NEW YORK.- On October 1, the Federal Hall National Memorial in downtown Manhattan, will display twenty-two paintings loaned by Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, David W. Dunlap wrote in the New York Times. This exhibition will be part of the Splendor of Florence festival that is to be presented throughout Lower Manhattan and it will remain open until November 15. "We consider this an extraordinary event, because the Uffizi doesn’t lend easily," said Ms. Simon of the World Financial Center. The centerpiece of the loan is a sweet and tender work by Barocci, who died in 1612, having "enjoyed a greater popularity and exerted a more profound influence on the art of his time than any of his contemporaries," said The Dictionary of Art (Grove, 1996).

Other works coming from the Uffizi include portraits of members of the Medici family by Frans Pourbus the Younger, Justus Sustermans and Tiberio Titi. The Medici portraits are meant to emphasize the tradition of art patronage and craftsmanship in the Splendor of Florence festival. Seven artisans - ceramicists, carvers, jewelers, lacemakers - will set up shop around the Winter Garden, in the World Financial Center, with exhibits and demonstrations. There will be tastings of Tuscan food, performances, concerts and a series of films set in Florence. The festival, founded by Joyce Acciaioli Rudge, was first presented in Providence, R.I., in 1999 and then in Philadelphia in 2001. Kevin M. Rampe, president of the development corporation, contributed $250,000 toward the $1.2 million cost of the festival.