La vendita della collezione Rinuccini di Firenze: un episodio di mercato al tramonto del Granducato*
Luca Giacomelli
In May 1852, the auction of the Rinuccini collection took place in Florence: in the space of a month, one of the city’s oldest and most intact collections, consisting of around seven hundred works of art from every period and school, was dispersed. The event was prepared carefully, also due to the contemporary European upheavals, and was an important moment in the history of the local art market. Through the analysis of archival documents and other accounts, this paper retraces the phases of the organization and development of the auction. Framed in its Italian and European context, the sale is at the same time highlighted as an almost exceptional event within Florence, given the absence in the city of a modern and structured auction system like that of Amsterdam, Paris or London.