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Description
The Horne Museum, located at Via de' Benci 6 in Florence, is a minor museum in the city that reconstructs some environments of a typical ancient Florentine residence, featuring numerous antique pieces, sculptures, and especially a remarkable collection of panel paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries. Founded from the legacy of Herbert Percy Horne, an English art historian who spent much of his life in Florence in this residence, accumulating his collections that began in 1894, the museum testifies to both the art and daily life of this city straddling the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, as well as the course of the antique market at the end of the 19th century (when several of the world's great museums were formed, thanks to the fact that real masterpieces were still circulating in the market), as well as the love for Florence from the English community, which at that time represented a large part of the population, reshaping a romantic image of the city and protecting its artistic heritage, threatened by the era of the so-called Risanamento.
The palace stands in an area once marked by the houses of the Fagni family, which later passed to the Alberti in 1346. The latter constructed a larger merchant courtyard house, erected likely around the mid-14th century (before 1357). In 1489, this building was ceded to Simone and Luigi di Jacopo Corsi, and between 1495 and 1502, it was expanded and renovated according to Renaissance principles. The project has been attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo (with sculptural elements by Andrea Sansovino), and later by Adolfo Venturi, followed by a larger number of scholars, to Simone del Pollaiolo, known as il Cronaca, assisted on site by Baccio d'Agnolo and a master close to Benedetto da Rovezzano for the sculptural elements. The arches on the ground floor were filled in, with the exception of one along Via de' Benci, where the current entrance was made. The rustication was maintained only at the corner and isolated on the surface plaster of the facades, with a 'panca di via' (a bench along the street) placed to outline the palace. On the upper floors, the windows were remodeled (four per floor on each facade), also arched and rusticated, and a new angular rustication was created, increasingly smooth and less pronounced compared to that of the lower floor. The inner courtyard was then provided with a large portico along the northern side, characterized by beautiful stone columns and a typical groin vault. Thus modernized, the palace, however, was hardly ever used as a residence for its owners: in 1589, it was rented by Gino di Filippo Rinuccini; in the second half of the 18th century, it was inhabited by the Nencini, who later purchased it in 1812.
In the first half of the 19th century, the palace passed to the Fossi family and was subject to a "superstructure on the second floor" between 1832 and 1849, at the behest of Marquis Antonio. It was sold in 1896 by Marquis Federico to the Burgisser family and only in 1912 was it purchased by Herbert P. Horne after he had examined several Florentine palaces, such as the Palazzo da Cintoia. From 1912 to 1915, Horne promoted and coordinated an extensive restoration intervention of the palace, according to the appearance it was supposed to have in the early Renaissance, with the assistance of engineer Eugenio Campani: he removed partitions, superstructures, and fillings made in the previous centuries, thus returning legibility and value to the Renaissance building, with a work area on the ground floor, a basement cellar-storage (accessible by a staircase walkable by horses and pack animals), the noble floor with the owners' apartments, and finally a second floor with kitchens (usually placed there so that smoke wouldn't infiltrate the house) and servants' quarters.
After Horne's death (1916), the palace was bequeathed to the Municipality of Florence, so that a foundation could be established to take care of the artworks housed within it and make them accessible to the public. The opening of the Horne Foundation Museum took place in 1921, thanks to the push from two of Horne's friends, Giovanni Poggi and Carlo Gamba Ghiselli. The latter, in particular, was the president of the foundation and curator of the museum from Horne's death until his own (1963), and it is to him that we owe the general arrangement of the collections as they still present today. Already subjected to some completion work carried out between 1921 and 1922 with funding from the Ministry of Public Instruction (functional to make it accessible as a museum), it underwent a consolidation intervention of some structures and restoration of the loggia on the last floor between 1954 and 1958 under the care of architect Guido Morozzi from the Monument Superintendency.
The museum suffered severe damage during the Florence flood (November 4, 1966), being located in one of the "lowest" areas and thus more severely affected by the disaster. Although reopened only ten years later, the restoration works of the building and the collections could only be said to be completed in 1989. The new display of the ground floor and second floor was directed by Ugo Procacci and Luciano Bellosi, updated by further significant interventions in recent years thanks to support from public and private entities. Between 1997 and 2000, the facades of the palace were restored under the care of architect Marinella Del Buono from the Office for Environmental and Architectural Heritage, and in 2004, the plasters of the interior facades (architect Fulvia Zeuli). In the same year, the complex recovery intervention of the basement was completed, designed by architect Antonio Fara, with the decisive contribution of the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.
The palace appears on the list drawn up in 1901 by the General Directorate of Antiquities and Fine Arts, as a monumental building to be considered national artistic heritage, and it has been subject to architectural protection since 1913. The palace is located at the corner of Via de' Benci and Corso Tintori, and for this reason it was decorated with two symmetrical facades, two stories high with four windows each. The corner is highlighted by regular rustication, while along the line of the sills run simple string courses. Looking at the corner of the building, the points where the arches are set to delimit the original ground-level arches are clearly visible. On the side of Corso dei Tintori, at the edge of the building, there is a modern shield created by the ornamental artist Averardo Tosetti, drawn by Herbert Horne and placed in 1915 with the arms of the Fossi family (divided: in the 1st, gold, an eagle flying down in black; in the 2nd, silver, a red band charged with a fruiting cedar branch in gold, placed facing the direction of the patch). On the front of Via de' Benci, near the corner, is the coat of arms of the Alberti family (blue, with four silver chains moving from the four corners of the shield and joined in the center by a ring of the same), also modern (1915). In the entrance hall is a shield (relocated by Herbert Horne) with evident traces of polychromy bearing the arms of the Corsi family (divided green and red, a lion from one to the other, and a transverse silver band).
Inside, the rooms are arranged around a small courtyard, porticoed on one side, according to a continuous play of solids and voids, with two columns topped by capitals of particular value attributed to the workshop of Benedetto da Rovezzano. It is enriched with decorative painted bands imitating graffiti. There are monoforas with a full arch, outlined by frames in pietra serena, and on the first floor, topped with oculi. The upper floors are marked by a string course decorated with paintings imitating graffiti with fanciful floral motifs; there are two loggia balconies and, higher up, a third recessed loggia runs along three sides. The museum's masterpiece is the remarkable panel painting by Giotto of Saint Stephen, a masterpiece from the last phase of his artistic production. Also on display are a Madonna and Child attributed to Simone Martini, a Madonna by Bernardo Daddi, a Holy Family by Beccafumi, a Pietà by Filippo Lippi, a triptych with Saints Leonardo, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret by Pietro Lorenzetti, the Allegory of Music by Dosso Dossi, and a polychrome stucco (a particular combination of painting and bas-relief typical of Antonio Rossellino), dedicated to the Madonna of the Candelabri. There is also a small panel, quite damaged, but which constitutes one of the rare works by Masaccio, namely a fragment of the predella with the Stories of Saint Julian from the Carnesecchi Triptych. Some particularly fragile works have been transferred elsewhere, such as the collection of drawings (17th and 18th centuries) that has been incorporated into the Uffizi.
The museum preserves numerous tables, chairs, chests, and Renaissance chests, valuable decorated ceramics, original cooking pots, and utensils from the time, as well as other eclectic collections such as that of ancient decks of cards, coins, or seals. A complete list of paintings, sculptures, and furnishings, with some applied art objects. Coins, medals, plaques, illuminated manuscripts, drawings, ancient utensils, and most applied art objects in general are excluded.
The palace stands in an area once marked by the houses of the Fagni family, which later passed to the Alberti in 1346. The latter constructed a larger merchant courtyard house, erected likely around the mid-14th century (before 1357). In 1489, this building was ceded to Simone and Luigi di Jacopo Corsi, and between 1495 and 1502, it was expanded and renovated according to Renaissance principles. The project has been attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo (with sculptural elements by Andrea Sansovino), and later by Adolfo Venturi, followed by a larger number of scholars, to Simone del Pollaiolo, known as il Cronaca, assisted on site by Baccio d'Agnolo and a master close to Benedetto da Rovezzano for the sculptural elements. The arches on the ground floor were filled in, with the exception of one along Via de' Benci, where the current entrance was made. The rustication was maintained only at the corner and isolated on the surface plaster of the facades, with a 'panca di via' (a bench along the street) placed to outline the palace. On the upper floors, the windows were remodeled (four per floor on each facade), also arched and rusticated, and a new angular rustication was created, increasingly smooth and less pronounced compared to that of the lower floor. The inner courtyard was then provided with a large portico along the northern side, characterized by beautiful stone columns and a typical groin vault. Thus modernized, the palace, however, was hardly ever used as a residence for its owners: in 1589, it was rented by Gino di Filippo Rinuccini; in the second half of the 18th century, it was inhabited by the Nencini, who later purchased it in 1812.
In the first half of the 19th century, the palace passed to the Fossi family and was subject to a "superstructure on the second floor" between 1832 and 1849, at the behest of Marquis Antonio. It was sold in 1896 by Marquis Federico to the Burgisser family and only in 1912 was it purchased by Herbert P. Horne after he had examined several Florentine palaces, such as the Palazzo da Cintoia. From 1912 to 1915, Horne promoted and coordinated an extensive restoration intervention of the palace, according to the appearance it was supposed to have in the early Renaissance, with the assistance of engineer Eugenio Campani: he removed partitions, superstructures, and fillings made in the previous centuries, thus returning legibility and value to the Renaissance building, with a work area on the ground floor, a basement cellar-storage (accessible by a staircase walkable by horses and pack animals), the noble floor with the owners' apartments, and finally a second floor with kitchens (usually placed there so that smoke wouldn't infiltrate the house) and servants' quarters.
After Horne's death (1916), the palace was bequeathed to the Municipality of Florence, so that a foundation could be established to take care of the artworks housed within it and make them accessible to the public. The opening of the Horne Foundation Museum took place in 1921, thanks to the push from two of Horne's friends, Giovanni Poggi and Carlo Gamba Ghiselli. The latter, in particular, was the president of the foundation and curator of the museum from Horne's death until his own (1963), and it is to him that we owe the general arrangement of the collections as they still present today. Already subjected to some completion work carried out between 1921 and 1922 with funding from the Ministry of Public Instruction (functional to make it accessible as a museum), it underwent a consolidation intervention of some structures and restoration of the loggia on the last floor between 1954 and 1958 under the care of architect Guido Morozzi from the Monument Superintendency.
The museum suffered severe damage during the Florence flood (November 4, 1966), being located in one of the "lowest" areas and thus more severely affected by the disaster. Although reopened only ten years later, the restoration works of the building and the collections could only be said to be completed in 1989. The new display of the ground floor and second floor was directed by Ugo Procacci and Luciano Bellosi, updated by further significant interventions in recent years thanks to support from public and private entities. Between 1997 and 2000, the facades of the palace were restored under the care of architect Marinella Del Buono from the Office for Environmental and Architectural Heritage, and in 2004, the plasters of the interior facades (architect Fulvia Zeuli). In the same year, the complex recovery intervention of the basement was completed, designed by architect Antonio Fara, with the decisive contribution of the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.
The palace appears on the list drawn up in 1901 by the General Directorate of Antiquities and Fine Arts, as a monumental building to be considered national artistic heritage, and it has been subject to architectural protection since 1913. The palace is located at the corner of Via de' Benci and Corso Tintori, and for this reason it was decorated with two symmetrical facades, two stories high with four windows each. The corner is highlighted by regular rustication, while along the line of the sills run simple string courses. Looking at the corner of the building, the points where the arches are set to delimit the original ground-level arches are clearly visible. On the side of Corso dei Tintori, at the edge of the building, there is a modern shield created by the ornamental artist Averardo Tosetti, drawn by Herbert Horne and placed in 1915 with the arms of the Fossi family (divided: in the 1st, gold, an eagle flying down in black; in the 2nd, silver, a red band charged with a fruiting cedar branch in gold, placed facing the direction of the patch). On the front of Via de' Benci, near the corner, is the coat of arms of the Alberti family (blue, with four silver chains moving from the four corners of the shield and joined in the center by a ring of the same), also modern (1915). In the entrance hall is a shield (relocated by Herbert Horne) with evident traces of polychromy bearing the arms of the Corsi family (divided green and red, a lion from one to the other, and a transverse silver band).
Inside, the rooms are arranged around a small courtyard, porticoed on one side, according to a continuous play of solids and voids, with two columns topped by capitals of particular value attributed to the workshop of Benedetto da Rovezzano. It is enriched with decorative painted bands imitating graffiti. There are monoforas with a full arch, outlined by frames in pietra serena, and on the first floor, topped with oculi. The upper floors are marked by a string course decorated with paintings imitating graffiti with fanciful floral motifs; there are two loggia balconies and, higher up, a third recessed loggia runs along three sides. The museum's masterpiece is the remarkable panel painting by Giotto of Saint Stephen, a masterpiece from the last phase of his artistic production. Also on display are a Madonna and Child attributed to Simone Martini, a Madonna by Bernardo Daddi, a Holy Family by Beccafumi, a Pietà by Filippo Lippi, a triptych with Saints Leonardo, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret by Pietro Lorenzetti, the Allegory of Music by Dosso Dossi, and a polychrome stucco (a particular combination of painting and bas-relief typical of Antonio Rossellino), dedicated to the Madonna of the Candelabri. There is also a small panel, quite damaged, but which constitutes one of the rare works by Masaccio, namely a fragment of the predella with the Stories of Saint Julian from the Carnesecchi Triptych. Some particularly fragile works have been transferred elsewhere, such as the collection of drawings (17th and 18th centuries) that has been incorporated into the Uffizi.
The museum preserves numerous tables, chairs, chests, and Renaissance chests, valuable decorated ceramics, original cooking pots, and utensils from the time, as well as other eclectic collections such as that of ancient decks of cards, coins, or seals. A complete list of paintings, sculptures, and furnishings, with some applied art objects. Coins, medals, plaques, illuminated manuscripts, drawings, ancient utensils, and most applied art objects in general are excluded.