Pitti Palace

an art museum in Florence housed in a beautiful Early Renaissance palace. The building, which has rusticated stone facing, is marked by ascetic simplicity and austere majesty of forms. Construction of the middle section was begun in 1440 (F. Brunelleschi [?]); the section was expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries. The court (1558–70) was added by the architect B. Ammanati. The baroque plafonds (1640–47) were designed by Pietro da Cortona. Adjoining the palace is the mannerist Boboli Garden (from 1550, architects B. Buontalenti and others). Much of the palace is occupied by the Palatine Gallery, whose basis consists of collections of the Medici family that were first put on public display in 1828 and became state property in 1911. The gallery contains mainly Italian works from the 15th to the 17th century, including those by Raphael (one of the world’s finest Raphael collections), A. del Sarto, Fra Bar-tolommeo, Titian, and S. Rosa. The museum also houses works by 17th-century Flemish masters, including P. P. Rubens and A. van Dyke. Also located in the palace are the Gallery of Modern Art and the Silver Museum.