In total there are twenty beautiful tapestries that make up the series of stories of Joseph, commissioned in the mid-sixteenth century by Cosimo I de 'Medici and based on sketches by Agnolo Bronzino, Jacopo Pontormo and Francesco Salviati.
The monumental works have a tormented history: for more than a century they were exhibited in the Sala de' Dugento in the Palazzo Vecchio and then, in 1882, they were separated at the behest of the Savoy family. From that moment, the series of stories was "interrupted": part was housed in Florence and part in Rome at the Quirinale Palace.
The exhibition "The Prince of dreams. The stories of Joseph in the tapestries of Pontormo and Bronzino", promoted by the Presidency of the Italian Republic, the City Councils of Florence and Milan in collaboration with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Expo 2015 and the Bracco Foundation, brings together, for the first time since the Unification of Italy, the "plot" of Joseph's stories narrated on the magnificent canvases, one of the finest examples of Renaissance art and craftsmanship.
From 17th February 2015 to 15th February 2016, the exhibition was taken to three representative locations both for the history of the works and for the relevance of the exhibition: Rome, Milan and Florence.
As part of its commitment to the promotion of Italian artistic heritage and scientific studies, the Bracco Foundation supported a project of high cultural value, which focused on Italian know-how in its most refined and universal sense. The tapestries are exemplary works of craftsmanship, artistic genius and beauty of the subjects portrayed.
