Bargello National Museum

History

Construction began in 1255. The palace was built to house first the Capitano del Popolo and later, in 1261, the 'podestà', the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council. This Palazzo del Podestà, as it was originally called, is the oldest public building in Florence. This austere crenellated building served as model for the construction of the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1574, the Medici dispensed with the function of the Podestà and housed the bargello, the police chief of Florence, in this building, hence its name. In 1479 Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli, one of the movers of the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici family was hanged from the building, an event witnessed and sketched by Leonardo da Vinci.

It was employed as a prison; executions took place in the Bargello's courtyard until they were abolished by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1786, but it remained the headquarters of the Florentine police until 1859. After an interval, it then became a national museum.

The original two-storey structure was built alongside the Volognana Tower in 1256. The third storey, which can be identified by the smaller blocks used to construct it, was added after the fire of 1323. The building is designed around an open courtyard dating from 1280-1285. An external staircase leading to the second floor was added between 1345-1367 under master builder Neri di Fioravante. An open well is found in the centre of the courtyard.

After centuries of modifications to its architecture, the building was restored to its original form between 1858 and 1865. The Bargello opened as a national museum (Museo Nazionale del Bargello) in 1865, displaying the largest Italian collection of Gothic and Renaissance sculptures (14–17th century). Administratively, the museum heads a group, the Musei del Bargello, with four smaller museums in Florence: the Medici Chapels, Orsanmichele, Palazzo Davanzati, and Casa Martelli.

Collection

There is a good selection of medieval sculpture. The museum has both the modelli of the finalists' designs for The Sacrifice of Isaac (Sacrificio di Isacco), for the contest for the second set of doors of the Florence Baptistery in 1401. That by Lorenzo Ghiberti won, with Filippo Brunelleschi's the runner-up.

The most famous sculptures are several by both Michelangelo and Donatello. Large sculptures by Michelangelo are his Bacchus, Pitti Tondo (a Madonna and Child), Brutus and David-Apollo. A wood Crucifix attributed to his early years was acquired in 2008.

Its collection includes both Donatello's bronze and marble statues of David, as well as his Amore-Attis, Saint George, with its relief for the base of Saint George Freeing the Princess, and his heraldic Marzocco. Other sculptures include Jacopo Sansovino's Bacchus, the David and Dama col mazzolino by Andrea del Verrocchio.

Other works of sculpture include several by the Della Robbia family workshop. and by Antonio Rossellino, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Bertoldo di Giovanni, Baccio Bandinelli, and most other Florentine masters of the period. Benvenuto Cellini is represented by his bronze bust of Cosimo I.

The final phase of the Renaissance is represented by Giambologna's marble Florence Triumphant over Pisa, Architecture, The Dwarf Morgante Riding a Sea Monster, and his Mercury. The courtyard and the arcades around it have been used to display numerous reliefs and other works.

There are a few works from the Baroque period, notably Gianlorenzo Bernini's 1636-7 Bust of Costanza Bonarelli. Vincenzo Gemito's Pescatore ("fisherboy"), is a popular 19th-century sculpture.

Sculpture (large)

The museum has a number of paintings, though nothing like the primary Florentine collection in the Uffizi, including the eponymous work by the 15th-century Master of the Bargello Tondo, and many painted cassoni (wedding chests) and desci da parto (painted birthing trays). …