Visitors to Florence should not miss the opportunity to admire the Tavola Doria before it departs for Japan for the next four years.
The Tavola Doria is a precious copy of the famous Battle of Anghiari, a monumental mural painting that Leonardo da Vinci began making around 1503 in the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The painting was never completed and, around 1563, the Salone decoration was entrusted to Giorgio Vasari, and Leonardo’s painting was lost.
The Doria Table is the most significant remaining copy of the Battle of Anghiari; the author is unknown, although some have said it’s by Leonardo himself. It comes from the collection of the Doria d’Angria of Naples.
The work passed through the hands of several owners throughout the centuries until it disappeared in 1939. After years of police investigation, it was found in Switzerland, but in the meantime, it had been purchased in 1993 by the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.
Through an international agreement, the Tavola Doria will now be exposed cyclically for two years in Italy and for the following four years in Japan.
Since 2012, following some restoration work by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, it has been displayed at the Quirinale , in Anghiari and the National Central Library of Florence. Now, it is at the Uffizi Gallery, in the Sala delle Carte Geografiche (Hall of Maps) until June 29, alongside three other 16th century panels, copies of Leonardo’s works.
