For Christmas, Uffizi presents virtual exhibition on angels, featuring works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Botticelli

For the holiday season, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence presents on its website the virtual exhibition In the Light of Angels: a thematic review with twelve masterpieces that the museum is offering to website visitors for Christmas, which can be visited at https://www.uffizi.it/mostre-virtuali/nella-luce-degli-angeli. The virtual exhibition, which is under the scientific coordination of Anna Bisceglia with texts by Andrea Biotti, Noemi Gaglio and Francesca Sborgi, is a journey with twelve ultra-high definition reproductions of as many famous works from the Uffizi Galleries, including Giotto’s Majesty of All Saints, Simone Martini’sAnnunciation, Beato Angelico’sCoronation of the Virgin, Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna of the Magnificat, and Rosso Fiorentino’sAngel Musician.

In each of the masterpieces presented by the exhibition, angels, mediators between the human and divine worlds, capture the viewer’s attention, both for the beauty of the pictorial rendering and for certain tender figurative inventions. In the Bible, angels were identified with the word mal’ak (“messenger”), a term later used also in the Qur’an, the sacred text revealed to Muhammad precisely by the archangel Gabriel, sent by God. The Greek equivalent is ànghelos, and it was a term connoting the god Hermes, the messenger of the gods; from mythology the word transited into Christianity and took on the meaning still valid today in almost every language. And precisely as God’s messengers, angels populate the Old Testament, appearing in the book of Genesis to enact the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, rushing to stop Abraham a moment before he vibrates the deadly blow on his son Isaac, or playing the role of spirit guides: this is the case of the archangel Raphael, who escorts the young Tobiolo on the long journey undertaken to recover his old father’s debts. In the Gospels, too, the task of these ethereal creatures, neither human nor divine, is to connect earth and heaven, accompanying the life of Jesus and his family.

“Last year,” comments Uffizi Director Eike D. Schmidt, "the first Christmas hypervision featuring masterpieces from the Uffizi Today a Savior is Born for You (dedicated to the theme of the Nativity) was a great success, with tens of thousands of virtual visits from around the world during the weeks of the Christmas holidays alone. We decided to repeat the event again this year with a theme that inspires sweetness and peace, instilling the idea of closeness between human and divine. With these magnificent images the Uffizi Galleries wish Happy Holidays to everyone in the world."

Image: Simone Martini, Annunciation, detail (1333; tempera on panel, 184 x 210 cm; Florence, Uffizi Galleries, Gallery of Statues and Paintings, Room 3)

For Christmas, Uffizi presents virtual exhibition on angels, featuring works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Botticelli

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