Compiling Decadence: The Stibbert Museum

Source: http://en.firenze-online.com/visit/informations-florence.php?id=139

Walking in to the Stibbert Museum, I had a very similar reaction to the one I had while touring Palazzo Vecchio.  The building, which was at one time the home of Frederick Stibbert and his family, is situated in a residential neighborhood, which quietly masks its vast size and historical collection.  

The museum, a respectable mansion in itself, is full, almost to the point of excess, with unique and historical items from around the world.  The building is said to host 36,000 artifacts - each one carefully cataloged and kept in place.  The rooms are organized by location and time period, and there are many life-like displays of armor and weaponry.  

 

Source: http://www.tripadvisor.it/Attraction_Review-g187895-d209475-Reviews-Museo_Stibbert-Florence_Tuscany.html

A few things stood out as I was touring the museum.  The first thing I noticed as we toured the museum was that the walls were particularly unusual.  We were told by our guide that many of the walls had been covered with ornately decorated leather.  While I have no personal qualms against the use of leather, I found the leather walls to be highly disturbing.  Perhaps it was the changing of the structure over time, but the walls greatly resembled large swatches of skin that had been stitched together, and then painted to appear more appealing.  I suppose that's exactly what they were from the beginning, but the change in appearance due to time lent them a distinctly nightmarish, Texas-Chainsaw-Massacre-esque quality that came off as more disturbing than decadent.  

Source: http://www.miragu.com/annunci/location/museo-stibbert-firenze/370

Along with the leather walls, the entire mansion was decorated in such a way that was at once overtly ornate and decadent, and mis-matched and without concrete direction.  Rooms ranged greatly in their concept and design, from leather walls to marble ceilings, from gilded ceilings to silk covered walls, and from relatively simple rooms to rooms made entirely of ceramic.  Throughout the house, though there was a clear and constant outpouring of money and lasciviousness, it was as if a child was attempting to purchase everything they had ever wanted without much thought about how things would fit together.  Perhaps this rather accurately reflects Stibbert himself, since he spent a lifetime "collecting" artifacts and living off of his sizable inheritance. 

Source: http://www.museostibbert.it/

Finally, the collection of mannequins dressed in Ferragamo fashions scattered about the museum gave the entire experience a surreal feel.  The juxtaposition of a modern decadence, the Ferragamo clothing, with the past impulse of historical collection spoke volumes about the nature of human desire and consumption, both past and present.