Antonio Salvati Italian, 1816-1890 A fine mosaic portrait of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha London, circa 1864-65

enamel mosaic and gilt mosaic, signed NOVO. F / STAB - SALVIATI 

Sheldon Barr, Venetian Glass Mosaics 1860-1917, Antique Collectors Club, 2008, p. 24, Pl. VII

Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, died tragically in 1861 at age forty two; the present mosaic portrait signed NOVO. F / STAB - SALVIATI  is after his official photograph by John Mayall taken that year. Dr. Antonio Salviati (1816-1890) revived the Venetian mosaic industry in the nineteenth century and had a major workshop in London. On the present plaque, the signature NOVO. F stands for Francesco Novo, mosaist at Antonio Salvati workshop. Unlike shiny Venetian mosaics, the present figure is composed primarily of opaque non-reflective tesserae, similar to the material in Roman mosaics. Salviati produced an identical but smaller mosaic portrait of Prince Albert, given by the Queen to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and another half-length version by Enrico Podio (Sotheby’s London, 31 October, 2006, lot 500). His internationally famous firm was also commissioned by Queen Victoria to create extensive mosaic programs for the Albert Memorial in Kensington and the Albert Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle. His works are found in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Stanford University chapel; his memorial portraits of Presidents Garfield and Lincoln are in the U.S. Senate Collection, Washington D.C.

Sotheby's is grateful to Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel for her extensive research on this mosaic plaque.