Frilli Gallery Virtual Tour 2020

Hello, dear friends of the Frilli Gallery. Trust you're all doing fine. As you may imagine, as our beautiful Florence has, also the Frilli Gallery has been on a lockdown since the past month. Our marvelous rooms, filled with classic replicas of sculpture and contemporary works of art by young and talented emerging artists have remained empty and silent since then. The echo of my voice now is a proof of that. So, this is a very special day to me, as I am back in the Gallery after a while. My idea is that I would like to take you around on a virtual tour of the Frilli Gallery, pointing out to you the most iconic and representative sculptures in our collection and telling you a bit more about the story that is behind each of them. A little bit of a tour, like many of the famous museums around the world have been offering to their public in this forced quarantine period. Come with me. I believe the Florentine piglet is a good start. I'm sure most of you know about this sculpture. The exemplar that you see here is a cast in bronze taken from a mould on the original work. This is the incredible added value of the classic replicas that come from the Frilli Gallery. Many of these piglets have been sold and have been shipped throughout the world. Just to name a few, the exemplar that is inside the Butcher Gardens in Victoria, Canada, the one that is in front of the Sydney Women's Hospital in Australia and many, many other exemplars of bronze cast of the famous Florentine piglet have been shipped all over the world. The piece that you see here in my back, the Mercury by Giambologna, is probably one of the most famous and representative pieces of the Frilli Gallery. It came out from an idea of my grandfather, Aldo, who decided to enlarge his piece, which in reality is much smaller, in order to give to his clients a second option to the David by Michelangelo. This piece became incredibly famous when Michael Jackson, who came twice to the Frilli Gallery in the 1990s and who was a fond lover of classic works of art, bought two of these gigantic Mercury and placed them in his Neverland estate in California. This solid block of marble that you see here next to me is a faithful replica of the Restlers, a work of art conserved inside the Vizzi Gallery in Florence. This exemplar was carved out from one single block of marble. If you are a fan of Michael Jackson and you want to look it up on YouTube, there is a very famous interview he released to Oprah Winfrey inside his Neverland home estate. It is actually said to be one of the latest interviews he released with his space uncovered. You will clearly see in the bed the same gigantic block of marble which he purchased from the Frilli Gallery in the 1990s. Frilli Gallery is also a contemporary art gallery, hosting more than 20 different artists coming from all over the world, some more affirmed, some still emerging talents. We continuously attract artists to come and work in our laboratories, both at Marble Carving and Bronze Casting. Thanks to the creativity of these artists, Frilli Gallery is also able to work on a customized basis. With the signature of this incredible artist delivered on a personalized base to our clients, we take pride in carrying on with an expertise and craftsmanship for which our city, Florence, and the Frilli Gallery are famous all over the world. My dear friends, I would like to say goodbye to you all now. Through the positive vision of the heart-shaped pupils of the David by Michelangelo, here on my back. Since Frilli Gallery was first established in 1860, it has seen so many epic moments in history. It has survived an Italian independence war, two world wars, the Florentine Flood of 1966, and at least two gigantic economic crises. I am sure we will also survive the coronavirus, and we will be all back here again, stronger than before, ready to welcome you inside the Frilli Gallery. Take good care, guys. We just can't wait to be able to welcome you all again here in Florence and at the Frilli Gallery.