A micromosaic panel with a boar hunt
Coloured glass mosaic mounted on support with mastic. In the original ormolu frame with foliate relief and sheet copper back panel, H 15.8, W 21 cm.
Rome, around 1811, attributed to Gioacchino Barberi, after a drawing by Johann Wenzel Peter.
The animal painter Johann Wenzel Peter (1745 - 1829), born in Carlsbad, Bohemia, came to Rome in 1774 to study sculpture, but decided in the early 1780s to attend the classes of Anton Raphael Mengs and concentrate on painting instead. He later lived on the Via del Babuino 7, the district of the micromosaicists for whom he provided designs. Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel published a letter from Peter to Giacomo Raffaeli in Milan dated May 16th 1811, in which he mentions several versions of drawings of boar hunts with differing prices.
Gioacchino Barberi (1783 - 1857), who came from a Roman family of artists, is considered one of the most important micromosaicists. His studio was on the Piazza di Spagna, right next to the Spanish Steps. He offered a variety of subjects. In addition to the conventional landscapes with Classical ruins and Roman views, he also produced mosaics with mythological and historical scenes, but also numerous animal motifs.
Literature
Illus. in Grieco, Micromosaici Romani, Rome 2008, illus. 374, p. 152.
For more on Gioacchino Barberi s. Hanisee Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection. Micromosaics, London 2000, p. 281.
For Johann Peter Wenzel s. ibid. Appendix, p. 269.