Pietre Dure and the Art of Florentine Inlay
Annamaria Giusti
|
This richly illustrated, large-format book tells the fascinating story of a very special artistic phenomenon – pietre dure – illustrating in scores of dazzling photographs outstanding examples, including works designed for the Cappella dei Principi, Florence, and the Schloss Favorite, Rastatt.
Pietre dure, or polychrome hardstone inlay resurfaced in Rome in the sixteenth century, within the context of the Italian Renaissance. Rome fell in love with the evocative power of hardstones inlaid into delicate floral panels or shining out from ovals of opalescent alabaster.
From Rome, pietre dure spread to Florence, where the Medici family founded a prestigious workshop in 1588, using materials such as coral, garnet, jasper and lapis lazuli. The art flourished for three centuries and other workshops were founded at the Court of Rudolf II in Prague, and the Court of Louis XIV in France, before spreading to Naples and Madrid under the Bourbons.
Florentine inlay grew to become a tirelessly imaginative artistic language, capable of imbuing decorative art with the most astonishing beauty and creating masterpieces which still glow as brightly today, long after the fall of their royal patrons.
Annamaria Giusti is Chief Curator, Opificio delle Pietre Dure e Laboratori di Restauro in Florence.
Also of interest:
Luxury Arts of the Renaissance
Decorative Stone: The Complete Sourcebook |
|  |  | | | | ISBN 0500512973 | | ISBN-13 978-0500512975 | | | | 33.0 x 24.5 cm | | Hardback | | 264pp | | with over 220 colour illustrations | | First published 2006 | | | | £45.00 | | | |  | | | | 
|
|
For news of our new and forthcoming
publications please click here |
