Palazzo Pitti – Hall of Ulysses (Florence, Italy)

Hall of Ulysses (Sala di Ulisse)

At the time of the Medici, the Hall of Ulysses (Sala di Ulisse) was the grand duke’s bedroom. From about 1775, when the Hapsburg-Lorraines succeeded as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the room was part of the apartment of Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Lorraine (eldest daughter of Pietro Leopoldo) and, after the Napoleonic interlude, was used, with the nearby rooms, as part of the Palatine Gallery.

In this period, after 1814, Grand Duke Ferdinando III of Hapsburg-Lorraine commissioned Gaspare Martellini to paint on the ceiling the Return of Ulysses to Ithaca (alluding to the return of the Grand Duke after the exile in the Napoleonic period), with a frieze decorated at the corners below with allegories of Loyalty, of Fortress, of Hercules and Apollo. In this room, Il Cigoli‘s Ecce Homo (1607) was selected, during the Napoleonic looting, to be sent to Paris along with the other works of art.

Ceiling fresco

In our museum itinerary, the first painting we encountered was the Madonna dell’Impvecchia (Madonna of the Implanted, ca. 1514), a noteworthy work by Raphael which was made during the artist’s stay in Rome. The Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints (1527-1528) is the first work of Andrea del Sarto‘s gallery.

Virgin and Child in Glory with Six Saints (Andrea del Sarto, 1527-28)

Also interesting is the Death of Lucrezia (ca. 1475), one of the gallery’s rare fifteenth-century works and an early painting by Filippino Lippi who decorated a pair of wedding chests made perhaps in collaboration with Botticelli.

Love the Winner (Orazio Riminaldi, ca. 1624)

Other works in the Hall of Ulysses include:

Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (Cristofano Allori, ca. 1612-1615)

Hall of Ulysses: First Floor, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Piazza de’ Pitti, 1, FlorenceItaly. Tel:+39 055 294883. Open Tuesdays-Sundays, 8:15 AM – 6:50 PM. Admission: Palatine Gallery (€8.50), Silver Museum (€6.00), Gallery of Modern Art (€8.50), Costume Gallery/Porcelain Museum/Boboli Gardens/Bardini Garden (€6.00).

How to Get There: Take the C3 or D bus to the Pitti stop.

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