The Odescalchi shield painted by Giovanni Stradano in 1574

CYCLE: Reintegrations: from storage to the Museum tour
SPEAKER: Alessandro Cecchi
DATE: Thursday, July 9, 6:00 PM

Starting from the precious artifact preserved at Palazzo Venezia, this lecture retraces the immense iconographic success of the victory depicted upon it: the defeat of the French and Florentine exiles by Imperial and Medicean troops at Marciano on August 2, 1554. This event was decisive for the outcome of the War of Siena. Duke Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned the Flemish painter Jan van der Straet (Italianized as Giovanni Stradano) to portray the scene with great precision directly on-site. This initial painting, long considered lost, was rediscovered in the storage rooms of the Palatine Gallery at Palazzo Pitti. The battle held a place of honor in Cosimo’s private chambers and the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, and was reproduced multiple times in prints based on drawings by the same Flemish master.

Alessandro Cecchi, graduated in 1976 under the supervision of Mina Gregori and served the State as an Art History Officer from 1980 to 2014, concluding his career as the Director of the Palatine Gallery at Palazzo Pitti. He is a specialist in 15th and 16th-century Florentine art, focusing his research on graphic arts, painting, applied arts, and patronage. His extensive work is documented in numerous publications, monographs, and exhibitions that he has curated or contributed to. He currently serves as the President of the Casa Buonarroti Foundation.