Italian mosaics - introduction

The Gilbert Collection celebrates two types of Italian mosaic; pietre dure (literally hard stones) developed in Renaissance Florence and enamel micromosaics made in Rome.

Pietre Dure
A form of mosaic where brilliant pictures are created from cut and polished marbles and minerals, pietre dure became much sought after all over Europe. By skilfully selecting, cutting and polishing many rare and naturally beautiful types of minerals and semi-precious stones, such as agate, amethyst, jasper and lapis lazuli, these works are appealing as much for their materials as for their design.

Visitors to Italy would often purchase decorative pietre dure panels to be incorporated into furniture such as cabinets or tables on their return home. As well as being used to embellish large objects and interiors, pietre dure was also applied to smaller items like snuff boxes and jewellery. The Gilbert Collection has the full range of designs that characterised the art - bird and floral motifs, still-life, landscapes and genre scenes.

Micromosaics
Originally chosen to decorate the inside of St Peter's Rome because of the hard wearing nature of their materials, micromosaics were later used to embellish many luxury items as well. By 1810, there were 20 private workshops in Rome producing objects decorated with micromosaics and, like pietre dure, these were eagerly purchased by wealthy tourists.

Micromosaics are made from thousands of tiny coloured enamel rods (called tesserae), painstakingly assembled and secured with a slow drying adhesive - some contain over 5,000 of these tesserae per square inch. The final stages of the process involved waxing and polishing to create the seamless surface characteristic of the art. The Gilbert Collection's 200 micromosaics form an encyclopaedic display of this rare and curious art form, from the 16th to the 20th centuries. It includes vases, snuffboxes and tables, as well as copies of Old Master paintings and panoramic views of Rome.

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The information about pietre dure is drawn largely from The Gilbert Collection Hardstones by Anna Maria Massinelli, with contributions by Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel. It is published by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., London, ISBN 0-85667-510-5. Copyright ©2000 the Gilbert Collection. All rights reserved.

The information about micromosaics is drawn largely from The Gilbert Collection Micromosaics by Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel, with contributions by Anna Maria Massinelli, Judy Rudoe and Massimo Alfieri. As above, it is published by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., London, ISBN 0-85667-5113. Copyright ©2000 the Gilbert Collection. All rights reserved.