An Italian polychrome lavastone panel with a view of Mount Etna by Giovanni Battista Cali (documented Catania 1831-1837) mid 19th century

the centre with a view of the port of Catania, in background Mount Etna erupting, on the right the city of Acireale and with Motta San' Anastasia with its Norman castle on the left

Comparative Literature:
Civiltà dell'Ottocento, Le arti figurative, Electa, Naples, 1997, pp.180-181, plate 657.

The Catanese artist Giovanni Battista Cali, the subject of a study by Linda Martino, came from a family of sculptors and is known to have produced mosaics mainly with views of Vesuvius and Etna. There is very little information on this maker other than that he was Sicilian and active in Naples in the second half of the19th century and came from a family of sculptors. He was asked to produce works for the church of San Nicolò l' Arena in Catania and for the cathedral of Acireale. There are scant tops signed by this maker, some of which are in the Museum of San Martino, Villa Rosebery and the Royal Palace in Naples. 

Cali was the innovator of the use of lavic stone in his compositions.The Sicilian scientist Giuseppe Alessi was impressed by the works of Cali, writing thus  "...the peridot crystals...mixed with the Etnea lava .., provided a beautiful material for their craftsman...".

See for example a table top signed by Cali in Palazzo Reale Naples, illustrated op. cit., p.180, fig. 6.57, inv. 176/80, depicting the Bay of Naples, reproduced here in fig. 1. 

Also see a marble and pietre dure panel signed by Cali and dated 1886, with a similar scene of the eruption of Mount Etna,  Da una Dimora  di Palazzo Farnese, sold Sotheby's, Milan, 18th May 2004, lot 240.

Colours overall slightly darker and more attractive than in the catalogue photograph with some very minor pitting which is normal for lavastone and chips especially to the rectangular mottled cream and brown border flanking the panel of Etna. Some very minor restorations which are hardly noticeable. The border is marble and some of the rectangular squares of the border are also a mixture of lavastone and marble. The panel is rare and is in overall good conserved condition.
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