The painting collections in the state museums of Florence are unequalled for their quality, historical significance, and for the sheer number of works; never before have they been presented in a publication of such splendid technical quality. The Uffizi, the Palatine Gallery, the Accademia, and the other national collections-to which the Contini Bonacossi donation and the works recovered by Rodolfo Siviero have recently been added-constitute the greatest museum complex in the world. It is a complex unified by its history, closely tied at first to the Medici family, who were originally patrons and benefactors but who later, as their political power waned, came to be characterized as collectors and preservers of heritage. These museums bear witness to the Florentine supremacy in the arts that was established by Cosimo I with the invaluable assistance of Vincenzo Borghini and of Giorgio Vasari.

This work, the fruit of more than ten years of research, consists of a systematic cataloguing of all Florentine painters, and of all the painters active over many years in the Tuscan city, between the early 17 th and the end of the 18 th Centuries. Alongside artists who have already won renown and about whom various monographic studies already exist, this publication shines a collateral light on relatively unknown personages who are worthy of more than a little interest. In some cases these are artists otherwise unknown to contemporary criticism. The intention is to make a significant contribution to art history and the work is in some cases decisive in its attributions of uncertain works that have hitherto been habitually associated only with the better-known names. The three volumes are accompanied by biographies and lists of paintings along with, as is to be expected, an ample selection of approximately 1,800 colour and monochrome photographic reproductions. Volume I (312 pages) Presentation and introduction by Mina Gregori Colour plates I-CVI Biographies of the artists and index of works Bibliography, index of artists in the catalogue, of names and place names Volume II (376 pages) Plates 1-824 (Allori - Guiducci) Volume III (392 pages) Plates 825-1,698 (Hugford - Zocchi)