Giorgio Vasari e l’Allegoria della pazienza. /Giorgio Vasari and the Allegory of Patience

The exhibition focuses on the Allegory of Patience, a painting by Parmigianino which was part of Leopoldo de’Medici collection, but which originally belonged to archbishop Bernadetto Minerbetti, ambassador of Cosimo I, a man of learning, a fervent admirer of Michelangelo and above all a close friend and patron of Giorgio Vasari.
It was Minerbetti himself to asked Vasari, shortly after 1550, for a painting that could represent the highest virtue of his personality in a new and emblematic way: the art of patience. Vasari accepted and proposed his innovation based on the ancient statuesque, enriched by a symbolic repertoire recalling time and human life. This erudite image had a great success well beyond the borders of Florence, reaching the court of Ferrara of Ercole II d’Este, who did not hesitate to obtain his endeavors.
Why was Vasari’s invention so successful? And why was the Virtue of Patience so important in the art and literature of the full Renaissance period?
The exhibition analyzes the common thread of commissions, the literary sources, and the career of the artist in the complex curtain of the courtesan Italy.
Next to the Allegory of Patience is another version of the same theme, executed by Camillo and Sebastiano Filippi and now part of the Estense Gallery of Mantua, where also the bust of Hercules II executed by Prospero Sogari is shown. On its basis, the same virtue is portrayed, through the medals of Pompeo Leoni (Florence, National Museum of Bargello). Next to those, the Allegory of Patience, also known as Artemisia cries Mausolo, will be shown to illustrate the iconographic motif in its complex genesis, attributed to Francesco Salviati.