Sotheby's Florence Exhibition Previews Giovanni Pratesi Collection Ahead of Milan Auction

Sotheby's is staging an exhibition in Florence titled "Giovanni Pratesi: l’occhio fiorentino" at Palazzo Ridolfi from September 23 to October 2, 2022, coinciding with the Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato di Firenze and Florence Art Week. The show features over 160 sculptures and paintings from the gallery of renowned Florentine antiquarian Giovanni Pratesi, spanning the 16th to 19th centuries. It serves as a preview for a March 2023 auction in Milan, Sotheby's first dedicated to Old Masters in Italy in over a decade. Pratesi, a central figure in the Florentine art market for over sixty years, opened his gallery in 1960 and has held key roles including president of the Associazione Antiquari d’Italia (since 1995), secretary general of the Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato di Firenze (since 2001), and director of Gazzetta Antiquaria (since 1987). In 1987, he undertook the restoration of the Cappella Serristori designed by Giovanbattista Foggini in Figline Valdarno, where the Fondazione Giovanni Pratesi now houses his collection of Renaissance and Baroque Italian paintings and sculptures.