In the monumental halls of the Silver Museum, will host the exhibition THE TREASURES OF THE BUCCELLATI FOUNDATION. From Mario to Gianmaria, 100 years of history of the goldsmith's art, the result of the collaboration between the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation and the Special Superintendence for the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage and for the Polo Museale of the city of Florence, which will present a selection of over one hundred works, including jewels, gold and silver works designed by Mario and Gianmaria Buccellati, two of the most significant names in the world goldsmith panorama, heirs of the illustrious Italian tradition, which flourished in the Renaissance with Benvenuto Cellini, one of the greatest artists of every era.
It was precisely by following the Renaissance canons that Mario Buccellati, defined by Gabriele d'Annunzio, of whom he was a friend and associate, the 'Prince of goldsmiths', created his works, reinterpreting them in an absolutely personal, unique and easily recognizable way. He deserves the credit for having made known the 'Buccellati style' capable of becoming a legend of the goldsmith's art, appreciated by members of the ruling houses, popes and men of culture.
The exhibition will open with a tribute to Mario Buccellati (Ancona, 1891 - Milan, 1965). Some of the most precious pieces created by the founder of the brand will be exhibited, such as bracelets, brooches or the tiara, worked in 'tulle' or 'honeycomb', a true hallmark of Casa Buccellati, in which the fineness of the fretwork it is enhanced by the setting of diamonds and precious stones.
His bond of complicity with the Vate is evidenced by a twisted silver bracelet decorated with five lapis lazuli, contained in a case personally signed by d'Annunzio, by a yellow gold necklace, decorated with a beryl and rubies, offered to Eleonora Duse as a "precious, albeit bizarre" jewel, to be worn as an "umbilical wreath" and by objects such as jewelery boxes and cigarette cases engraved with mottos and images dear to the poet and a pillbox bearing the inscription of one of d'Annunzio's favorite expressions, "I I have what I have given”.
Study, technical knowledge and the secrets of processing ancient silver led Mario Buccellati to faithfully reproduce eight cups from the treasure of Boscoreale, the archaeological site near Pompeii, where the villa "della Pisanella" once stood, buried by lava following of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD The most striking elements are the relief decorations, embossed from the inside and reinvigorated by hammering them from the outside.
The itinerary set up inside the Florentine museum will continue with the section dedicated to Gianmaria Buccellati (Milan, 1929), whose precocious talent – he designed his first jewel at the age of twelve – was encouraged by his father to continue the family tradition. As Gianmaria himself was able to state, “My father didn't teach me the working techniques, just as I didn't teach them to my son. What happens is the transmission of thought, vision, work experience and the absorption of tradition”.
“I wanted to 'steal' – he continues – my father's secrets, so as to be able to add them to mine and in this way acquire a different identity from his. Each of us proceeds with his own instinct, having however assimilated the principles and techniques of our history".
The place that houses the masterpieces of Gianmaria Buccellati is particularly evocative of his personal story. It was precisely by visiting the Silver Museum in 1968 – where the famous semi-precious stone vases of Lorenzo de Medici are kept as well as the jewels of the Electress Palatine, as well as the splendid goldsmith works from the Medici family treasury – that Gianmaria Buccellati caught the inspiration to try his hand at creating works which, while rivaling those of the Medici in terms of richness and splendor, were an expression of his personal technical and formal research.
This is how precious objects were born, as defined by Gianmaria himself, unique pieces, such as cups, vases and boxes belonging to his personal collection that he himself designed and created. They are artifacts that testify to his strong bond and his constant relationship with the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo culture of Italy and the rest of Europe. Among these stands out “The Cup of Love” (1975), inspired by a rococo motif, which, with the elegance of female forms, emphasizes the highest image of the spirit of love. The reasons a rouches decorate a beautiful antique piece of red jasper, while Venus and three cupids, made with the lost wax technique, seem to move in the water and in the air.
The respect that Mario, first, and Gianmaria Buccellati, later, had nurtured towards Renaissance and Medici techniques is represented, among others, by extraordinary pieces, such as the 'Medici casket', a precious artifact with a decagonal shape, the first object conceived and created by Gianmaria Buccellati for his collection. It takes up the motifs of classical inspiration, from the particularly original volumes, which refer to the most celebrated architectural canons of the Renaissance era, to the decorative design which incorporates the details of the marble or wood panels or pilasters of the time, up to to the essential colors of gold, steel and diamonds.
The decorations, in perforated gold and modeled with very refined engravings, are shown on a gunmetal-colored burnished steel plate, in turn fixed inside profiles that mark the shapes of the box. All the profiles are modeled with recurring leaves while, in the center of the lid, a rosette set in diamonds balances with the diamonds in the small rosettes that complete the decoration of the tiles.
The purity of neoclassical forms also influenced Gianmaria Buccellati. An example of this is the “Crater of the Muses” (1981), a jade cup celebrating the myth of the nine deities of the arts in the Greek tradition. Particularly intense is the contrast of colors between the green of the jade block and the yellow gold and silver, studded with over 2000 cabochon sapphires, of the base and the edge, on which the names of the muses are engraved.
