tin glazed

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The Rubboli Collection – Italian lustre pottery in Gualdo Tadino

July 17 – October 3, 2010
Gualdo Tadino – Italy
Italian Ceramics - Small lustred plate with Raffaello portrait by Paolo Rubboli (1875 ca) - Photo credits: www.allegracombriccola.netThis important exhibition features 120 ceramic works, majolica and lusterware (tin glazed pottery), made by the Rubboli factory and by other important pottery factories, such as Ginori, Miliani, William de Morgan, Cantagalli, Galileo Chini, La Salamandra and Alan Caiger Smith, thus offering an excellent overview on the history and the tradition of lustres both in Italy and in the UK from 1870 to the last decades.

The works are displayed in the Monumental Church of San Francesco in Gualdo Tadino, home town of Paolo Rubboli, after a previous successful run in Perugia.
Additional pottery made by Paolo Rubboli (1838-1890) is on display at the Museo Civico Rocca Flea.

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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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