Uffizi View
Original oil painting by Matthew Holden Bates.
Uffizi View — oil on canvas by Matthew Holden Bates.
Florence, Italy.
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About This Painting
This painting looks out from the Uffizi toward the Ponte Vecchio, one of the most iconic views in Florence. The scene brings together the river, the bridge, the city’s layered architecture, and the quiet museum atmosphere of the Uffizi itself.
In the foreground is the Hellenistic statue known as the Dying Alexander. Its presence creates a dialogue between ancient sculpture and the living city beyond it. The figure seems suspended between history and the present, while the Ponte Vecchio stretches across the distance below.
Like many of my cityscape paintings, this work began with direct observation and photography, then developed slowly in the studio through drawing, composition, and layers of oil paint. The painting combines architectural space, sculpture, light, and memory into a single Florentine view.