Until April 15, 2012 - Two exhibitions of ceramic art in the nineteenth century

The splendour of the enamels, the iridescent sheens, the quality of the pictorial representation and the eclecticism of the forms that once dazzled visitors at the Great Exhibitions, are all features of the contemporary exhibit, held at the Stibbert Museum in Florence, on the art of Florentine majolicas after the Unification of Italy. A selection of 19th-century majolicas coming from the Museo di Doccia, together with Cantagalli pieces from the Museo Stibbert, form the nucleus of the display. The exhibition is completed by prestigious loans from the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford, the Victoria & Albert Museum of London, the Musée National de Céramique of Sèvres and the William De Morgan Foundation in London, in addition to previously unexhibited pieces from private collections, together with some of the most important designs of the recently catalogued Fondo Cantagalli kept at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. In addition, a video is being projected on the ceramic manufacturing technique, produced by the Museum of Montelupo.

During the same period of Stibbert's exhibit, the Richard Ginori Museum of Doccia at Sesto Fiorentino hosts the exhibit Urbano Lucchesi: mondo rurale e soggetti di fantasia nelle maioliche Ginori della fine dell'Ottocento. It's the first exhibition dedicated to the majolicas of the recently discovered sculptor who was active at Doccia between about 1880 and 1900. The museum has recently acquired a nucleus of works that are on public display for the very first time.

Museo Stibbert
via Frederick Stibbert 26, Firenze
http://www.museostibbert.it

Museo di Doccia
viale Pratese 31, Sesto Fiorentino
http://www.museodidoccia.it