The "Vasari/Mariette" album and Niccolò Gaddi's collection of works on paper.

Prof Laura Moretti will be presenting and chairing a session at The "Vasari/Mariette" album and Niccolò Gaddi's collection of works on paper conference, 10-12 September 2026, comprising three sessions of presentations at the National Central Library of Florence, a study session at the Uffizi's Department of Prints and Drawings, and a concluding round-table discussion. 

This conference examines the history and physical reconstruction of the “Vasari/Mariette” album, a monumental volume of architectural drawings once part of the collection of Niccolò Gaddi (1537–1591). A pivotal figure in late sixteenth-century Florence, Gaddi maintained a "public-facing" private archive that served as a vital conduit for Renaissance architectural thought. The album's complex provenance includes the Earl of Arundel, Pierre-Jean Mariette and Jean-Baptiste Séroux d'Agincourt, before its 1798 acquisition by the Uffizi. Key areas of focus include the album's sophisticated display system, which featured 107 large-scale sheets by masters such as Bramante and the Sangallos, integrated into elaborate watercolour frames with “hybrid” woodcut and pen-and-ink portraits. By investigating these materials, the conference seeks to rediscover the original intellectual framework of the collection, exploring how its integration into the Uffizi facilitated the transition from a private “proto-museum” to a systematic public institution.

The event is co-sponsored by University of St Andrews, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), and Society for Renaissance Studies (SRS) in collaboration with Central National Library of Florence, Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizi, ETH Zurich, and University of Notre Dame.