The Museo Ginori at the Florence International Biennial Antiques Fair
New collaboration between the Museo Ginori and the BIAF Biennale Internazionale dell'Antiquariato di Firenze: from September 28 to October 6, 2024, on the occasion of the 33rd edition of one of the most important antique art fairs, the halls of Palazzo Corsini will host two valuable works from the museum’s sculpture collection, exhibited to the public for the first time.
New collaboration between the Museo Ginori and the BIAF Biennale Internazionale dell'Antiquariato di Firenze: from September 28 to October 6, 2024, on the occasion of the 33rd edition of one of the most important antique art fairs, the halls of Palazzo Corsini will host two valuable works from the museum’s sculpture collection, exhibited to the public for the first time.
The works
To scholars and collectors from around the world, the two plaster casts from the Museo Ginori will tell a little-known but absolutely fascinating chapter of the long history of the Manifattura di Doccia, featuring the “collecting for factory use” of Marquis Carlo Ginori and his son Lorenzo.
Both compositions, almost contemporaneous, depict the first of the Twelve Labors of Hercules. One has recently been attributed to Pietro Tacca (1577-1640), pupil and heir of the Florentine workshop of Giambologna, while the other is an original design by the Lombard Stefano Maderno (1576-1636), who was mainly active in Rome.
Hercules and the Nemean lion (after Pietro Tacca, attr.), plaster cast, h 77 cm
Hercules and the Nemean Lion (after Stefano Maderno), painted plaster cast imitating terracotta, h 48.5 cm
The restoration
The two works were recently restored thanks to a fundraising campaign promoted by the Associazione Amici di Doccia, which in 2019 auctioned at Sotheby’s a collection of porcelain jewelry made by students of the LAO goldsmith arts school using scraps provided by Ginori 1735.
While awaiting the reopening of the Museo Ginori, currently undergoing renovation, the BIAF offers the opportunity to admire in all their beauty two significant examples of the extraordinary sculptural heritage of the Manifattura Ginori, whose conservation the Amici di Doccia have devoted numerous interventions to over the years.
Authorized by the Regional Directorate of National Museums of Tuscany, the restoration was carried out by Gabriella Tonini and Louis Pierelli under the direction of curator Giulia Basilissi. The diagnostic analyses commissioned by the Fondazione Ginori to AdArte snc finally provided valuable information on the technique and dating of the Maderno group.
