The Vatican Museums have inaugurated their new exhibition: Micromosaics, a collection preserved over hundreds of years. This will showcase an artistic technique developed in Rome throughout the 18th century.
LUCA PESANTE, Curator of Decorative Arts
They are enamels — that is, a colored glass paste, stretched and broken, and then, using tiny tesserae smaller than a millimeter — fractions of a millimeter — they are inserted into small forms, mostly made of copper or black marble, to compose the decoration.
The origin of these pieces dates back to 1727. That year marked the founding of the Vatican Mosaic Studio, which is still active today and remains under the authority of the Fabric of Saint Peter.
LUCA PESANTE, Curator of Decorative Arts
In a few years, we will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the studio’s founding. It’s a mosaic studio under the Fabric of Saint Peter, which even today produces micromosaics often used by the Holy Father as gifts during apostolic journeys. So, it is an art typical of the late 18th century.
During the 18th century, various masters developed this technique. One of the most renowned was Giacomo Raffaelli, author of several works featured in the exhibition.
LUCA PESANTE, Curator of Decorative Arts
We have a letter he received from Wenzel Peter, who painted the original oil works — paintings that the mosaicists would then translate into mosaic.
We chose two words to present this exhibition: nostalgia and invention. Nostalgia for an idealized past, and invention because this art creates new forms inspired by classical references.
The exhibition offers a look at the meticulous techniques that were hidden from the public eye for a long time. Now, this emblematic neoclassical and romantic taste of the 18th century is kept alive in the Vatican.
BAM
Trans. CRT
