SECOND-HALF 19TH CENTURY, SIGNED RF DI SP A. BONIFAZI

Eugenio Bonifazi, Via Margutta 17, Rome, worked under the patronage of the Reverende Fabrica di San Pietro (RF di SP), active 1876. Micro-Mosaics were created by the Vatican Studio by private ateliers and catered increasingly for the growing souvenir trade as the 19th Century progressed and had attained an astonishing level of technical perfection by the middle of the century. A view of St. Peter's during the Sunday Papal Benediction of Leone XIII by Biagio Barzotti, a contemporary of Bonifazi who worked under the RF di SP, was sold in Christie's, London, 8 June 1989, lot 75.

This view depicts the Lateran Palace, built by Sixtus V and the largest Egyptian obelisk in Rome, transported to the city in AD 357. The Baptistery was built by the Emperor Constantine and restored by the notorious Pope Francesco Barbarini, Urban VIII, in 1637.