The wedding banquet of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV of France

Artist

Pieter Nolpe

Year (Circa)

1638

About

Huwelijk van koning Hendrik IV van Frankrijk met Maria de' Medici, Pieter Nolpe, 1638

Johannes de doper of wildman (aka green man)?

BOOK: Le Tre Trattai, Mattia Giegher, 1639. Publisher: Paolo Frambotto, Padua. Engraving (14.6 x 20.8 x 1.7 cm)

SWEET TRIUMPHS AND FINE FOLDS. SUGAR SCULPTURES AND NAPKINS FOR THE FLORENTINE WEDDING OF MARIA DE' MEDICI

CATALOGUE EXPO 2015

The exhibition as well as the catalogue take us back to the banquet held in the Palazzo Vecchio on the evening of 5 October 1600 for the Florentine wedding of Maria de' Medici to Henry IV of France. On this event, fundamental for the outcome of music and modern dramaturgy, we are also aware of the arrangements designed by Bernardo Buontalentifor the royal table and for those of the guests. Archive documentation has highlighted the pivotal role of sugar sculptures, 'decorative foodstuffs' conceived as true works of art, modelled on illustrious contemporary prototypes due to the great Florentine sculptors of the late 16th century such as Giambologna, Pietro Tacca and Gasparo Mola.

Curated by by: Giovanna Giusti, Riccardo Spinelli

BOOK (€18,00) —>

DOLCI TRIONFI E FINISSIME PIEGATURE. SCULTURE IN ZUCCHERO E TOVAGLIOLI PER LE NOZZE FIORENTINE DI MARIA DE' MEDICI - Le Gallerie degli Uffizi Shop

Michelagnolo Buonarroti il Giovane, Descrizione delle felicissime nozze della cristianissima maestà di madama Maria Medici regina di Francia e di Nauarra, In Firenze : appresso Giorgio Marescotti, 1600.

The details of the banquet have come down to us today thanks, in particular, to Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, who was commissioned to draw up a 'Description’ according to custom: it shows all the arrangements designed by the architect-sculptor Bernardo Buontalenti for the royal table and by Jacopo Ligozzi, author of a gigantic sideboard covered in precious metal in the shape of a lily, as well as the equipment, characterised, among other things, by the presence of sugar statues by Giambologna and the virtuoso folding of starched linen napkins.
THE BOOK: available online

Descrizzione de la felicissima entrata del serenis. D. Ferdinando de'Medici, Cardinale, Gran Duca di Toscana, nella citt di Pisa. Con tutti gli architrionfali, portoni, apparati, imprese, e motti, con le loro interpretazioni, etc - Google Play

“After the fruit puffy clouds fell from the ceiling with Juno and Minerva, and as they cleared the tables were transformed directly into others of mirrors and crystal, which in turn transformed into thickets with paths, hedges, and fountains, statues of nymphs and young shepherd girls decorated with flowers and fruit.”

source

LINK Vocabolario degli Accademici

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