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Herbert Percy Horne was born in 1864 in London, where he was trained as an architect, and where he frequented the leading artists and intellectuals of his era.From an early age, Horne showed remarkable artistic and literary gifts, emerging as a poet, graphic artist, critic and fine arts connoisseur.
After several sojourns in Italy, accomplished to enrich his own cultural formation, Horne permanently moved to Florence in 1905, making the city his second home. Making contact with the colony of foreign intellectuals resident in the Tuscan capital, he dedicated himself entirely to the study of Renaissance figurative culture, rapidly establishing himself as a distinguished scholar of Italian art, as well as a refined collector. Among his numerous publications, his 1908 monograph on Sandro Botticelli holds a place of honour, as its documentary richness makes it a valuable reference work even today.
To overcome his limited financial resources, Horn became active as an artistic consultant, forming profitable relationships with the European and American arts markets. In 1911 he acquired the former Palazzo Corsi, in Via de’ Benci, and planned a painstaking restoration with the aim of recreating, through the display of his own collection, the atmosphere and interior settings of a Renaissance town-house.
On 12 April, 1916, Horne made his will, confirming that his palace and his art collection be given to the Italian State, and that there would be instituted a Foundation and a Museum dedicated to his memory. Two days after his will and testament were drafted, a violent attack of tuberculosis cut off the young life of the English scholar, preventing him from completing the installation of his precious collection.