The Tribuna of the Uffizi

In 1772 Queen Charlotte sent Johan Zoffany to Florence with 300 pounds and one instruction, paint the famous gallery. He stayed almost six years. The room is the Tribuna, the octagonal jewel box of the Uffizi where the Medici kept their finest ancient statues and Renaissance pictures, and for any Englishman on the Grand Tour it was the single must-see room in Italy. Zoffany crammed it not only with the art but with the tourists, more than 20 identifiable Englishmen, diplomats and connoisseurs, leaning in to admire and handle the treasures. That is what got him in trouble. The Queen was annoyed to find her commission full of unknown gentlemen, and Horace Walpole, the writer, dismissed the crowd as a flock of travelling boys. Some of the pictures shown on these walls have since moved to other rooms, so the painting also records an arrangement that no longer exists.