The Contini Bonacossi Donation
by Rachel Le Goff

Imagine a room with just four paintings on its four walls: El Greco's "The Tears of Saint Peter", Zurbaran's "Saint Anthony Abbot", Goya's "Toreador" and Velasquez's "Water Vendor". This room exists not in Spain, but in a small building adjacent to the grand galleries of the Uffizi in Florence. It is just one of the visual gems of a delightfully coherent collection formed in the early twentieth century by Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi and his wife, Vittoria. 

The collection was recently transferred to the Uffizi from the Palazzina della Meridiana at the Palazzo Pitti where it had languished in obscurity since 1974 because there was not suitable space available at the Uffizi. It comprises  35 paintings ; 12 sculptures; 48 pieces of maiolica; 11 large ceramic coats of arms in the style of della Robbia and 38 pieces of renaissance period furniture; altogether 144 items which passed into the hands of the Italian state in 1969 after a long legal battle to arrest them from the possession of the Contini Bonacossi heirs.

These pieces are in effect, only a part of a larger impressive private collection, one of the most important known in Europe in this century. Count Alessandro born in 1878, did not take up residence at the family seat in Florence until 1931 having already lived many years in Spain and then in Rome.  His collection was installed in the marvellous setting of the villa Pratello Orsini, previously of the Strozzi family, which Count Alessandro re-baptized ‘Villa Vittoria’  (today it is the Palazzo dei Congressi). 

He died without having made any legal declaration

Although the Count had expressed during his lifetime the intention of leaving his extraordinary artistic estate to the city of Florence, he died without having made any legal declaration that firmly stipulated this wish. Eventually the heirs agreed to donate a considerable part of the overall collection including pieces chosen by a special commission set up by the Museums of Florence.
The commission naturally opted for a considerable number of tuscan works: a ‘Madonna with Child and Saints’ from the circle of Cimabue, a large panel with ‘Saint John the Baptist and episodes from the story of his life’ by Giovanni del Biondo and a large polyptych made up of  an assemblage of panels by Agnolo Gaddi. Of major importance are the frescoes detached from the small chapel at Castello del Trebbio executed by Andrea del Castagno when he had returned from Venice circa 1433, depicting the ‘Virgin with Child’ and ‘Saints and two children of the House of Pazzi’; whilst Giovanni di Francesco was the artist of a precious panel, of complex design and exquisite execution, depicting again a ‘Madonna and Child Enthroned’.
Of the highest quality are also the works from the Siennese school, beginning with a small panel attributed to Duccio, and ending with a large altarpiece knows as ‘The Madonna of the Snow’ by Sassetta (circa 1432-33), not to mention also the two large sculptured wooden figures of the ‘Annunciation’.

Venetian renaissance painting is well represented with works of the highest quality like the ‘Saint Jerome’ by Giovanni Bellini, the ‘Supper at Emmaus’ by Vincenzo Catena, the ‘Saint Jerome’ by Cima da Conegliano and a very important ‘Madonna and Child’ by Jacopo Bassano. In addition are works by Tintoretto and  a large double portrait of Count da Porto with his son Adriano by Paolo Veronese, which has a pendant in Baltimore. 

A priceless nucleus of rare quality are those works of the Northern Italian school including pictures from Lombardy masters such as that of Bramantino (a large altarpiece with Madonna and Saints) Savoldo (a mysterious cloaked image of the Magdalene), Zenale (Saints Michael and Bernard) and others including a series of sculptures from the workshops of Amadeo and of Bambaja.

Remaining to observe are the famous ‘Scullery Maid’ by Giuseppe Maria Crespi,  and the group of  outstanding Spanish pictures already mentioned of which Count Alessandro was a passionate collector.

A rare early sculpture by  Gian Lorenzo Bernini showing ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence’ is particularly interesting for its original wooden plinth carved in the form of a red hot burning log that the critics have ascribed also to Bernini.

Amongst the collection of antique furniture are notable a series of splendid carved wooden chests from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Also in the collection are eleven large ceramic tondos showing stemmi (coats of arms) done in the style of della Robbia  and dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Lastly the maiolica collection contains pieces not only of hispanic-moorish manufacture but also from the most important centres of Italian manufacture Faenza, Casteldurante, Urbino, Deruta, etc.
 

Eleven recently renovated rooms on Via Lambertesca

The eleven recently renovated rooms on Via Lambertesca are a perfect showcase for the collection, with early nineteenth century frescoes and the careful intermingling of furniture, paintings and sculpture creating a more intimate atmosphere than most newly opened museums manage. 

The Contini Bonacossi Donation is accessible to the public only in small groups and pre-booking is essential.