Maria Luisa

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Uffizi, Florence. The chief public gallery of Florence. The nucleus of the collection derives from the collections of the Medici family, and the Uffizi Palace was begun by Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It originally housed government offices (Italian uffizi), hence the building's name. In 1565 Vasari built a corridor over the Ponte Vecchio connecting the Uffizi with the Pitti Palace. The Uffizi was completed in about 1580 and soon afterwards Francesco I de'Medici (Cosimo's son) had part of it remodelled as gallery space in which to display the family collections. Subsequently the building has been much altered, enlarged, and restored (it was damaged in the Second World War, by flooding in 1966, and by a terrorist bomb in 1993), but it remains the best testimony to Vasari's skill as an architect. The last of the Medici line, Anna Maria Luisa, presented the collections to the city of Florence in 1737, and the transformation of the Uffizi into a public gallery was largely the work of Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo (later the emperor Leopold II; see Habsburg), who reigned 1765–90. He reorganized the collections to make them more coherent, appointed scholarly staff (including Lanzi) to care for them, and allowed public visiting free of charge. In the 19th century the Uffizi was again radically reorganized. Much archaeological material was placed in the Museo Archeologico, while the medieval and Renaissance sculpture and the rich collection of applied art were transferred to the Bargello. The Uffizi picture collection on the other hand was enriched by early Italian works gained from suppressions of churches and monasteries and confiscations of religious property. Although it is primarily famous for its incomparable representation of Florentine Renaissance painting, the Uffizi also has outstanding works from other Italian and non-Italian schools (for example, Hugo van der Goes's Portinari Altarpiece) and important examples of antique sculpture. The collection of prints and drawings in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe is one of the finest in the world, and the gallery of artists' self-portraits, begun by Cardinal Leopoldo de'Medici in the 17th century, is unrivalled.

María Luisa , 1751–1819, queen of Spain, daughter of Duke Philip of Parma, consort of King Charles IV . Dissolute and domineering, she exerted, with her favorite Godoy , the real power in the government, thus contributing to the downfall of Spain at the hands of Napoleon I. She was present at the meeting in Bayonne at which Napoleon forced her husband and her son, Ferdinand VII , to abdicate. She shared her husband's confinement and exile. Goya painted several revealing portraits of her.