Pietre dure (hardstone) landscape scene
Castrucci Italian
Formed using the color and texture of different semiprecious stones, this pietre dure landscape was likely once incorporated into a cabinet, perhaps one destined for the Kunstkammer of Emperor Rudolf II. Meticulously cut and fitted to create “paintings” in lasting stone, these works were central to demonstrating princely magnificence. An admirer of pietre dure, Rudolf II brought Cosimo Castrucci—a Florentine artist who worked with precious stones—and his family to Prague in 1592 to set up a workshop. There, they joined the many other artisans whom the emperor had gathered to make the city a center of artistic production.
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