ROME, CIRCA 1815

Tivoli was a mountainous resort area that had been popular with tourists since Roman times. The waterfalls and the ancient Roman ruins at Tivoli and the surrounding area were a favoured destination for visitors and tourists on the Grand Tour. The nearby Hadrian's Villa contained the floor mosaic, discovered in 1737, of the Capitoline Doves. The Russian Imperial family and aristocracy travelled widely through Italy and both Tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I collected micromosaics. The oustanding quality of the micromosaic suggests that it may well be from the Barberi workshop. (See lot 218 for a note on Barberi). A similar scene attributed to Giovanni Morelli can be found in J.H. Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection of Micromosaics, London, 2000, pp.102-103.