Porcelain exhibition at the Bargello Museum

Until October 1, 2017, the Bargello Museum is hosting an unprecedented exhibition of porcelain pieces from the collection at the Ginori Manufacture. “The Production of Beauty”, the show’s title, offers visitors a rare glimpse at several of these pieces, shown alongside the works that inspired them, creating previously unseen comparisons with the waxes, terracottas or bronzes that long ago served as their complete or partial model.

Highlights of the show are sure to be the Venus de’ Medici, modelled after the celebrated statue held in the Tribuna at the Uffizi Gallery, the Fireplace, with small-scale copies of Michelangelo’s Dusk and Dawn crowning the stunning piece, and the Tempietto della gloria della Toscana, which was restored expressly for this exhibition.

The Manufacture was founded in 1737 by the Marquis Carlo Ginori and is currently the oldest, still-operational manufacture in Italy. To build his collection, Ginori systematically collected figures and models from the local workshops of Late-Renaissance and Baroque sculptors, as well as commissioned copies of famous statues from Antiquity. A direct comparison between Ginori’s porcelain pieces and their inspirations has rarely been seen until now, however.

Indeed, this collection makes up one of the richest centers of ceramic heritage in Tuscany, but its history is largely unknown outside the academic world. The exhibition at the Bargello hopes to form a cornerstone in the research of the Ginori Manufacture’s long production history, intent on reawakening the attention of both Florentine and international public opinion.