"The painting ""The Doni Tondo"""

Other masterpieces await us, but perhaps you feel like a break, so we suggest going to sit at the terrace of a very pleasant cafeteria.

If you have chosen to stop for a while, cross the second long corridor in front of us. This is the one that we are going to look at together. At the end of this corridor, above the square and in the open air, is the terrace in question. It stands on the site of a former hanging garden, above the Loggia dei Lanzi. If you choose to have a snack there you will be able to take a close look at the painted coats of arms hanging from the tower of the Palazzo della Signoria while you eat. So if you decide to go to the café, we’ll meet you here afterwards.

PRESS PAUSE.

And here we are again. Now let’s continue our tour. We have left the Florence of the Renaissance. Our visit continues both in time and in space. We are about to discover some Tuscan and Emilian Mannerist works from the Venetian and Roman schools by looking at some 16th and 17th century works. We’ll begin with Michelangelo.

PRESS PAUSE.

Opposite you as you come in, your attention will be caught by a big round painting in a heavily ornamental gold frame. This is a very famous painting: the Tondo Doni. It represents the Holy Family and was painted in 1504, the same year that Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa. As we mentioned when we were looking at the Botticelli, a tondo was a round painting given to young women who had just had a baby. The name « Doni » refers to the event that was at the origin of this painting: the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, members of two of the big families in Florence.