Uffizi Reopens a Forgotten Century with a Grand Exhibition

The Uffizi Galleries reopen a vibrant chapter of European art history with “Florence and Europe: 18th-Century Arts at the Uffizi”, a major new exhibition showcasing the artistic, political, and cultural transformations of the Age of Enlightenment. On view until November 28, the show brings together around 150 works, many unseen for over a decade, in the museum’s freshly restored ground-floor halls.

The exhibition spans painting, sculpture, porcelain, furniture, and rare prints — with masterpieces by Goya, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Vigée Le Brun, Liotard, Mengs, and many others. It highlights the century when the Uffizi evolved from a dynastic treasury into the world’s first modern museum.

The narrative opens with the final decades of Medici rule. Here, art still reflects a feudal, religious society: devotional works by masters like Giovan Battista Foggini and Sebastiano Ricci dominate. Lavish portraits of Cosimo III, the Grand Prince Ferdinando, and Gian Gastone evoke the waning grandeur of a fading dynasty. Particularly striking is Joan Richter’s portrait of Gian Gastone, echoing the style of the French royal court.

The exhibition then moves into the era of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. Their arrival is marked by marble busts meant for civic display, reflecting Enlightenment ideals of reason and public virtue. Portraits by Goya, Vigée Le Brun, Mengs, and Nattier represent a shift toward more personal, realistic representations, as new patrons and sensibilities emerged.

A key section of the exhibition is dedicated to regional Italian schools, inspired by the 1782 reorganization of the Uffizi by Grand Ducal antiquarian Luigi Lanzi. Paintings by Giovanni Domenico Ferretti, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Canaletto, and Francesco Guardi offer a diverse panorama of 18th-century Italian art. One room is devoted to preparatory sketches, including an early 1701 bozzetto by Anton Domenico Gabbiani for the dome of the San Frediano in Cestello church.

The exhibition also explores 18th-century rediscoveries and tastes. One section focuses on the revival of so-called “Primitives” — medieval Christian painters who were reappraised in anti-Enlightenment circles as Romanticism approached. Another spotlights the growing fashion for exoticism, with works like Liotard’s Young Woman in Turkish Dress and Gherardini’s Portrait of Emperor Kangxi of China, alongside Chinese porcelains and Grand Tour curiosities.

One of the exhibition’s major highlights is the live restoration of The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Ricci by Pierre Subleyras. Recently acquired by the Uffizi, this monumental canvas is being cleaned and restored in front of visitors, revealing the subtle colors and luminous brushwork of this 18th-century masterpiece.

Another bold feature is a room dedicated to the era’s erotic imagination. Sculptures of nudes, inspired by the Marquis de Sade’s descriptions in Juliette, represent various themes of carnal fascination: virile love (the lion-headed phallus), unnatural love (the Hermaphrodite), and incestuous love (Caligula and Drusilla). These pieces reflect how classical art stirred desire and philosophical debate alike during the Enlightenment.

The journey continues into the second half of the century with a room dedicated to the rise of the Sublime — the aesthetic of awe and terror that would soon define Romanticism. Scenes of snow-capped peaks, dramatic ruins, and thundering waterfalls evoke a new emotional power in landscape painting.

Finally, the exhibition closes with a tribute to the Grand Tour, the formative travel experience of elite Europeans. Visitors will find Canaletto’s luminous views of Venice, Thomas Patch’s explosive Vesuvius Eruption, and various travel-themed souvenirs that once accompanied aristocrats on their Italian journeys.

“Florence and Europe” offers not just a rediscovery of a pivotal century but a thoughtful reflection on the roots of modern taste, museum culture, and artistic expression. It’s a rare chance to see hidden treasures, now returned to the light — and to understand the Enlightenment through the very eyes that lived it.

The exhibition “Florence and Europe. 18th-Century Arts at the Uffizi”, curated by Alessandra Griffo and museum director Simone Verde, will be on view from May 28 to November 28, 2025, in the ground-floor halls of the Uffizi Galleries. Access to the exhibition is included in the standard Uffizi admission ticket.