\paperw5100 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 The Uffizi art collection is located on the third floor of the stately building designed by Vasari. Commissioned by Cosimo I deÆ Medici, t
he building was intended to house the cityÆs principal magistracies and the most prestigious works of art owned by the family, to be displayed to the greater glory of the Medici family and Florence. In fact ten years after the collection was displayed i
t was already possible to visit the museum, some two centuries before the collections owned by other European monarchies were opened to the public.\par
The most valuable works in the collection were placed in an octagonal room known as the ôTribuna,ö de
signed by Buontalenti. Today the Tribuna houses portraits of the family, including those of \i Eleonora of Toledo with Her Son Giovanni\i0 and \i Lucrezia Panciatichi\i0 , both by Bronzino, and PontormoÆs \i Portrait of Cosimo the Elder\i0 , as well as
such little gems as RossoÆs \i Angel Playing Music\i0 . When Ferdinando I, the brother of Francesco I, became a cardinal, he acquired a number of celebrated ancient statues, such as the \i Medici Venus\i0 and the group of the \i Niobe\i0 , on the anti
que market in Rome.\par
Conscious of the importance of the collection for the city, Anna Maria Luisa, the last descendant of the Medici, decided to bequeath it to Florence forever in order ôto ornament the state, serve the public and attract the curiosi
ty of foreigners,ö as it was put in the magnanimous princessÆs decree.\par
In the eighteenth century, under Peter Leopold of Lorraine, the gallery was enlarged and reorganized on the basis of schools, as was the practice in the Age of Enlightenment. A
number of masterpieces were acquired to fill the gaps in this classification. However, the Uffizi Gallery remains the museum of the Italian Renaissance \i par excellence\i0 .
