博物馆 Palazzo Vecchio Museum - The Loeser Bequest

The Loeser Bequest is an ensemble of the art works and period furnishings that Charles Loeser left as a legacy to the City of Florence, with the intention of contributing to the interior decoration of the recently restored and newly established museum of the Palazzo Vecchio.

The colllection is constituted by paintings, sculptures, and furnishings of primarily Tuscan provenance, dating mainly from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. In this selection Loeser assembled many of the most highly prized works in his collection, such as The Angel by Tino di Camaino, the Madonna and Child by Pietro Lorenzetti, the two terracotta groups fom the workshop of GiovanFrancesco Rustici inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Battle of Anghiari, the portrait of Laura Battiferi by Agnolo Bronzino, and the wax model of Hercules and the Hydra, by Giambologna.

The collection was organised and set up in the central rooms of the Mezzanine, and opened to the public in 1934. The exhibit reflects the indications of Loeser, who determined that his Bequest must remain united, and displayed in the Palazzo Vecchio, with a rule that does not follow the usual aspect of a museum, but aims to render every room “simply beautiful for the repose and enjoyment of the visitor.” The works are therefore arranged in the rooms according to aesthetic criteria, in a way that evokes the interior decoration of aristocratic mansions of the Florentine Renaissance.