Lot 171
  • 171

Cavaliere Michelangelo Barberi An impressive micromosaic capriccio plaque Rome, 1869

Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Cavaliere Michelangelo Barberi
  • micromosaic
  • the oval plaque: height 18 in., width 27 1/8 in.; the frame: height 25 in., width 34 in.
  • 47.7 cm, 69 cm; 63.5 cm, 86.5 cm
within its original gilt-bronze frame, the central oval plaque capriccio of Rome with Romulus and Remus before a statue of Roma, the goddess personifying Rome, flanked by reclining river deities in the foreground and a view of the Coliseum and St. Peter's Basilica in the background, the frame with four micromosaic profiles of figures representing the four epochs of Italian History: Numa Pompeii for Ancient Rome; Scipio Africanus for the Republic; Caesar Augustus for the Empire, and Pope Pius IX, the then current pope.

Literature

Alcuni Musaici usciti dallo Studio del Ca.r. Michel'Angelo Barberi, Barberi, Tipografia Tiberna, Rome, 1856

Efimova, E. M., "Stoleshnisty raboty Michelangelo Barberi", Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha, 1961, Leningrad, Vol. VI.

Efimova, E. M., West European Mosaics of the 13th-19th Centuries in the Collection of the Hermitage, Sovietsky Khudoshnik, Leningrad, 1968

 

Sotheby's is grateful to Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel for the attribution to Michelangelo Barberi and for the compilation of the scholar footnote. 

Condition

The gilt-bronze and gilt-metal frame with pitting due to oxidation, extensive wear and dirt; however, the gilt-bronze frame appears to retain it's original gilding and could be professionally cleaned; the four micromosaic medals in good original condition; the oval large oval micromosaic plaque set within a cast-iron backing; when removed from fame, top left side edge with small losses to the tessarae; the plaque in good original condition, with infilled dirt to sky, arched hairline crack to the center of the plaque with minor old inpainting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Michelangelo Barberi (1787-1867) was the premier artist of micromosaics during the peak of the art form in nineteenth-century Europe. In an era when great artists were revered and mosaicists were typically considered nameless craftsmen, Michaelangelo Barberi took the art of mosaics to a new level. He gained international recognition and fame for the originality of his compositions and  his masterful execution of micromosaics. His genius was in his ability to translate small pieces of individually shaped, colored tesserae into the appearance of brush strokes in astonishing pictorial masterpieces.

Perhaps a clue to Barberi's unique talent comes from being the son of a successful architect who had close associations with G. B. Piranesi (1720-78) . Barberi grew up surrounded by his father's associates in many fields of art. Two of his brothers were painters. During the French invasion of Italy, the family moved to Paris where they lived with the Piranesi family, and his father collaborated with them in their business of making and selling prints (Gabriel, p 282). It is obvious that some in his youth Barberi received  formal or informal art training as his mastery of composition and drawing is evident in his designs. Barberi and his family returned to Rome around 1800 when he would have been thirteen. His history in this period is vague, but at some point he was apprenticed with the master mosaicist Cesare Aguatti of the Vatican Mosaic Workshop, where we believe Barberi to have been working around 1820. While the subject matter of mosaics produced at the Vatican was almost exclusively religious, Barberi's mosaics reflected the ideals of the Neoclassical movement, emphasizing secular designs based on antiquity and classical literature. His compositions are filled with a classical repertoire of elements such as trophies, wreaths, medallions, imperial eagles, portrait medallions and mythological subjects.

In 1823, still early in his career, Barberi completed what is probably his most famous work: a tabletop called Trionfo d'Amore, or Triumph of Love, based on a description in Petrarch's literary work of the same title (Gabriel, p. 274). Perhaps with commercial forethought, Barberi utilized the design of F. A. Bruni (1801-1878), a Russian art student in Rome. The circular composition depicts Cupid driving a chariot pulled by four white horses. Around the border of Barberi's table are symbols of the planets and stars, allegorical attributes of ancient deities, and representations of the human qualities they govern. Art connoisseurs of the day loved the intellectual challenge provided by this smorgasbord of allusions and metaphors. The micromosaic tabletop received honors in an art exposition, was praised by the Pope, and gained Barberi immediate fame. Like other Barberi works, it has been widely copied. The original was purchased by Tsar Nicholas I (1825-1855) and was delivered to him in Russia by Barberi in 1827. This began Barberi's lifelong association with the Russian royal family, the Romanovs. In 1847, Nicholas I asked Barberi to establish a Russian School of Mosaics along the lines of the Mosaic Workshop at the Vatican. Several Russian artists traveled to Rome and studied under Barberi at his workshop at 148 Via Rasella. Barberi's pupil Bruni eventually became Director of the Russian Academy of Beaux-Arts and head of the Mosaic School at St. Petersburg.

What characteristics of this mosaic picture suggest that it is by Barberi? The unusual and exotic trees and the flora below them correspond exactly to those located at about five o'clock in Barberi's table, Flora of Two Sicilies (Gabriel, No. 32, p 86-87). The large and umbrella-like tree in the center and the palm tree on the right are distinctive creations of Barberi. On either side of Romulus and Remus in this picture are bulbous cacti and another plant with large, broad pointed leaves which also exactly correspond to those in the Flora of Two Sicilies. This unusual table was made on the instructions of Nicholas I to document his Sicilian travels. On the table border are listed the names of the trees, plants and flowers illustrated. The palm tree and the plants appear to be in either Palermo or Tindari. This elaborate design can be seen in Barberi's book of 1856, Some Mosaics from the Studio of Cavalier Michel'Angelo Barberi.

A second reason this lot is attributable to Barberi is its design, a divided oval with the Coliseum on the left and St. Peter's Plaza on the right. This is a device used repeatedly by Barberi. It originated in a tabletop designed at the instructions of the Portugese diplomat, the Duke of Palmella, as a remembrance of Rome. The table has a central oval depiction of the two monuments separated by a fountain and surrounded by foliage (Barberi, 1856, unpaginated). Interestingly, a small table and an oval picture in the Gilbert Collection, currently housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, by Barberi depict the same composition as the Palmella table (Gabriel Nos 33-34).

No other version by Barberi of this mosaic is known to exist. However, a large mosaic copy of this picture by another artist has been published. Its stiff figures and lack of technical quality clearly indicate that it is not by Barberi's hand. (Greico, Roberto and Arianna Gambino, Roman Mosaic, Italy, De Agostini Rizolli Arte & Cultura, 2001, ill. p. 154)

Lastly, the picture frame of this lot contains four roundels or medallions with profiles of figures representing the four epochs of Italian History: Numa Pompeii for Ancient Rome; Scipio Africanus for the Republic; Caesar Augustus for the Empire, and Pope Pius IX, the then current pope . It is a trademark of Barberi to use these three historic figures plus the contemporary pope to indicate it was made during his reign. This unique method of dating a work by the Pope illustrated can be found in these other works by Barberi: The Hermitage's Beautiful Sky of Italy shows Pius IX, The Gilbert's Chronological Rome shows Gregory XVI, and the Gilbert's Beautiful Sky of Italy shows Gregory XVI.

Barberi's mosaic medallions on the frame shows Pope Pius IX's at the twenty third year of his Papacy which is the year 1869. One might ask how Barberi could have made this work if he died in August 1867? The answer is very simple. Projects such as this capriccio plaque took years to make. The mosaic would have been planned and executed long before Barberi's death. A jounalist in nineteenth-century Rome reports that an oridnary mosaic "takes about seven or eight years to finish," and that the work on mosaics "seems to progress in that creeping indolent manner in which all undertakings go on here." (Gabriel p.30)

Even Napoleon I could not speed up the mosaic work. He ordered an elaborate  table from the Vatican workshop in 1812. A score of men took six years to complete it. By that time the former emperor was a prisoner on St. Helena.

Part of the time-consuming process of making a mosaic comes after the composition is completed. It must be allowed to set for several months to allow its soft adhesive to dry. Then it is polished multiple times to smooth the rough surfaces. Lastly, it is in-filled with wax and polished again. These lengthy finishing procedures would have been done by the staff of Barberi's large workshop. Even if they had started after Barberi's death, the mosaic would not have been completed until 1868. We do not know if the mosaic was a special commission, or if it was put up for sale in the shop and later purchased by a wealthy tourist or any of Barberi's regular patrons.

Barberi's most famous works are unquestionably his tabletops. Five are at the Hermitage: Triumph of Cupid, Twenty-four Hours in Rome, Monuments of Rome, Beautiful Sky of Italy, and a small version of Day in Rome. (Efimova 1968, No.s 68-73; Efimova 1961, p. 11). The Gilbert Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London includes four Barberi tabletops: Beautiful Sky of Italy, Chronological Rome, Flora of Two Sicilies, and Rome by Night and Day (Gabriel, 2000, Nos. 30-33). Another signed version of Chronological Rome was sold at auction in New York in May 2006 (Christie's, New York, May 17, 2006, lot 185). It should be mentioned that Barberi made some fabulous miniatures, such as a snuffbox plaque with white poodles [Christie's London, May 22, 2001, lot 250). He also executed  large pictures such as this lot, an oval Souvenir of Rome (Gabriel No. 34), and a  pair of exceptionally beautiful floral still lifes now in a private collection (McCarthy Collection, Massachusetts).

During his lifetime, Barberi received numerous awards including the Italian title Cavaliere , belonged to the prestigious Institution of Virtuosos at The Pantheon, and was named Commander of the order of St. Sylvester by Pius IX. Barberi's table The Beautiful Sky of Italy, (Gilbert Collection, Gabriel, p. 82) won the coveted Council Prize, the only gold medal awarded to the Papal State at the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations at the Crystal Palace in London. In 1856 he published a book of some important pieces he had sold, Alcuni Musaici Usciti Dallo Studio del Cav.' Michel'Angelo Barberi [Roma, Tipografia Tiberina, 1856]. Had he waited a few more years to publish his book, we might know even more about this enduring artist and his works.

Sotheby's is gratefull to Mrs. Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel for the attribution of the present lot to Michelangelo Barberi and for writing this catalogue note.