Piero di Cosimo’s La Maddalena: art, history and women’s lives in Renaissance Florence

The exhibition "Piero di Cosimo’s La Maddalena: art, history and women’s lives in Renaissance Florence" opens at VIVE-Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia. Curated by Edith Gabrielli with historical consultancy from Fernanda Alfieri, Serena Galasso, and Isabella Lazzarini, the exhibition is hosted in the former kitchen quarters of Palazzo Venezia, restored and reopened specifically for this occasion.

The exhibition centers on a precious panel painting by Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522), La Maddalena, held in the collection of Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini and on loan to VIVE as part of a strategic agreement between the two institutions.

When he painted La Maddalena at the end of the 15th century, Piero di Cosimo was establishing himself as one of the most refined and mysterious Florentine artists of his generation. Trained in the workshop of Cosimo Rosselli, the painter developed a highly personal language, grafting original and sometimes imaginative influences from Flemish painting and Leonardo da Vinci onto the solid foundations of his master and Domenico Ghirlandaio.