Page loading...

Ritorno a casa. Il cofano ritrova smalto

  • Event
  • 28 March 2024 - 1 January 2025
1200X800 NEW

Crowdfunding for Palazzo Madama

 

Today Palazzo Madama has a great opportunity:  to acquire  five Limoges enamels which originally decorated the back of the Guala Bicchieri coffer, a masterwork of our museum and of European Gothic. The five enamels  were probably removed from the casket during the XVIIIth century when it was kept in the abbey of Sant’Andrea in Vercelli (Piedmont).  From there, they  passed to a private collection in France and  then to an art gallery in Paris, where they are now on sale. To prevent these precious fragments being dispersed  anew, we would like to bring them back to  Piedmont,  and to reunite them with the coffer to which they belong.  

1200X800 NEW
Video teaser

The enamels

 

The five enamels, in gilded copper and champlevé enamel (blue, green and white), were originally fixed to the back of the Bicchieri coffer, which is today completely bare, and they occupied the spaces between the historiated medallions, which are also lost. Their acquisition will therefore make it possible to reposition them on our “treasure chest”, giving back to this artwork a part of its lost decoration.

A masterpiece in Palazzo Madama collection

 

The Palazzo Madama coffer is a unique object within medieval art: for the splendour of its enamels and of the lock, with hybrid creatures in chiseled copper – a piece which alone is judged one of the greatest masterpieces of XIIIth century goldsmith’s art; for the lavishness of its decoration: with the nine medallions of the front, in openwork copper, representing battling animals; and the eight medallions on the sides, with secular scenes  depicted with extreme naturalism. The distinctiviness of the cardinal’s casket comes also from the fact that there is only one other coffer in the world with similar dimensions and decoration – in Aachen cathedral –, and that is a piece of a later date, much restored in recent times.

 

Cardinal Guala Bicchieri

 

The coffer  is also of unique historical value  because its owner, Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (Vercelli ca. 1160 - Rome 1227), was one of the most influential politicians of his time. He  undertook crucial diplomatic missions in Italy and Europe on behalf of Pope Innocent III, who appointed him regent of England after the death of King John, a position he held between 1216 and 1218.

Moreover, the coffer was part of a rich collection - assembled by the Cardinal during his travels across Europe - which included 104 liturgical vestments, 80 works in gold, 8 works of l'Oeuvre de Limoges, 70 rings and 130 manuscripts, many of them illuminated. Surprisingly enough, ten artworks which belonged to that collection have survived and today are preserved in different institutions:  besides Palazzo Madama in Turin, at the Leone Museum in Vercelli, the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and the National Library in Turin. The richness of this collection and Guala Bicchieri's important commissions - the foundation of the abbey of Sant'Andrea in Vercelli in 1219 and the cycle of frescoes in the apse of the church of San Martino ai Monti in Rome - make the Cardinal one of a the small  number of ecclesiastics of the early thirteenth century who were both great art collectors and major patrons of important religious foundations.

Screenshot 2024-03-22 104051
Italian only - conference on Guala Bicchieri of historian Alessandro Barbero
lunette verceil fig 1 autre version
Lunette of the left portal of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea (around 1230): Cardinal Guala Bicchieri offers the model of the basilica to Sant'Andrea.

Make a donation and become part of the history of Palazzo Madama

 

For all these reasons, we ask you to join our project and help us bring the five enamels from Guala Bicchieri's coffer back to Italy, to the museum that preserves the masterpiece of his artistic collections.

We need to raise the sum of 50 thousand euros to purchase the five enamels and  restore them to the coffer.

Every contribution is important and thanks to your support you will become part of the thousand-year history of Palazzo Madama.

 

SFONDO NEUTRO

DONATE NOW

Having exceeded the 10 thousand euro mark, we have secured the first enamel, but there is still a long way to go! Help us bring the enamels home too!
ROADMAP TEMPLATE 3-3
May 16: WE HAVE COLLECTED € 12,825, YOU TOO HELP US!

Donors Rewards

 

If you want to support us in bringing the coffer enamels back to Palazzo Madama, you will be able to benefit from a series of rewards.

 

15 - 49 EUROS

  • Your name will appear on the digital donor wall.

50 - 99 EUROS

  • Your name will appear on the digital donor wall.
  • Your name will be published in the Palazzo Madama magazine.
  •  2 free tickets for the permanent collections by showing the donation receipt at the ticket office until 31 December 2024.

100 - 499 EUROS

  • Your name will appear on the digital donor wall.
  • Your name will be published in the Palazzo Madama magazine.
  • Annual pass for the permanent collections for two people, valid for 12 months from the date of issue.

500 - 999 EUROS

  • Your name will appear on the digital donor wall.
  • Your name will be published in the Palazzo Madama magazine.
  • Annual pass for the permanent collections for two people, valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
  • Guided tour during museum opening hours with curator Simonetta Castronovo.

1.000 EUROS AND MORE

  • Your name will appear on the digital donor wall.
  • Your name will be published in the Palazzo Madama magazine.
  • Your name will be engraved on the donor wall next to the coffer display in the museum.
  • Annual pass for the permanent collections for two people, valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
  • Exclusive guided tour with the Director of Palazzo Madama, prof. Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa.

Your donation is tax deductible

 

If you pay your taxes in Italy either as a private citizen or as an enterprise, your donation can benefit from the tax deduction provided by the Art Bonus, that allows a 65% tax credit over three years of the amount donated to Fondazione Torino Musei: therefore if you donate €100 , you will be given €65 in tax credit and your actual spending will be only €35.

 

 

For more information
GO TO PAGE

Find out more about this masterpiece and its history

 

A video gallery to reveal all the secrets of Guala Bicchieri's coffer and its enamels: after watching them you won't be able to help becoming  a passionate donor!

CoverVideoGuala

Cardinal Guala Bicchieri's coffer - Italian only

Curator Simonetta Castronovo gives us a complete explanation of this masterpiece.

GUALA BICCHIERI – VILLA copia

Director's message - Italian only

Every contribution is important and thanks to your support you will become part of the thousand-year history of Palazzo Madama.

GUALA BICCHIERI – CHIMICO copia

The chemical analysis of the enamels - Italian only

The chemist Angelo Agostino was in Paris on behalf of the museum to verify that the chemical composition of the enamels is the same as that of the decorations on Guala Bicchieri's coffer in the museum.

Donor Wall

 

Our most sincere gratitude to all the donors who are helping Palazzo Madama bringing the enamels home.

BT240107_005_ARM__RVB Hdef – orizzontale

DONOR WALL

Thank you!