Florentine painter Tito Lessi (Florence, 1858 – 1917) displayed photographic precision inpainting the reading rooms and the exhibition hall of the Riccardiana Library. In doing so, he pictured groups of scholars caught in animated debates. Today, these paintings (known as “The Bibliophiles”) can only be appreciated through photographs preserved in the library and the many copies available on the Internet, as the originals soon became part of collections overseas. Rumor has it that one of them, instead, was lost in the bombings that destroyed the Florence bridges during WWII. Apparently, it was property of the “Accademia della Colombaria”, whose building near the Ponte Vecchio was severely damaged under those tremendous circumstances.

These two paintings put the library in center stage – so to speak – during its heyday, when (having already been reorganized as per subdeacon Gabriello’s plan) it hosted meetings of scholars who could rely on its precious and carefully preserved materials for their research and discussions.

Nowadays, the Internet offers various images from Tito Lessi’s paintings, all of which are preserved in private collections. One of them shows a librarian carrying volumes to the directors’ office (which one can easily recognize through the open door). The volumes must have been used already and are now ready to be reshelved. This detail is the only difference one can notice in comparison with another ‘version’ of the same subject (of which a postcard can still be seen at the Riccardiana today); according to tradition, that represents the painting which was lost in WWII. Although all of these paintings show people wearing XVIII-century clothes, the reality they describe is that of the late XIX century, when the painter saw these places and painted them from life in an extremely accurate and meticulous way.