LA FABBRICA DELLA BELLEZZA

In 1737, while the Medici dinasty died out with the last heir, Gian Gastone, the Doccia Manufactory, known today as Richard Ginori Manyfactory, was founded by the Marquis Carlo Ginori.
It's the oldest manufactory of its kind in Italy, where it's been producing for almost three centuries the most incredible porcelain artworks.
The innovative idea of Carlo Ginori, was to acquire sculptures or copies of statues from all over Florence and then recreate them in porcelain in the huge furnaces of his workshop in Doccia, near Florence.

Now we we have the chance to admire these masterworks of craftsmanship in the exhibition that opened at the Bargello National Museum, "The Manufactory of Beauty. The Ginori Manufactory and its People of Statues", the first exhibition in Italy of porcelain artworks produced in Doccia.
On display are artworks of great elegance and technical skills, such as the majestic porcelain Fireplace by Gasparo Bruschi, chief modeler of the Doccia Manufactory and Domenico Stagi.
A masterpiece of technical expertise, that in the upper part reproduces the Dawn and the Twilight sculpted by Michelangelo on the Tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici in the Medici Chapels.
On display for the pleasure of visitors are also two of the most important pieces of the Richard Ginori collection: the reproduction of the famous Venus de' Medici of the Uffizi Tribune, and the Temple of Tuscan Glory Donated by Carlo Ginori to the Etruscan Academy in Cortona.
Next to the latter, are the bronze statue and the wax mold of the Mercury by Giambologna that inspired the one crowning the Temple.
Another porcelain masterpiece that puts itself in the spotlight is the copy of the bronze Pietà designed by sculptor Massimiliano Soldani in 1708. The reproduction of the sculpture group was created in 59 porcellain parts, fired separately and subsequently assembled. A triumph of beauty.
We cannot reccommend enough this exhibition, where what strikes visitors is the extreme complexity and elegance of the porcelain creations, that look so fragile compared to their marble and bronze twins, and perhaps for this, are all the more outstanding.