iWallace CollectionMarylebone
Cosimo I de' Medici: Art and Dynasty
A free display showing how Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, used art to build his authority and secure his dynasty, from a monumental wine cooler bearing his emblem to a ceremonial sword linking him to Hercules.
Més a Londres
Avançament: escrit abans de la inauguració
Two satyrs strain to hold up the bowl of a maiolica wine cooler more than 70cm long, made in Flaminio Fontana's Urbino workshop in 1574, the year Cosimo I de' Medici died. Painted on it is his emblem: a turtle carrying a sail, his visual pun on the motto festina lente, "make haste slowly".
The cooler is the centrepiece of a small display in the Housekeeper's Room: five objects from the museum's own paintings, maiolica and armoury, each showing how Cosimo, the Duke of Florence who made himself first Grand Duke of Tuscany, used objects to look legitimate. The curator, Julia van Zandvoort, wants you to "read" them "as instruments of power, not just things of beauty".
You also meet his wife, Eleonora di Toledo, in a portrait from Bronzino's studio that has just been cleaned of a heavily yellowed varnish. Entry is free.
Recomanació de la redacció
Una monumental glaçonera amb el seu emblema i una espasa cerimonial que el vincula amb Hèrcules: el primer gran duc de la Toscana va construir la seva autoritat amb objectes com aquests. L’entrada és gratuïta.
No et perdis
The turtle-and-sail wine cooler
Look for Cosimo's sailing turtle on the bowl, and the two satyrs underneath who look like they are struggling with its weight.
Cosimo's falchion
A short sword from around 1550, engraved with his heraldry, with a lion's-head pommel that casts him as Hercules.
Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo
Newly conserved: with the yellow varnish gone, its colours sit close to Bronzino's portrait of Eleonora and her son in the Uffizi.
Ideal per a
- Una hora o menys
- Cultura barata
- Veïns que ja ho han vist tot
També a Wallace Collection
- Winston Churchill: El pintor (Winston Churchill: The Painter)23 de maig del 2026 – 29 de novembre del 2026
- Metamorfosis: Escultura de porcellana de Rachel Kneebone (Metamorphoses: Porcelain Sculpture by Rachel Kneebone)23 de setembre del 2026 – 25 d’abril del 2027
- Art i mobiliari francesosCol·lecció permanent
Ara a prop
A prop
Crèdits de les imatges
8
- Cosimo I de' Medici: Art and DynastyCourtesy of Wallace Collection
- RootsCourtesy of The Photographers' Gallery
- Sanlé Sory: Els anys del color (Sanlé Sory: Colour Years)© Sanlé Sory, 2026. Courtesy of Tezeta.
- Snap Happy! How Children Became PhotographersCourtesy of The Photographers' Gallery
- Wallace CollectionSimon Burchell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Photographers' GalleryThe wub / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Royal Academy of ArtsYair Haklai / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wellcome CollectionOsama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0