Giovanni Ronzan Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Giovanni Ronzan, founder of the business, was born on 24.9.1906, in a small town in the Vicenza area, Le Nove di Bassano del Grappa, cradle of Venetian ceramics and, following the death of his father during the First World War, he became very soon head of the family of two more brothers and three sisters.

He began working at a very young age at the Bonato ceramics company in Bassano and, after having attended professional sculpture courses at the Technical Institute of Nove, he went to Milan, where he began working as a ceramist at the Fabris porcelain factory.

At the end of the 1920s, Mrs. Elena Konig in Scavini, founder of the Lenci company, looked for expert ceramists to boost her famous cloth doll factory and tackle the production of ceramic objects; Giovanni was contacted and moved to Turin where he was hired on 31.1.1930 with the qualification of painter.

Here Giovanni has the opportunity to meet the numerous artists that Mrs. Read the full biography

Giovanni Ronzan Biography

Giovanni Ronzan, founder of the business, was born on 24.9.1906, in a small town in the Vicenza area, Le Nove di Bassano del Grappa, cradle of Venetian ceramics and, following the death of his father during the First World War, he became very soon head of the family of two more brothers and three sisters.

He began working at a very young age at the Bonato ceramics company in Bassano and, after having attended professional sculpture courses at the Technical Institute of Nove, he went to Milan, where he began working as a ceramist at the Fabris porcelain factory.

At the end of the 1920s, Mrs. Elena Konig in Scavini, founder of the Lenci company, looked for expert ceramists to boost her famous cloth doll factory and tackle the production of ceramic objects; Giovanni was contacted and moved to Turin where he was hired on 31.1.1930 with the qualification of painter.

Here Giovanni has the opportunity to meet the numerous artists that Mrs. Scavini, with great intelligence and sensitivity, involves in the planning and creation of her well-known masterpieces; he was soon appointed chief painter and, under the control of the artists themselves, was responsible for transferring the drawings and colors they designed into production.

Giovanni therefore has the opportunity to meet and hang out with people like Chessa, Tosalli, Sturani, Berzoini etc. which directly contribute to the growth of his sensitivity and artistic ability.

Attendance at evening courses at the Albertina Academy in Turin (under the direction of professors Rubino and Cibrario) and an innate gift enable him to personally create some models which, as was the generous style of Mrs. Scavini, can be signed by him (with a little black flower placed next to the Lenci brand); for further details see the book The beauty of Lenci by Alfonso Panzetta, published by Umberto Allemandi & C. on page. 389.

In the meantime he was able to have his brother Giuseppe join him in Turin in September 1932, his sister Tina in August 1935 and his brother Antonio in January 1937, having them all hired by the Lenci company.

Having married in 1933, in May 1939 he set up his own business (like many other "secessionists" of the Lenci company) and founded the first Ronzan ceramics company, with the laboratory in via Villarbasse 29 in Turin.

His brother Giuseppe and a mutual friend, Cecchetto Giovanni Battista, also from Nove Vicentino, subsequently participate in the initiative and the roles are divided as follows: the artistic part, as creator and sculptor of the models, is the exclusive responsibility of Giovanni as is the final touch-up and setting of the painting; his brother Giuseppe follows the operational part of ceramist and trainer; Cecchetto takes care of the administration, the commercial aspects and, in particular, takes care of the supply of the ceramic body, produced expressly for them by the Cecchetto di Nove company.

Some collaborators were soon hired, including sister Tina herself, as a painter, and brother Antonio, as a trainer.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the brothers Giuseppe and Antonio, as well as their friend and partner Cecchetto, had to leave for military service, leaving Giovanni alone with the burden of continuing the artisan activity.

As the war situation worsened, with increasingly frequent bombings on the city, at the end of 1942 Giovanni Ronzan managed, with a wagon fortunately obtained from the Gondrand transport company, to transfer the equipment and models to Bassano del Grappa where he could continue his business in calmer conditions.

The first location is next to the famous Alpini bridge with bright windows overlooking the Brenta river (when the bridge collapsed in 1944 as a result of a partisan attack, miraculously not even a piece of ceramic broke).

Here, Giovanni Ronzan is joined by his brother Giuseppe, who in the meantime has been discharged for health reasons, and by his partner Cecchetto.

At the end of the war he resumed his production activity in full and the laboratory was transferred to more suitable premises located in via dell'Angelo, also in Bassano, where his brother Antonio also arrived, having been discharged in the meantime; he is placed in the company as an employee with the role of trainer and retoucher.

Having kept the company's registered office in Turin, in 1949 Giovanni Ronzan intended to return to the original headquarters and, since the other two partners did not intend to follow him, he left the company and returned to Turin.

Therefore, from this year two Ronzan ceramic companies begin to exist simultaneously:

- one, renamed Ceramiche Originali di Giovanni Ronzan, based in Turin, Via Guido Reni 80/17 (now Corso Allamano 19)

- the other, called Ceramiche Ronzan e Cecchetto, in Bassano del Grappa, later changed to Ronzan e Figlio.

The models, all created by Giovanni and now reaching a considerable number of around 200 profane and religious subjects, are by mutual agreement separated by drawing lots; in this way both companies are guaranteed to continue their business with a sufficient number of models.

In Turin Giovanni increasingly develops the number of models, with particular orientation towards religious articles and signs the objects "Originale GiovRonzan, Turin", in order to distinguish himself from the production of his brother Giuseppe, who remained in Bassano.

To accelerate the development of the company, in 1955 Giovanni purchased the models and equipment from the Berard company in Milan, specialized in animals and figures; all the models thus acquired are profoundly reflected in the sculptural details and color choices, to bring them back to the style of the original models of the artist Giovanni.

Continuing with the work of expanding the models offered to customers, in 1957 Giovanni purchased the models from the Keramos company of Destefanis, operating in Turin until that year; these models, essentially represented by little angels and Madonnas, are also gradually taken up by Giovanni in the details of the retouching and in the choice of colors and included in his catalogue.

For health reasons, Giovanni retired from the business in 1968 and handed over the company, with all the models he made, to his brother Antonio; To take over from him, the latter moved to Turin from Bassano, where he worked as a ceramist.

Since 1968 Giovanni Ronzan has therefore stopped producing; from that year he moved to his homeland in Bassano where he dedicated himself to the creation of some models for his brother Giuseppe and, for his own satisfaction, to sculpture and oil painting until his death in January 1974.

In 1980, his brother Giuseppe, who had continued the business in Bassano alone, died, leaving the company to his son Renato; Renato continued the business until 1996, the year in which the Bassano company also stopped producing.

In 2001 the company located in Turin also stopped its activity and, also following the death of Pietro Ronzan, the original models were dispersed.