"The Pietà by Gricci, the King's modeler. New acquisition of Capodimonte. Between terracotta and porcelain"

Director Schmidt: "Exciting to bring back to Naples an important piece of the history of the Royal Factory"

An important piece of Capodimonte's identity returns home to complete the history of the Porcelain Royal Factory founded by Carlo di Borbone in 1743: it is a small but extraordinary masterpiece, the Pietà by Giuseppe Gricci, the King's modeler, a very rare terracotta piece that scholars identified about twenty years ago on the international art market.

"It has been exciting to bring this work back to Naples, where it was created, and admire it up close" - declares Eike Schmidt, director of the Capodimonte Museum and Royal Park - "In the city's public collections, there is no terracotta sketch attributable, like this one, to the hand of the famous chief modeler of the Royal Factory. The clay model shaped by Gricci is, in fact, the stage of the work where one can most immediately grasp the sign and figurative culture of this great Florentine artist, whom Carlo di Borbone wanted with him, first in Naples and then in Madrid. We wanted to share this acquisition immediately with the many visitors who crowd the Museum and Royal Park during the summer period. With a small setup that aims to be a valuable preview of the new porcelain exhibition expected in a few months."

"The Pietà by Gricci, the King's modeler. New acquisition of Capodimonte. Between terracotta and porcelain" is the title of the exhibition, until the28th of October. 

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