A pair of Italian pietra dura panels, Florence, 18th century

Christie's Monaco, 2 December 1994, lot 43.

These charming panels depicting idealized views of the Tuscan campagna and ports are the successors to the comparable views created in the Florentine grand-ducal Galleria dei Lavori  during the late 17th century and which were often mounted in cabinets and were highly sought after by European collectors. An important example of how these panels would be bought by foreigners and mounted, is the Florentiner Kabinett built between 1710 and 1712 in Schloss Favorite Rastatt, which still retains an extraordinary ensemble of 758 Florentine pietre dure panels framed and inset in the walls, including several views such as these.

The present panels, with their very well-balanced compositions, choice of stones and posture of figures, exude a tranquility that contrasts with the more disordered compositions of the production of earlier years. This serenity - underlined by the clever use of chalcedony as sky - together with the clothing with which the figures are depicted, allow us to date these panels more towards the middle of the 18th century.