world's most beautiful, prestigious museums: the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi Gallery. Situated across the Arno River from Florence's busy city center, the 15th-century Palazzo Pitti is one of the city's crown jewels and contains the palace's splendid collections ranging from early masters like Giotto and Duccio to contemporary Italian artists. Aside from the palace's major paintings in the Palatine Gallery, its sculptures, decorative objects, and the magnificent Boboli Gardens are beautifully photographed. The lively text weaves a web of intrigue, romance, and power as the story of the Medici family's creation of this world-class collection and the magnificent palace that houses it unfolds. Florence's Uffizi Gallery, on which construction began in 1560, houses such masterpieces as Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, as well as works by Bronzino, Caravaggio, Titian, and Rubens. Connected to the Pitti Palace by a corridor designed by Vasari that crosses the Arno River, the Uffizi Gallery is a one-of-a-kind museum. This gorgeous oversize book showcases the extraordinary collection, and Alexandra Bonfante-Warren provides fascinating context by relating the story of the museum's construction and complex history.