Address: Piazza Pitti, Palazzo Pitti
Since 1919 the Museo degli Argenti or Silver Museum has been
sited in the ground floor rooms of Palazzo
Pitti, originally the grand ducal summer apartment, and in
the mezzanine. In it are gathered together various kinds of
precious objects such as gems, cameos, semi-precious stones,
ivories, jewels and silver. These record the sumptuous life and
collecting of the various dynasties which ruled Florence from the
Medici to the Lorraine. Its lack of unity renects the diversity
of tastes, fashion and working methods of the four centuries of
collecting and patronage which went to make it up.
|
| |
The basic core of the collection is of Medici origin and was
originally gathered in the palace in the Via Larga (now Via
Cavour) in the Quattrocento, where Cosimo the Elder had begun a
large and diverse assembly of art objects. This was continued by
his son Piero, who was the real founder of the family
collections. One of the oldest and most valuable categories was
made up of Lorenzo the Magnificent's vases, which were extremely
important both historically
and aesthetically. The eighteen which remain represent only a
tiny part of the original collection and testify to the love of
hard and semi-precious stones which is a constant of Medici
taste.
With Grand Duke Cosimo I in the sixteenth century one may say
that the real story of the collection begins, a collection which
reflects Cosimo's acuity in making Florence one of Europe's major
centres for the production of the so-called "minor
arts" through his protection of artists and his many
commissions. Among these artists was Benvenuto Cellini
(1500-1571), who was responsible for the acquisition of many of
the crystal vases now in the Museum. Thus originated the grand
ducal workshops, which were strengthened by Cosimo's son, the
Grand Duke Francesco and organized in their own independent
premises by Ferdinando I de' Medici in the early seventeenth
century. Engravers of crystal, cameos and semi-precious, gold and
silverworkers all competed in displays of invention and superb
technique to produce the objects which still constitute the
principal core of the Museum. Among the most refined of these is
the gold mounted lapislazuli vase by the goldsmith Bilivert
(1576-1644) to the designs of Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608).
Alongside these examples of the Mannerist taste of the sixteenth
century are the engraved ivories brought from Germany by Prince
Matthias de' Medici in the seventeenth century.
Along with the large collections of cameos, some Roman, and the
so-called "Galaterie gioiellate" of Anna Maria Luisa
de' Medici (eighteenth century) who commissioned precious
jewellery throughout Europe are foreign objects brought to the
Pitti mainly by Ferdinando III of Lorraine after his return from
exile during the Napoleonic period. The oldest and most
beautifully worked are the gold plates, beakers,"corni
potori" and wooden cups mounted in silver and enamel.
The orginal importance of the rooms of the Museum has been
revalued, underlining even the most bizarre aspects of the Medici
taste displayed here but also taking account of the superb
decorations which they house. These include the great room
frescoed by Giovanni da San Giovanni (1592-1636) with his
assistants on the occasion of the marriage of Ferdinando II and
Vittoria della Rovere in 1634, where the theme is the evocation
through mythology of Medici history at the time of Lorenzo the
Magnificent.
|