Lot Essay
Michelangelo Barberi
(1787-1867)
Michelangelo Barberi, one of the most renowned mosaicisti or artist in tesserae of the early 19th Century, was apprenticed to Cesare Aguatti before joining the Vatican workshops in 1820. Three years earlier, he had returned to Rome from Moscow, where he had been guardian to the young son of Princess Volkonski and in 1823 he opened his own studio with the financial support of the Princess. It was the celebrated mosaic of 'Il trionfo d'Amore' however, now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, which established his reputation. This mosaic, which marked the beginning of his long-standing trading relationship with Russia, was purchased by Tsar Nicholas I in 1827, on Barberi's second trip to Russia. Upon his return to Rome, he continued to work with Giuseppe Mattia on the technical discoveries made by his master Cesare Aguatti, the so called tinte de soffio, and continued to enjoy the patronage of both Tsar Nicholas I and the Vatican. In celebration of his achievements, in 1856 he issued a catalogue of his work entitled 'Alcuni mosaici usciti dallo studio del Cav. Michel'Angelo Barabari'.
This table's white marble slab, banded by 'Etruscan' red and black ribbons, encloses a polychromed portrait of Bacchus. Depicted as the bearded God of wine and festivities, draped with a panther pelt and wreathed and festooned with vines and grape-clusters, he is surrounded by wine-vases or amphorae that act as spandrel-spokes and frame animals prancing in the chase. Such spandrel-angled vases also featured on the centrotavola attributed to Giacomo Rafaelli (1753-1836), which shared much in commmon with that supplied to Eugène de Beauharnais in 1804 (offered anonymously in these Rooms, 8 December 1994, lot 506). These prancing animals, in the manner of Pompeiian plinth-supported bronzes, depict the Bacchic panther and lion accompanying a boar and a bull.
Although the source for the central Bacchic portrait medallion remains untraced, it is interesting to note that the cartoon for Barberi's celebrated 'Trionfi di amore' table, originally intended for Pius VII's enjoyment at the Campidoglio, was supplied by the Russian artist Feodor-Antonowitsch Bruni (1801-74), who studied in Rome before settling in Moscow.
Although Barberi's career is thinly documented, he certainly enjoyed the patronage of English 'milordi's' on the Grand Tour. In 1847 alone, for instance, he is known to have executed a mosaic top with the arms of the 13th Duke of Norfolk, said to have cost 'at least 550' (S.Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, p.212, fig.1), as well a table for Matthew Robinson Boulton at Great Tew (sold Christie's House sale, 27-29 May 1987, lot 201).
A related Bacchic medallion, signed by the mosaicist Clemente Ciuli and dated 1825, features on the table-top acquired on the Grand Tour by Lord Weston and later purchased by Sir Harry Calvert (d.1894) for Claydon House, Buckinghamshire (illustrated in 'Claydon House', Guidebook, 1980, p.15). The Ciuli workshops are also likely to have executed the rectangular portrait of Bacchus offered anonymously in these Rooms, 2 May 1992, lot 93.
The bronzier responsible for the remarkable stand, formed as scroll-handled amphorae supported on the feet of a Bacchic panther, whose pelt also provides the stretcher-cloth for its head, remains tantalisingly unidentified. Although the celebrated Roman bronze-founder Benedetto Boschetti (d.1870), who established his workshop in the via Condotti around 1820, was certainly capable of this masterpiece, and indeed his workshop was later recommended for being 'particularly conspicuous for its great variety of marble works, bronzes, candelabras, table-tops etc.', also noted was the 'rich collection of the best mosaics'. As several of these mosaics are signed Boschetti, it would therefore seem unlikely that Barberi would resort to a rival rather than employing his own bronze-founder, probably from the Vatican workshops.
It is, however, certainly possible that the stand could have been cast abroad - either in Russia, should it have been commissioned as a result of Barberi's second trip to Moscow in 1827, or possibly in Paris. It is, therefore interesting to note that François-Honoré-Georges Jacob (1770-1841) and Georges-Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter (1799-1870) are known to have cast stands in bronze for mosaic tops acquired in Italy, such as that sold anonymously in these Rooms, 15 June 1995, lot 56, whose serpent-headed Medusa is repeated in the serpent-entwined stand.
(1787-1867)
Michelangelo Barberi, one of the most renowned mosaicisti or artist in tesserae of the early 19th Century, was apprenticed to Cesare Aguatti before joining the Vatican workshops in 1820. Three years earlier, he had returned to Rome from Moscow, where he had been guardian to the young son of Princess Volkonski and in 1823 he opened his own studio with the financial support of the Princess. It was the celebrated mosaic of 'Il trionfo d'Amore' however, now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, which established his reputation. This mosaic, which marked the beginning of his long-standing trading relationship with Russia, was purchased by Tsar Nicholas I in 1827, on Barberi's second trip to Russia. Upon his return to Rome, he continued to work with Giuseppe Mattia on the technical discoveries made by his master Cesare Aguatti, the so called tinte de soffio, and continued to enjoy the patronage of both Tsar Nicholas I and the Vatican. In celebration of his achievements, in 1856 he issued a catalogue of his work entitled 'Alcuni mosaici usciti dallo studio del Cav. Michel'Angelo Barabari'.
This table's white marble slab, banded by 'Etruscan' red and black ribbons, encloses a polychromed portrait of Bacchus. Depicted as the bearded God of wine and festivities, draped with a panther pelt and wreathed and festooned with vines and grape-clusters, he is surrounded by wine-vases or amphorae that act as spandrel-spokes and frame animals prancing in the chase. Such spandrel-angled vases also featured on the centrotavola attributed to Giacomo Rafaelli (1753-1836), which shared much in commmon with that supplied to Eugène de Beauharnais in 1804 (offered anonymously in these Rooms, 8 December 1994, lot 506). These prancing animals, in the manner of Pompeiian plinth-supported bronzes, depict the Bacchic panther and lion accompanying a boar and a bull.
Although the source for the central Bacchic portrait medallion remains untraced, it is interesting to note that the cartoon for Barberi's celebrated 'Trionfi di amore' table, originally intended for Pius VII's enjoyment at the Campidoglio, was supplied by the Russian artist Feodor-Antonowitsch Bruni (1801-74), who studied in Rome before settling in Moscow.
Although Barberi's career is thinly documented, he certainly enjoyed the patronage of English 'milordi's' on the Grand Tour. In 1847 alone, for instance, he is known to have executed a mosaic top with the arms of the 13th Duke of Norfolk, said to have cost 'at least 550' (S.Jervis, 'Furniture at Arundel Castle', Connoisseur, March 1978, p.212, fig.1), as well a table for Matthew Robinson Boulton at Great Tew (sold Christie's House sale, 27-29 May 1987, lot 201).
A related Bacchic medallion, signed by the mosaicist Clemente Ciuli and dated 1825, features on the table-top acquired on the Grand Tour by Lord Weston and later purchased by Sir Harry Calvert (d.1894) for Claydon House, Buckinghamshire (illustrated in 'Claydon House', Guidebook, 1980, p.15). The Ciuli workshops are also likely to have executed the rectangular portrait of Bacchus offered anonymously in these Rooms, 2 May 1992, lot 93.
The bronzier responsible for the remarkable stand, formed as scroll-handled amphorae supported on the feet of a Bacchic panther, whose pelt also provides the stretcher-cloth for its head, remains tantalisingly unidentified. Although the celebrated Roman bronze-founder Benedetto Boschetti (d.1870), who established his workshop in the via Condotti around 1820, was certainly capable of this masterpiece, and indeed his workshop was later recommended for being 'particularly conspicuous for its great variety of marble works, bronzes, candelabras, table-tops etc.', also noted was the 'rich collection of the best mosaics'. As several of these mosaics are signed Boschetti, it would therefore seem unlikely that Barberi would resort to a rival rather than employing his own bronze-founder, probably from the Vatican workshops.
It is, however, certainly possible that the stand could have been cast abroad - either in Russia, should it have been commissioned as a result of Barberi's second trip to Moscow in 1827, or possibly in Paris. It is, therefore interesting to note that François-Honoré-Georges Jacob (1770-1841) and Georges-Alphonse Jacob-Desmalter (1799-1870) are known to have cast stands in bronze for mosaic tops acquired in Italy, such as that sold anonymously in these Rooms, 15 June 1995, lot 56, whose serpent-headed Medusa is repeated in the serpent-entwined stand.