Stibbert Museum in Florence: knights at arm's length
Knight's Hall at the Stibbert Museum. One of the riders of his cavalcade ...
A rich city was at my feet, a powerful state was in my power, the cellars of a treasury full of gold and silver, precious stones were opened to me alone. I took only 200 thousand pounds. Gentlemen, so far I have not ceased to wonder at my own modesty.
Robert Clive. (It was said by Clive before the court of the English Parliament in 1774 when Clive was accused of huge abuses as the governor of Bengal. Specifically, here is an episode of the capture and plunder of the English by Murshidabad after the victory at Plessis in 1757. The court sentenced Clive to death, but at the same time offered to put Clive to death a monument to him for "the great and worthy services rendered to the British crown!")
Robert Clive. (It was said by Clive before the court of the English Parliament in 1774 when Clive was accused of huge abuses as the governor of Bengal. Specifically, here is an episode of the capture and plunder of the English by Murshidabad after the victory at Plessis in 1757. The court sentenced Clive to death, but at the same time offered to put Clive to death a monument to him for "the great and worthy services rendered to the British crown!")
Museums of the world. Now, when traveling abroad is complicated by quarantine measures of different countries, we are involuntarily staying at home, but this does not mean that we do not have access to someone else's information space. Still, the information society has its advantages: without leaving home, we can look today at a variety of museums in the world. And each of them is interesting and unique in its own way, but some are more interesting than others. And today we’ll tell you about one such museum. This is the Stibbert Museum in Florence!
View of the museum building from the park
Grandfather Governor General!
There is Montugi Hill in Florence, and it’s precisely on this hill that the Stibbert Museum is located. It has over 36000 inventory numbers (about fifty thousand items), most of which are exhibited in its halls. And many of them are truly unique. Well, he got his name by the name of its creator Frederick Stibbert (1838-1906), whose grandfather, Gilles Stibbert, became rich, being the commander in chief of the troops of the British East India Company, which operated in Bengal at the end of the XNUMXth century, and then for many years was there the governor general. As the rich officers who were in the service of the English officers, it is well described in Wilkie Collins’s novel "The Moonstone." The fate of Sir Robert Clive, also a Bengal governor, is indicative in this case. However, Stibbert’s grandfather was lucky in every way. He put together wealth and remained alive.
The creator of the museum, Frederick Stibbert, loved to show off in knightly armor. Yes, and why be surprised? There were so many of them!
Pure british eccentricity
The wealth of his grandfather passed to the father of Frederick Thomas, who was a true British in every way, although not without eccentricity: he rose to the rank of colonel of the elite regiment of the Cold Stream Horse Guards, but after the Napoleonic company he decided to first settle in Rome, and then in Florence, and even married Italian Tuscan Julia Kafaji. However, here he was in his full right, and no one condemned him for this. A man of noble blood, and even with money, married a beautiful Italian. Yes, you could only dream about it! As a British citizen, he was educated at Cambridge, but he was extremely intolerant of the strict rules prevailing in college. But he loved Italy sincerely, and was especially attached to the Florentine house of Montugi, which was bought by his mother and became their family home.
Happiness is not in money, but in their quantity!
Young Stibbert inherited all the fabulous wealth of his family already in 1859, and since then has only been doing what he spent on his passion, and very expensive: he collected antiques and art. But you can’t say that all this time he lived in an ivory tower. In 1866, he volunteered to join the Garibaldi militia and took part in the Trentino campaign, for which he was awarded the silver medal for valor. However, this was his only contribution to the military traditions of his family.
He also sniffed gunpowder ...
Want a collection of artifacts? Go to Tuscany!
I must say that in the XIX century Tuscany was distinguished by an incredibly cheap life, and ownerless and completely useless works of art came across at almost every step. Tourists who came here poured pieces of marble from ancient columns, and scratched their names on the legendary walls. Florence at that time was considered a real paradise for collectors, since there were a lot of impoverished nobles, and its representatives were glad, very glad to part with their "antiquities" as soon as possible, especially for good money. It was in this way that not only the Stibbert Museum appeared here, but also the Horpe Museum.
We walk through the halls of the museum and see what is interesting there. Of course, let's start with the Riders Hall. However, the hall is small. And this chamberness and saturation with exhibits are most striking!
Come closer ... Impressive, isn't it?
Even closer. Ah, what a gorgeous corrugated plate, right?
Frederic’s collection was based on his grandfather’s trophies, which he obtained in India and became the basis of the museum’s Indian collection. They became the fruit of the initial assembly, which, already supplemented by Stibbert, was preserved after his death, and not only preserved, but also significantly increased due to the gifts made to the museum and the subsequent purchases made by it. The fact is that before he died, Stibbert bequeathed the house and all its contents to the Museum of Florence. And since 1906, the inhabitants of Florence were able to use it historical and cultural heritage. Well, it’s clear that the museum’s income allowed it to acquire interesting artifacts. By the way, Frederick himself, having acquired the collection of his grandfather, then recovered to travel to Europe and the countries of the East, and wherever he could buy weapon, armor, paintings, clothing and porcelain.
But this aspect of them is especially good! The presence of plate mittens, not gloves, indicates that this armor appeared no earlier than 1520, that is, when the “Maximilian armor” entered the water. Because this year in Italy they began to refuse them. But these are the armor of Italian work, of rounded, “soft” outlines. Incidentally, even the shells of the leg plates are made corrugated. Well, horse armor just as vividly shows what the most afraid of armor-plating armored horses: arrows, plummeting from above. Hence the plate on the withers from above and only chain mail on the neck and chest. Openwork muzzle and “sword with a ring” at the crosshairs - again, the beginning of the XVI century
How much can a man with big money do!
He placed all this in his mother’s villa, and when her premises were already in short supply, he invited the architect Giuseppe Poggi, the artist Gaetano Bianchi and the sculptor Passaggia to complete the building and design all the rooms of the museum in the same style. In total, today it has 60 rooms in which the collections of Stibbert, collected by him around the world, are exhibited. Many walls are covered with tapestries, upholstered in leather, decorated with paintings, which, however, are relatively few. Collections of porcelain, furniture, Etruscan artifacts, Tuscan crucifixes and the military uniform of the Napoleonic army are of much greater value. Most of all, Stibbert’s collection of weapons and armor contains 16 items. I just can’t believe that all this (almost everything) was collected by the work of just one person, and not just collected, but cataloged, described and turned into museum exhibits!
This knight is on the opposite side, and he will need to be “rewound” in time in the 1500th century, but its very end. The classic armor of the transition from the "round" armor to the "Maximilian", and this is XNUMX! But the most interesting thing on this equestrian figure is a blanket! It is, as it should be, a coat of arms, with the croup and neck framed as emblems, and we see two other emblems on both sides of it below. The emblem depicts green squirrel fur on a golden field, a scarlet "belt" and on it are three golden bezanth. It’s a very interesting coat of arms, and it certainly belonged to someone ...
The Hall of the Riders: Knights at arm's length
The most amazing thing about the museum’s exposition is the “Horsemen’s Hall” - a large room with statues of horse knights and 14 statues of soldiers in full armor. Moreover, and this is very important for museum visitors, they are not placed behind glass, not in cabinets, like similar figures of horsemen in the Paris Army Museum, but literally at arm's length. That is, you can go past them, inspect both the front and the back, photograph small parts of armor, often of great interest, from close range. Stibbert did not like this arrangement of armor, and he preferred to arrange spectacular installations from them. Most of them are dressed in armor of the XNUMXth century, and among them there are both armor of mass, "serial production" and truly unique pieces.
But these are no longer knights. That is, the “knights” in armor, and maybe even of origin, but they belonged to a completely different cavalry. Plate gloves with individual fingers - this is already 1530, that is, in front of us is a lance-spearman or their commander. And behind him with a scarlet bandage over his shoulder - this, of course, is a cuirassier
Close-up hand and perfectly crafted arme helmet
Another helmet of this type in 1590. Made in France. Please note that with all its utilitarianism, this helmet is exquisitely trimmed. That is, we have a piece of work to order, which was very, very expensive!
Grotesque helmet. Such helmets appeared around 1510.
All weapons of Europe
Stibbert himself created this part of the collection from beginning to end, and he worked on it during his career as a collector from 1860 until the end of the century. It presents many examples of both cold and firearms dating back to the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, as well as individual artifacts of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, and a number of archaeological finds. The weapons and armor of the XNUMXth century were made by Italian, German and French masters. Among them are both combat and tournament armor.
Among those "guys" that stand, there are also very rare specimens. How do you like these armor, for example, with coinage under the scales? Why was there such a thing? But they did the same ...
The sword here is enough for a whole company of musketeers!
The Turks sold it, and Stibbert bought it!
Two museum halls are reserved for the collection of Islamic weapons, the homeland of which is the Muslim Near and Middle East. Stibbert certainly inherited some artifacts from his grandfather, but at the end of the century he bought a significant part of the collection in the arsenal of St. Irina in Istanbul, which was disbanded, and the weapons stored there went on sale.
Already East! Turkish sipah cavalry armor ...
XVI century Turkish helmet
Turkish, Persian, and Indian sabers and broadswords ...
Eastern cavalcade
One of the best Japanese collections!
The museum has three halls for weapons and armor in Japan, and at first it was planned that a collection of European weapons and armor would be exhibited there. However, around 1880, Stibbert became interested in the weapons of Japan, which became available after its integration into the world community, which followed after the events of 1868. It is noted that this collection is today one of the most significant collections among all those that are outside of Japan.
Samurai Armor
There are 95 sets of complete samurai weapons, 200 helmets, as well as 285 other artifacts, more than a hundred long and short swords and various pole arms. Here you can see 880 tsub (guards hilt) and many other attributes of samurai exceptionally fine dressing. Almost all objects belong to the intermediate time between the periods of Momoyama and Edo (1568–1868), but there are also very ancient ones dating back to the XIV century.
There are 95 sets in the museum! Samurai armor, as you see, behind the glass. This is because their preservation is a very difficult matter. The silk cords connecting the shell plates eat a moth. Therefore, you have to keep them in such carefully closed windows
Canvases as illustrations
A feature of the paintings in the art gallery of the Stibbert Museum is a multitude of portraits of various historical characters in costumes of the era between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. Moreover, many of them are valuable precisely because they are reproduced in the most detailed way, both civilian and military costumes of those years, which turns them into beautiful picturesque additions to the corresponding collections of artifacts.
Their helmets. And not simple, but officer and, therefore, very expensive!
Their swords ...
Among them there are very interesting paintings such as Madonna by A. Allori, several portraits of the Medici family, two paintings by Peter Brueghel the Younger, as well as a series of still lifes exhibited in the dining room of the villa, where two large canvases by Luke Giordano hang.
At one time, the “Madonna” by Sandro Botticelli, the “Two Saints” by the Venetian Carlo Crivelli, the painting “Madonna and Child” by the maestro from Verrocchio and a beautifully executed portrait of Francesco de Medici, attributed to Agnolo Bronzino, were kept here. But then they got to other museums.
Here they were in the era of Momoyama and Edo. As you can see, you can approach almost everyone here! But you also have to carefully monitor this exposure!
Services from the marquise
Porcelain in the Stibbert collection is truly royal. It contains products of the XIX century and the collection of Miracles, transferred to the museum in 1914. It contains old artifacts produced by various porcelain manufactories, and its decoration: beautiful three large and very rich sets from Ginori 1750 release. They are interesting for their history. After all, this production was founded by the Marquis Carlo Andrea Ginori, who launched the “Doxy Manufactory” in Doxy, in the villa of a family estate, back in 1735!
Faces look very impressive
"Palm-based outfit"
There is a room in the Stibbert collection, which is called the "Small Costume of Italy." His exhibits are periodically replaced, but the main thing in her is that she is very rich - this is a rich collection of clothes not only in Europe, but also in the Near, Middle and Far East. Moreover, Indian clothes are also located in the hall, where Indian weapons and armor are exhibited, and clothes from Japan, China and Korea are next to the armor of samurai and Chinese and Korean warriors.
The final person in the clothing collection was none other than Napoleon I, but all because Stebbert had a lively interest in his personality. And he eventually spilled into a whole room, so many interesting artifacts related to this great man, he managed to collect.
And in the museum you can buy large-scale figures of knights, including those presented in its exposition. Although they are very expensive!
First of all, there is an outfit that the emperor put on on the occasion of the coronation, ascending the throne of the kingdom. It combined green color (a color symbolizing Italy) with embroidery with motifs of palm trees, ears, bees and the letter “N” - a large emblem of a small Corsican.
The interiors of the living rooms of Frederick Stibbert are also not inferior in their wealth to the museum collection
After walking around the museum, you can then go to the park
The museum building is really surrounded by a beautiful park created by the architect Giuseppe Poggi. As was customary in English parks, it has small temples, mysterious shady grottoes and picturesque fountains.
Egyptian temple in a lake park
The park has a building of a limonaria by the same architect in the neoclassical style, where lemons and various rare plants were grown. There is a Hellenistic-style temple and an Egyptian temple that fully meets the tastes of the Egyptian (built by Stibbert between 1862 and 1864), as well as a stable, reconstructed in 1858 at the request of Stibbert and his mother, who were also fond of expensive horses! And that’s all, Stibbert donated it to the city of Florence as a public museum! And after that there are still people who dare to say that wealth is bad, and poverty is good. Even many thousands of loaders and workers, working around the clock, could not create such a museum. And Stibbert was able and eventually gave it to all of us!
PS There is also a cafe and a bookstore in the museum. And admission is only 8 euros!
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