Capodimonte History

Napoli The Capodimonte factory: the art of porcelain.Capodimonte’s porcelain began in 1743, when, following Maria Amalia Walburga of Sassonia’s (daughter of Federico Augusto King of Poland and grand-daughter of August the Great – creator of the porcelain factory in Meissen), marriage to Carlo III di Borbone the couple decided to build a porcelain factory in Naples. This would align the court with the various European counterparts that possessed already structures of similar nature. The building that was chosen to house the factory was located in the forests of Capodimonte close to the royal residence and it was transformed by the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice in only three months. The first operators in the new factory were Livio and Gaetano Schepers together with Giovanni Caselli, they were given the job of producing the paste for the ceramics. Giuseppe Gricci, the sculptor from Florence was accorded the position of modeller, and the artist Giuseppe della Torre and cutter Ambrogio di Giorgio finalised an excellent start-up equip. To counter the absence of caolin, earth was imported from Calabria. From this material it was possible to obtain a tender ceramics paste ideal for porcelain production. The quality was extremely high and this transparent white coloured “tender” paste allowed finishing’s and coatings to absorb the paint and decorations and lend the same a glassy effect. Even though the styles were inspired by the Meissen production, the objects realised in Capodimonte (recognised by their grey light blue shades) took on artistic forms that were autonomous and assumed a distinct style of elegance and refinement. The plastic production of Capodimonte is of great originality and obtained fame throughout Europe. In 1759, Carlo di Borbone, was recalled to Spain following the death of his brother Ferdinando VI and took the Spanish throne. He took some equipment, forms, paste and some of the best craftsmen and artists with him to Spain and left orders to destroy or render useless the machines and equipment that he had been forced to abandon.

Following the closure of Capodimonte, Naples remained without a porcelain factory for twelve years up until Carlo di Borbone’s son king Ferdinando VI, came of age. Ferdinando decided to reopen the factory initially at Portico and later in 1773 in the Royal Palace itself. The Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea porcelain (distinguished by the letter “N” with blue crown) can be divided into three periods. The first period (1773-1780), saw an artistic direction led by Francesco Celebrano, artist and sculptor, under the administrative governing of Tommaso Perez. The second period (1780-1799) was a very happy period for the factory ferdinandea: the direction was given to Domenico Venuti, and chief modeller was handled by Filippo Tagliolini, from the Imperial Factory of Vienna. The last years (1800-1806) were conditioned by politics and the financial difficulties facing the monarchy of the time and the Realm.

In 1806, the Real Fabbrica finished permanently its activity but the numerous masters of the art and craftsmen were free to continue to exercise the art they had acquired. Throughout the 19th century the Naples ceramists organised in family groups continued to breath life into the large and small pieces including also small laboratory realisations. The most important families involved were the Del Echo, the Giustiniani, the Migliolo, the Mollica, the Colonnese, the Savastano and the Esposito. Since the 50’s up until today the laboratories have multiplied and in addition to the common use objects the ancient tradition has been adapted to artistic realisations of greats success such as great vases, services for the table, an ideal continuation in the tradition of the 17th century Real Fabbrica.