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| Johannes Stradanus Alchemist's Laboratory ca. 1570-73 oil on slate Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Girolamo Macchietti Bathers at Pozzuoli ca. 1570-73 oil on slate Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Giorgio Vasari Perseus and Andromeda ca. 1570-73 oil on slate Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Alessandro Allori Pearl Fishers ca. 1570-73 oil on slate Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
"The construction of the "Studiolo" from 1570 to 1575, to a design by court architect and painter Giorgio Vasari with the assistance of the scholar Vincenzo Borghini, was commissioned by Francesco de' Medici who had taken over from his father Cosimo I in 1564 as regent of the Duchy of Tuscany. This small study was part of the duke's private apartments and was accessible only from his bedroom. . . . Francesco had it built specifically to keep "certain of his things" there, and the "little room" as it was then called, was designed as "a wardrobe of items rare and precious both in their value and in their art, such as jewels, medals, engraved stones, worked crystal and vases, mechanical devices and such like, not too large, placed in their own cabinets, each of its own kind." . . . The entire iconographical programme of the Studiolo's painted decorations was devoted to celebrating the kinship between Art and Nature in accordance with the personal interests of Francesco I, remembered not so much for good government as for a passionate interest in the sciences and for the perseverance with which he personally engaged in the practice of alchemy. . . . This room's special charm owes a great deal both to the originality of the programme and to the unique combination of the work of fully thirty-one different artists, almost all of whom were members of Florence's Accademia del Disegno. The artists were commissioned to translate the programme into paint in competition with one another, a peculiarity which has made the "Studiolo" a unique compendium of Florentine late Mannerist art."
– from curator's notes at the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
The Studiolo's built-in treasure cabinets, decorated with thematic oval paintings (below), have been empty for centuries, their contents dispersed, though the recent discovery of a contemporary inventory has encouraged scholarly attempts to search for the fugitive objects, or such as may survive.
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| Francesco Brina Neptune and Amphitrite ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Giovanni Maria Butteri Discovery of Glass ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Vittore Casini Vulcan's Forge ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Bartolomeo Traballesi Danaë and the Shower of Gold ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Domenico Buti Apollo and the Centaur Chiron ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Mirabello Cavalori Lavinia at the Altar ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Santi di Tito Hercules and Iole ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Lorenzo Sciorina Hercules vanquishes the Dragon ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Girolamo Macchietti Jason and Medea ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Andrea del Minga Pyrrha and Deucalion ca. 1570-73 oil on canvas Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Alessandro Allori Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici ca. 1570-73 oil on panel Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
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| Alessandro Allori Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo ca. 1570-73 oil on panel Studiolo di Francesco I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
Francesco commissioned portraits of his parents (directly above) to be set facing one another at either end of the ceiling vault.