At Casa Buonarroti the Vasimania

Until February 28, 2019 Casa Buonarroti in Florence is hosting the exhibition Vasimania. From Filippo Buonarroti’s Explicationes to the Medici Vase.

The exhibition, curated by Maria Grazia Marzi and Clara Gambaro, presents the strong interest that developed from 1726, the year of publication of Thomas Dempster ’s De Etruria Regali and Filippo Buonarroti’s Explicationes et conjecturae, for ceramics, particularly vases.

The exhibition itinerary divided into three sections leads to the discovery of eighteenth-century publications dealing with ceramics that saw the light of day in the wake of the Explicationes et conjecturae, up to monographic works, such as the monumental one by Pierre-François Hugues d’Hancarville (1766-1776) and Wilhelm Tischbein ’s (1791-1795) on the collections of Sir William Hamilton, or Giovanni Battista Passeri ’s (1767-1775) anthology on the main Italian vase collections of the time. Buonarroti’s work is also the result of the influence of the cosmopolitan Roman environment: in fact, from 1684 Filippo served as librarian and conservator to Cardinal Gaspare Carpegna, breathing the antiquarian atmosphere of papal Rome.

This is followed by the section devoted to ceramic collections: significant is the grand ducal collection that originates from the “beautiful earthenware vase antiquissimo,” destined for Lorenzo the Magnificent. The importance and care devoted by the Medici to collecting antique ceramics is evidenced by a number of artifacts, such as table tops in commesso di pietre dure made by the Grand Ducal Manufacture.

The third section is devoted to the Medici Vase, a marble vase that Filippo Buonarroti admired in Rome’s Villa Medici before the precious object was transferred to Florence in 1770. Restored in 1779 by Francesco Carradori, the vase was displayed in the Uffizi Gallery, in the Sala dei Niobidi, where it was admired by many visitors and artists.

For info: www.casabuonarroti.it

Hours: Daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

At Casa Buonarroti the Vasimania

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