Table top depicting Aurora and the Chariot of Apollo

After a composition by Guido Reni Italian

1822

Not on view

After the popularity of mosaics in ancient times, the technique had a second great period in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in Rome. Affluent tourists were the patrons of a new working technique that transformed antique prototypes in being meticulously assembled with much smaller glass tesserae, a celebrated craft today known as micromosaic. This unusually large example depicts Aurora, after the ceiling fresco by Guido Reni (1575–1642) in the Pallavicini-Rospigliosi Palace in Rome. The ambitious composition is flanked on either side by Dionysian trophies, with birds fluttering above kantharoi filled with flowers framed by scrolling acanthus vines. Red and blue bands form a border of intertwined yellow and blue ribbons above a grape vine on a black ground. Contemporaries listed Barberi as one of the leading artists of miniature micromosaics.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Table top depicting Aurora and the Chariot of Apollo
Maker: Gioacchino Barberi (Italian, 1783–1857)
Artist: After a composition by Guido Reni (Italian, Bologna 1575–1642 Bologna)
Date: 1822
Culture: Italian, Rome
Medium: Micromosaic
Dimensions: Diameter (top only, confirmed): 37 in. (94 cm);
Overall (assembled as table, confirmed): 20 1/2 × 38 1/4 × 38 1/4 in. (52.1 × 97.2 × 97.2 cm)
Classification: Natural Substances
Credit Line: Bequest of Barbara Bodne Anspach, 2014
Object Number: 2016.709
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

By Guido Reni

From the same time and place

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Brooch (part of a set), G.L. Barberi, Gold, glass micromosaic, onyx (?), Italian, Rome — Brooch (part of a set)
G.L. Barberi
19th century

Prie-dieu, Stammer & Breul, Oak and pine veneered with rosewood, tulipwood, ebony and ebonized wood, and micromosaic decoration of various natural and stained woods; modern silk-velvet; coated brass, Austrian, Vienna — Prie-dieu
Stammer & Breul
1855

Sofa (part of a set), Filippo Pelagio Palagi Italian, Mahogany veneered with maplewood and mahogany, covered with modern silk brocade, Italian, Piedmont — Sofa (part of a set)
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1835

Brooch, Castellani, Glass micromosaic, gold, Italian — Brooch
Castellani
Luigi Podio
before 1888

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