Lot Essay
Michelangelo Barberi was renowned as one of the most celebrated Roman micro-mosaic artists of the first half of the 19th century. In 1817, he left Rome for Moscow where he received commissions from Princess Volkonski, later opening up a workshop under her patronage. On a subsequent return journey to Russia, he was received in St Petersburg by Czar Nicholas I who later asked him to help set up and advise a school of micro-mosaic artists based on that in the Vatican. In 1851, he participated in the London Great Exhibition where he received first prize for a mosaic panel entitled Il Bel Cielo, a second example of a composition he had already executed for the Tsar.
Circa 1850, Barberi executed a mosaic table top for a Mr Neeld, London. This circular top incorporates at its central panel a head of Bacchus very similar to the present example.
Circa 1850, Barberi executed a mosaic table top for a Mr Neeld, London. This circular top incorporates at its central panel a head of Bacchus very similar to the present example.