Botticelli's Secret Quotes

“The two dictators toured the city’s historic sites, including a several-hour visit to the Uffizi and a walk across Vasari’s secret corridor above the Ponte Vecchio. While Mussollini was bored stiff by the sightseeing (“It would take a week to get through all this art,” he muttered under his breath), Hitler was absorbed by masterpieces like Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo.19 The”
― Joseph Luzzi, Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance

“The Nazis put party sympathizers in high-ranking positions and removed many museum personnel, especially those of Jewish origin, as well as works associated with what they believed to be a decadent avant-gardism (what Hitler called “degenerate art”).14 The Nazi Party destroyed (or secretly added to their personal collections) scores of modern artworks from Lippmann’s Kupferstichkabinett, especially German Expressionist prints and drawings.15 All told, the regime removed some 16,000 pieces of art from German collections, including 64 paintings, 26 sculptures, and 326 drawings from Berlin’s National Gallery.16”
― Joseph Luzzi, Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance