The Uffizi Grotesques

A guide to the grotesques that adorn the eastern corridor of the Uffizi Galleries, in which the playful aspect, the pursuit of the marvelous and the monstrous prevail.

The grotesques that adorn the Gallery of Statues and Paintings, the original name for the Uffizi's corridors, belong to different periods. The most imaginative and most artistically admirable, however, are the earliest ones, contrasting with the classical severity of the antique statues in the Medici collection there displayed. Commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici in 1581, they occupy the 46 bays of the eastern corridor (about 150 meters), then a simple loggia, but closed the following year probably to protect the new frescoes.

The cycle celebrates the marriage between Francesco I and Bianca Cappello, which took place in 1579. The celebration of the Grand Ducal couple and the wish for offsprings explains the abundance of erotic themes, often depicted through ingenious iconography. The playful aspect, the pursuit of the marvelous and the monstrous prevail. The figurations move between great fantasy and allusiveness, originality and licentiousness, according to typical grotesque canons.