Giusto Utens or Justus Utens (died 1609) was a Flemish painter who is remembered for the series of Medicean villas in lunette form that he painted for the third grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, in 1599–1602.

He moved to Carrara

Carrara

Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....

 about 1580, where he married, and where later he returned and died.

The Medici villas

Medici villas

The Medici villas are a series of rural building complexes near Florence which were owned by members of the Medici family between the 15th century and the 17th century. The villas served several functions: they were the country palaces of the Medici, scattered over the territory that they ruled,...

 illustrated by Utens from a bird's-eye perspective are:

• Villa Medici del Trebbio
• Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo
• Palazzo Pitti
  Palazzo Pitti
  The Palazzo Pitti , in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio...
  
  , the Boboli Gardens
  Boboli Gardens
  The Boboli Gardens are a park in Florence, Italy, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities.-History and layout:...
  
   and Fort Belvedere
• Villa Medici di Castello
• Villa Medici La Petraia
• Villa Medicea di Pratolino
• Villa Medici dell'Ambrogiana
• Villa Medici di Lappeggi
• Villa Medici di Poggio a Caiano
• Villa Medici di Serravezza
• Villa Medici La Magia
• Villa Medici di Marignolle
• Villa Medici di Montevettolini
• Villa Medici di Colle Salvetti

The three missing lunettes are thought to be the Villa di Artimino and perhaps the Villa Medici di Careggi. In the early twentieth century an anonymous artist completed the scheme, based on eighteenth-century vedute illustrating the villa at Careggi

Villa Medici at Careggi

The Villa Medici at Careggi is a patrician villa in the hills near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy.-History:The villa was among the first of a number of Medici villas, notable as the site of the Platonic academy founded by Cosimo de' Medici, who died at the villa in 1464...

, that at Cerreto Guidi

Cerreto Guidi

Cerreto Guidi is a comune in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 30 km west of Florence. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 10,126 and an area of 49.3 km²....

 and Poggio Imperiale

Poggio Imperiale

Poggio Imperiale is a town and comune in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy....

, which in the sixteenth century was still the Villa di Poggio Baroncelli.

Further reading