Giusto (Justus) Utens was a Flemish/Italian painter, the son of Pietro di Giovanni da Bruxelles. In 1599-1602, he made a pictorial record of all 14 Medici villas in lunette form for the third grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I. He moved to Carrara about 1580, where he married, and where later he returned and died.
The picture shows the Palazzo Pitti and the Forte Belvedere, one of the 14 paintings in lunette form representing the Medici villas which the artist made in 1599-1602 for the third grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I.
The picture showing the Villa Medicea at Castello is one of the 14 paintings in lunette form which represent the Medici villas. They were made by artist in 1599-1602 for the third grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I.
The picture showing the Villa Medicea at Cafaggiolo is one of the 14 paintings in lunette form which represent the Medici villas. They were made by artist in 1599-1602 for the third grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I.
The Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo was one of the oldest and most favoured of the Medici family estates. The villa was reconstructed following designs of the architect Michelozzo in 1452, becoming a meeting place for some of the greatest intellectuals of the Italian Renaissance. The Medici visited it often: as a consequence, the villa was the scene of many momentous events in the history of the dynasty, ranging from the reception of Medici brides to the murder of a Medici wife.
The villa was built by Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany in part to please his Venetian mistress, the celebrated Bianca Capello. The designer of villa and gardens was his court architect Bernardo Buontalenti, who completed it in a single campaign that lasted from 1569 to 1581. It was mostly demolished in 1820.
