Gucci sponsors major exhibition in Italy

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Dec 3, 2014

Gucci has confirmed its interest in Italian heritage by becoming the primary sponsor of "Prince of Dreams: The Medici's Joseph Tapestries by Pontormo and Bronzino,” a major traveling exhibition. Held as part of next year’s Milan’s Universal Expo, the exhibition will be in Rome from January to April, in Milan from April to September, and in Florence from September to January in 2016. 

The exhibition, promoted by the Presidency of the Italian Republic and the city of Florence, will for the first time in 150 years gather 20 monumental tapestries that narrate “The story of Joseph" (son of Jacob), commissioned in the 16th century by the Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de Medici, to decorate the Palazzo Vecchio’s Sala del Consiglio dei Duecento.

With preparatory work drawn by painters Agnolo Bronzino, Pontormo Jacopo and Francesco Salviati, the series is considered a masterpiece of 16th century Florentine tapestry. It was divided up in 1882 between Florence and Rome by order of the House of Savoy.