The Pottery Route. Renaissance majolica from Marche and Umbria.

June 16, 2010 – January 30, 2011
Gubbio – Italy

Photo credits: www.maggioeugubino.com

The Pottery Route evokes the geographic and artistic connection among Deruta, Gubbio, Castel Durante (now Urbania), Urbino and Pesaro, which were important pottery making hubs during the Renaissance. And so most of them are now.

At the time the route was actually very busy. Artists and merchants traveled from one village to the other to trade their talent or their goods.
Gubbio enjoyed a strategic position on the trail because it belonged to the Duke of Urbino, who owned most of the Marche and was known to encourage and protect Arts, but it was located near Perugia and Deruta, which had their own peculiar artistic style

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White Italian Majolica – Faenza and Rome

Until August 22, 2010
Faenza – Italy

Sept. 16 – Nov. 28
Rome – Italy

The exhibition celebrates “the whites”, Italian ceramics - Plate with Tedoforo, Ceramics Museum of San Nicola Basilica in Tolentino - Photo credits: www.micfaenza.orga specific style of pottery that arose in Faenza in the 1540s.

Their innovative shapes, designs and glazes determined their immediate success; within a few years from their appearance on the market, they were already so popular that many potters started to make them, both in Italy and in other European countries.

Known as the “pottery from Faenza”  or faentini, the whites became so famous that French people shortened their name to “faience”, that is now the French name for Majolica or Pottery.

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Cantagalli, the Scottish dimension

by Sheila Forbes

On 31 August 1880 Margaret Tod and Ulisse Cantagalli were married in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary’s, Edinburgh, with Ulisse’s brother Romeo, and Margaret’s brother Robert, as witnesses. His Grace, John Menzies Strain, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, officiated, thereby establishing a permanent bond between the two fine cities of Edinburgh and Florence (SCA).

The Tods of Edinburgh
Margaret’s father was Robert Tod, Mill owner, a partner in Alexander & Robert Tod Ltd., Leith Flour Mills (NAS D76/1056), and a Leith Harbour and Dock Commissioner (NAS SC70/4/298).

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Luca Della Robbia

Italian Ceramics - Madonna and Child by Luca della Robbia (c. 1475), Widener Collection - Photo credits: National Gallery of Art - USAThe story of the Della Robbia family begins in 1441-2 when Luca della Robbia, a cultivated and bright minded man, developed a new technique that would allow him to blend the magic of painting, sculpting and pottery making into a brand new form of artistry: the Architectural Ceramic Art.

His family was very well known in Florence for their textile business, which is somehow connected with the origin of their name: Della Robbia comes from Rubia (madder), a plant used in ancient times as a vegetable red dye for textile dyeing and for painting.

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Della Robbia: Technical Innovation and Creative Genius

Italian Ceramics - Cappuccini Tondo by Luca della Robbia (1475-80), Bargello Museum, Florence - Photo Credits: www.scultura-italiana.comAccording to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), the famous biographer of Renaissance painters, sculptors and architects, Luca della Robbia’s technique was so revolutionary that he’d be praised for it for many centuries to come. He explained how it was not such a hard work to make a clay sculpture and the only reason why clay had not been used much so far was that it could not be preserved over time. Luca, after many experiments, managed to invent a special mixture of minerals. This glaze, used to coat the sculptures before the firing in a suitable kiln, would make them almost eternal.

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Della Robbia: the Beginners of Italian Architectural Ceramic Art

February 21 – June 7, 2009
Arezzo – Italy

Italian Ceramics - Prudence by Andrea Della Robbia (ca. 1475) - Photo credits: The Metropolitan Museum of ArtA sumptuous exhibition in Arezzo, Tuscany, will celebrate the glory of Della Robbia family and it will put into a new perspective the relationship between the Renaissance Majolica and the “major” arts.

More than 150 Ceramic Art Works from the most important Museums of the world will be on view beginning February 21st at the National Art Museum and additional 180 large pieces will be the key attractions of 5 especially designed itineraries along the Valdarno, Valdichiana and Valtiberina valleys and the Casentino mountains.

For the very first time, Della Robbia’s ceramics will be side by side – in open dialogue, as stated by the curators – with contemporary sculptures, paintings, architectural works and decorative art pieces, such as glass, majolica, porcelain, marble and wood mosaics, prints, etc.

This unusual setting will highlight the innovative content of Della Robbia’s works while delighting the visitors with the poetic genius of Renaissance artists: Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, Rossellino, Pisanello, Filippo Lippi, Pollaiolo, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Leonardo, Fra’ Bartolomeo, Domenico Veneziano, Fra’ Carnevale, Sansovino.

Keep reading our Articles for more info on the works and lives of Della Robbia family.

Museo Statale d’Arte Medievale e Moderna
Via S. Lorentino, 8
Arezzo
Open every day from 9 am to 7 pm
Ph. 800 90 44 47 (toll free) or 0039 049 2010067

Traditions and Contaminations: Pottery Workshop in Urbania

January
Palazzo Ducale, Urbania

“Traditions and contaminations”Italian Ceramics - Urbania: Traditions and Contaminations is a multi sensory event that will combine the Art of Pottery Making, Food and Music in Urbania.

Better known among Italian pottery lovers as Casteldurante, the town was one of the most important production areas of the “istoriato” ceramics during the Renaissance, together with Gubbio, Pesaro and Urbino. The majolicas made in Casteldurante in the 16th century still are among the most treasured preys to pottery collectors’ and museums’.

The event challenges the technical and aesthetic tradition of the local potters and mix and matches it with creative stimuli originating from Japanese pottery techniques, food tasting and good music.

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