Over more than four centuries, the history of the Uffizi collections intersected with that of Florentine civilisation.
The original nucleus of the gallery was formed by the first Medici collections, but a vocation for artistic patronage characterised many of the rulers of Florence - none more than the Medici - during the course of the centuries.
As early as the Trecento, forms of patronage took place thanks to the greater power acquired by the guilds: the Arte del Cambio commissioned Andrea Orcagna to execute the Triptych of St Matthew for the guild oratory of Orsanmichele, the Arte della Mercanzia had a series of Virtues carried out by Piero Pollaiolo and by Botticelli for the Sala delle Udienze of the guild palace.

During the early Quattrocento, the extremely rich and cultured Palla Strozzi commissioned Gentile da Fabriano to create the Adoration.
Cosimo I himself was the patron of original artists like Fra Filippo Lippi and commissioned works of considerable moral and political significance such as The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello.
In the following century, the merchant, Angelo Doni, commissioned Michelangelo to carry out his famous painting The Holy Family with the Child St John (or Doni Tondo), while Raphael painted The Madonna of the Goldfinch for Lorenzo Nasi, another merchant.

The Collections grew through the addition of new pieces some of which had been received as marriage gifts or inherited from the grand dukes.
Thus Ferdinando I received Caravaggio's Medusa as a gift from Cardinal Del Monte, and, in the 17th century, Ferdinando II came into possession, through his wife Vittoria della Rovere, of the diptych by Piero della Francesca and The Venus of Urbino by Tiziano.
During the 18th century, in particular during the grand duchy of Pietro Leopoldo (1765-1790), more antique paintings were purchased and the nucleus of French painting was formed.

Throughout the 19th century, new rooms were opened and the picture gallery continued to expand through the addition of major works including Botticelli's famous The Birth of Venus (acquired in 1815) and Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation (acquired in 1867).
The acquisition of the Primavera, the splendid panel painted by Botticelli around 1482, dates to 1919.
The 20th century led to the re-arrangement of the works, on various occasions, much restoration and, in recent times, the definitive arrangement of the Contini Bonacossi collection.