Until September 8th, Palazzo Medici Riccardi is hosting the grand exhibition L’incanto di Orfeo (Orpheus Enchantment), with approximately sixty works of art devoted to one of the most meaningful and immortal figures of Greek mythology, running the gamut from paintings to sculptures, drawings, manuscripts, installations, and films from classical antiquity to the present day.

Among the works on display, the magnificent Neo-Attic marble bas-relief from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples stands out, depicting Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes at the exact moment when the legendary bard loses his beloved for the second time, this time forever. The visit will traverse works by Titian, Parmigianino, van Honthorst, Bruegel the Elder, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Moreau, Redon, Feuerbach, De Chirico, Savinio, Melotti, Twombly, borrowed from prestigious Italian and international cultural institutions, including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Mart di Trento e Rovereto, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Belvedere in Vienna, among others.

Orpheus and the Medici

In the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, a marble sculpture catches the eye: it is “Orpheus Enchanting Cerberus” by Baccio Bandinelli, which makes it clear that the mythological character is a relevant figure both for Florence and the Medici family. The interest in Orpheus developed during the time of Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent, thanks to the artists, scholars, philosophers, and poets who gravitated around the Medici family, as evidenced by the numerous works dedicated to his figure.

Orpheus was a privileged subject in Florentine art and sculpture, alongside emblematic figures such as Hercules, David, and Judith. The son of the Muse Calliope and the mythological Thracian king Oeagrus (or of Apollo, according to other versions), he is found as early as the 15th century on one of the tiles of Giotto’s Bell Tower and received a special place in the study and construction of the classical era during the Renaissance, from literary, philosophical, and political perspectives.

And precisely during this extraordinary period of philology and experimentation with arts and humanities, Agnolo Poliziano (who was a close acquaintance of Lorenzo the Magnificent and the Latin translator of the Orphic Argonautica) wrote the drama “Fabula di Orpheo” (The Fable of Orpheus) – an invaluable specimen of this work from the Biblioteca Riccardiana is showcased in this exhibition together with a precious illuminated anthology of the Orphic Hymns from the late 15th century, attesting to the cultural interest that developed in that period for Neoplatonism.

The fascination of the Medici circle with Orpheus was manifested in the early 16th century when the cultured Pope Leo X, through the mediation of the governor of Florence, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, commissioned Baccio Bandinelli to sculpt the statue that is now displayed in the palace courtyard: this sculptural group, at the heart of this exhibition, became the symbol of the peaceful era and concord that the Medici desired for Florence.

Cosimo I de’ Medici himself did not escape fascination with Orpheus and wanted to be portrayed as him in the painting by Agnolo Bronzino, ideally transferring onto himself the enchanting and civilizing power that distinguished the Thracian poet.