From the late 16th Century onwards Florence and Rome developed into production centres for mosaic. Florence using hard-stone and marbles to feature decorative scenes such as birds and fruits; Rome using coloured glass, mostly depicting scenes from Italian paintings or ancient frescoes.
Towards the end of the 18th Century, the Vatican workshops invented a technique which pulled the opaque glass substance into long strips of multi-colours, as they had at their disposal an unlimited choice of colours, it enabled the makers of mosaic to execute the most perfect detailed pictures. This technique became very populair for jewellery and other small objects. Favourite places were depicted like the Colosseum or the Pantheon as well as views of landscapes with birds and animals. Also more sentimantal scenes were used as the Altar of Love, Cupid's bow and arrows or Venus's doves over a basket of flowers