An important micromosaic panel "Veduta delle cascate a Tivoli"
Coloured glass micromosaic mounted with mastic on support. H 43, W 35 cm. In a painted and gilded softwood frame with iron back panel, H 53.5, W 46 cm.
Attributed to Giacomo Raffaelli, Milan or Rome, first quarter 19th C.
This panel, which is framed by a fine black border with a golden meander in micromosaic, may have been inspired by a motif by Jakob Philipp Hackert.
Giacomo Raffaelli (1753 - 1836) is considered the inventor of the micromosaic technique and was its most famous exponent. It is assumed that he came from a family that produced enamel paints for the mosaic workshops of the Vatican. Napoleon ordered him to Milan to run a mosaic workshop in 1804. During this time he created some famous mosaics, such as a copy of Leonardo's Last Supper of the same dimensions. Raffaelli moved back to Rome between 1817 and 1820, where he died in 1836 in a house built by Giuseppe Valadier at 92 via Babuino.
Raffaelli produced micromosaics for the courts of Saxony, St. Petersburg, the Polish court under Stanislaw II August and for Eugène de Beauharnais. Hanisee Gabriel lists several views of Tivoli from his studio, the earliest dating from 1800.
Literature
Cf. Hanisee Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection. Micromosaics, London 2000, cat. no. 47.
On Giacomo Raffaelli, see ibid. p. 288 f.
Cf. another panel by Giacomo Raffaeli with the Temple of the Sibyl in the Tivoli Gardens in the collection of the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.