MENEGATTI MAIOLICHE

SOMETIDNG TO BE AWARE OF

Majolic (maiolica) had Arabian origin and is handmade. As a matter of fact it first appeared in south Italy under Arabian rule and was eventually brought to Tuscany in the 12 Th. centuries, when the city of Pisa held trades with the Balearic Islands.

Majolic manufacturing technique spread from Pisa through out middle and north Italy. The most important production centres were Florence, Deruta and Faenza.
Each one of them had its own history and developed its own technical and artistic features. Each one produced a good deal of minor centres.
All of them are either simply or finely decorated Earthen hand made become earthenware (the so called “ terre cotte ") when they are baked at 1000° C; and, if coated with glassy enamel, they can be also decorated.
When earthenware is baked a second time, at about 900° C, it becomes proper "maiolica".
All of them are either simply or finely decorated. According to this special technique it is possible to produce several items: kitchen utensils (pots, saucepans, vases, bottles, plates, dishes) utensils to be used in chemist's shops to preserve medicinal herbs and substances (special pots and bottles).
Different objects of great value (big plates, vases, sculptures and bas-reliefs) now housed in different museums.
Florence had its own history and its own style (Medici Factory in Cafaggiolo, Farmacia di San Marco, Farmacia di Santa Maria Novella, fabbrica dei Monaci in Altopascio, Impruneta earthenware, many factories in Montelupo fiorentino).

The Della Robbia was the first ones to use the majolic technique to produce their bas-relieves. From Luca della Robbia, John Pope, Hennessy, Oxford 1980

( ... ) a little later between 1435 and 1440, he produced two more relieves in enamelled terracotta ( ... ) in both of them the glazing is defective and subject to scaling and firing cracks
We must then suppose that Luca conducted a number of experiments in work on a small scale, which resulted, about 1440, in a technique that was of proved dependability ( ... )

The very large Della Robbia original is made in sections. Today Della Robbia reproductions (the larger ones) are still made by the same technique and may show litt1e defects.

It was 1494 and Cantagallo owned a kiln in the surroundings of Porta Romana.
They produced bricks, roofing tiles and pipes.
Afterwards the Cantagalli started producing ordinary majolica, such as pots for food conservation, kitchen utensils, and chamber pots, too.
In the second half of the 19th century, with encouragement from his Scottish fiancée and later wife, Margaret Tod, Ulisse Cantagalli embarked on a detailed study of the ceramic techniques and began to reproduce the old majolic works created in Italy and dating back to the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
Since then Cantagalli majolica spread all across Europe.
Jon Ruskin, a famous English critic in the Victorian Age, owned a reproduction made by Cantagalli. It was the copy of an old work by Della Robbia and it was set in the critic's private study in London.
At the beginning of the 20th century Frederick Stibbert wanted the halls' ceilings of his villa to be decorated with Cantagalli tiles. He also collected more pieces of the old Factory, now exhibited in the Stibbert Museum in Florence.

In 1902 the cupolas in the Russian Church were coated with Cantagalli tiles.

In 1910 the Altar of the Stigmate Chapel in the Sanctuary of La Verna, originally made by Andrea Della Robbia, was restored and provided with Cantagalli tiles.

In 1915 the Cantagalli realised the coating of the hall's cupola as well as the armorial bearings on the façade of the post Palace in Florence.

A large number of decorative designs and styles originally created by Della Robbia and reproduced by the Cantagalli Factory can now be found all over the world (especially on the front of beautiful villas and Liberty buildings).

In the Bargello Museum in Florence there is a special showcase saved for Cantagalli majolica.

A blue chemist's pot decorated with the yellow Lilies is housed in the Mayor study in Palazzo della Signoria (the city hall).
The Commune of Florence was presented with it at the beginning of the 20th century.

In those years the Cantagalli Factory also took up the production of dinner sets with the same decorations as the ones of the traditional majolica of middle and northern Italy.

Such items were soon used by the English Colony settled in Florence as well as by the local aristocracy. It boasted many aristocratic families among the several customers that visited it. Therefore a large number of dinner sets were decorated with their own armorial bearings.
The tradition of the English families resident in Florence was carried out in the store and, over the years, many American families also joined it.
A good deal of sets once produced for them are still used today and eventually completed both in Italy and all over the world.
One example worth nothing: the well known, Michelangiolesca, villa I Collazzi includes a full setting of Cantagalli tableware. In 1985,this service was used during a lunch in honour of Prince Charles and Lady Diane.