The Mouse Catchers MET DP169146 (cropped)

Giuseppe Gricci (''c'' 1700 - 1770) was an Italian sculptor. He was trained in his native

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

before moving to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in 1738, where he worked for the king before becoming the chief modeler at the Capodimonte porcelain manufactory when the king set it up in 1743. By 1755 he had five other modellers working for him, creating the moulds used for the pieces. When his employer became Charles III of Spain in 1759, he moved the whole Capodimonte factory, including Gricci, to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

the next year, setting it up as the

Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro (popularly called ''La China''; "Buen Retiro Porcelain Factory"; alternatively, Real Fábrica de Porcelana del Buen Retiro) was a porcelain manufacturing factory in Spain. It was located in Madrid's Parque del Buen Ret ...

. As well as many figure shapes, Gricci designed the Porcelain boudoir of Maria Amalia of Saxony, entirely made of porcelain panels in a ''

chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...

'' style, originally made for the

Palace of Portici The Royal Palace of Portici (''Reggia di Portici'' or ''Palazzo Reale di Portici''; nap, Reggia ‘e Puortece) is a former royal palace in Portici, Southeast of Naples along the coast, in the region of Campania, Italy. Today it is the home of t ...

(1757–59), but now moved to the

Capodimonte Palace The Royal Palace of Capodimonte ( it, Reggia di Capodimonte) is a large palazzo in Naples, Italy. It was formerly the summer residence and hunting lodge of the Bourbon kings of the Two Sicilies, one of the two royal palaces in Naples. Today, it ...

. The same team later made the rooms in Spain at the

Royal Palace of Aranjuez The Royal Palace of Aranjuez ( es, Palacio Real de Aranjuez) is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It is located in the town of Aranjuez (Madrid), Spain. Established in the 16th century as a royal hunting lodge, the pal ...

(1763–65) and the main ''Palacio real'' in Madrid (1770s).Battie, 104–105 Gricci died in Madrid.

Notes

References

* Battie, David, ed., ''Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain'', 1990, Conran Octopus. *Le Corbellier, Clare
''Eighteenth-century Italian porcelain''
1985,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, (fully available online as PDF) *Munger, Jeffrey, and Sullivan, Elizabeth, ''European Porcelain in The Metropolitan Museum of Art'', 2018, Metropolitan Museum of Art, , 9781588396433
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Sculptors from Florence Italian male sculptors Italian emigrants to Spain 1700s births 1770 deaths Italian potters {{Italy-sculptor-stub