Gioacchino Rinaldi (active Florence 1775-18250), Italian, Rome, mid-19th century
Micromosaic with the Doves of Pliny
Auction Closed
February 7, 08:37 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Gioacchino Rinaldi (active Florence 1775-18250)
Italian, Rome, mid-19th century
A Micromosaic of Doves
signed G. Rinaldi f. Roma on the lower hand outer border
micromosaic in a giltwood frame
framed: 20 by 22 ½ in.; 50.8 by 57.15 cm
unframed: 12 by 14 in.; 30.48 by 35.56 cm
Sotheby's New York, 29-30 January 2009, lot 364.
The composition of the present finely executed mosaic derives from the celebrated Hadrian's Villa marble mosaic, dating from the 2nd century BCE, which was rediscovered in 1737 and is now housed in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. The Roman author and historian, Pliny the Elder, in his Historia Naturalis described the panel as "a dove drinking, and darkening the water with the shadow of her head, on the lop of the vessel are other doves pluming themselves."
This mosaic has since become known as The Doves of Pliny and has been described by Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios as "perhaps the most loved mosaic of antiquity."1 A circular panel of the same subject is in the Gilbert Collection, see J.H. Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection. Micromosaics, London, 2000, pp. 32-33, fig. 5.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the much celebrated Doves of Pliny was frequently repeated by mosaicists. The scene was replicated by makers of shell cameos and glass micromosaics for jewelry, box lids and plaques.
1A. Gonzalez-Palacios, The Art of Mosaics: Selections from the Gilbert Collection, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, 1977, p. 57