Striking backdrop for Renaissance and Baroque paintings
The Palatine Gallery and Imperial and Royal Apartments occupy the first floor of the Palazzo Pitti. The gallery hosts a vast collection of works by renowned artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, with highlights by Titian, Rubens, Van Dyke and Caravaggio, plus a particular emphasis on Raphael, with the world’s largest concentration of his paintings. Rather than ordered by school or region, the artworks are displayed according to the personal preferences of the palace’s previous inhabitants — the Habsburg-Lorraine family, who started the gallery at the end of the 18th century displaying works from the main Medici collection. Much acclaimed is the series of frescoes by Pietro da Cortona for the “planet rooms,” done in the Florentine Baroque style, and the salon-style presentation of ornately framed pictures surrounded by lavish interior decoration typical of 17th-century display. This period specificity is also seen in the Imperial and Royal Apartments, 14 ceremonial rooms on the first floor, whose sumptuous period furnishings chart the history of the palace over three historical periods and styles.