Vintage 1960s Piero Fornasetti Church Dome Porcelain Plate, Cupole d'Italia, #6, "S. Maria della Salute a Venezia"

Vintage 1960s Piero Fornasetti Church Dome Porcelain Plate.
Cupole d'Italia.
#6,  "S. Maria della Salute a Venezia".

Each plate in the series has a different dome of an Italian church-named and numbered on the reverse, seen from the inside.

These plates were designed and executed for building contractor Andrea Brenta, Milan, as Christmas presents. One of each was given every year to clients and friends of the contractor.

The reverse with descriptive text in Italian about the church.

Dimensions: 9 1/4 inches x 1 inch high.

Reference: Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams, Patrick Mauries, Page 118-119, where it is mentioned that seventeen plates were originally made.

Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, Page 614, #162 for six plates in this design.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_della_Salute)

Santa Maria della Salute (English: Saint Mary of Health), commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.

It stands on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, at the Bacino di San Marco, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called plague churches.

In 1630, Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health. The church was designed in the then fashionable Baroque style by Baldassare Longhena, who studied under the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death.

The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists such as Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and the Venetian artist Francesco Guardi.

(Ref: NY9929-ink)

Dimensions

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Condition report

Stock number