ITALIAN MAJOLICA AND MEDICI PORCELAIN IN FELIPE II'S ROYAL COLLECTIONS

Among the most defining features of the figure of the true collector revolved around the individual who acquired works of art and sumptuary objects, as well as literary works and natural genres, among other forms, for his own taste and delight, according to his own criteria and convictions, regardless of official criticism and the formal and economic values of the artistic work. Analysing from this perspective, we can see how Felipe II, King of Spain since the abdication of his father Carlos V in 1556, brought together all the adjectives of the individual collector and became the first great collector of the Spanish Habsburgs. However, it will be the detailed study of the preserved inventories of the Spanish monarch where Felipe II's personal critical judgement is demonstrated through the objects collected of different kinds and provenance. In this study we will focus on the records of faience and porcelain from Italy, a set of pieces of outstanding artistic value that appear in the historical documentation of the 16th century and which have gone largely unnoticed in the history of art.