Author
The antique majolica
Date
15th - 17th century
Technique
Majolica
Description:
The valuable majolica in the collection donated by Gianfranco Luzzetti are part of a larger nucleus that the collector kept in his home in Florence.
The examples on display are a paradigm of a panorama as varied as it was valuable, which developed thanks to local craftsmen who distinguished themselves through peculiar morphological and decorative characteristics.
The majolica pieces in the collection outline central and northern Italian production in the centuries from the 15th to the 17th; they are offered following geographical production and delineate the stylistic differences of local workshops.
Tuscan production is well represented by finely decorated examples from the centers of production in Montelupo and Cafaggiolo, most active in the 15th century. Also present are works by the potters of Deruta, a central place of intense artistic and commercial movement in the late fifteenth century.
It was, however, the 16th century that was the century of maximum splendor for the fictile art, when important Signorie such as that of the Dukes of Urbino and the Medici of Florence became major patrons of refined majolica destined to enrich their precious collections.
Decoration was embellished and became more representative of the humanistic culture of the time thanks to the initiation of historiated production in line with the refined and cultured demands of the Courts.