“Ars Est Amor” (2024)
By Francesca Niccacci (ca 1950 -)
45 x 8 cm, painted ceramic
Coppola Collection

Renaissance plate Ars Est Amor, hand painted by the painter Francesca Niccacci,

During the Italian Renaissance, display plates were given as engagement or wedding gifts. Sumptuously hand painted, they celebrated the ideals of beauty and virtue symbolized by the portrait of a Bella Donna, an elegant lady, or a handsome young man. The composition occasionally included a few words of wisdom painted in a ribbon or scroll and an elaborate border.

I commissioned a set of four of these stunning and unique black and white variants.

Francesca Niccacci is an internationally renowned ceramic artist living and working in Deruta, Italy. Her signature Renaissance-style portraits have a museum quality and have earned her awards and recognition. Unlike many established artists in Deruta, Francesca does not come from a family of ceramicists. She argues that a fresh start helped her choose her artistic path without constraints. After her degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, she became an art teacher. She did not stop studying, though, keen to research the influence of Italian Renaissance paintings on Deruta pottery and the styles and techniques that had made local ceramics famous worldwide.