A SET OF FOUR ITALIAN PIETRA DURA PANELS, FLORENCE CIRCA 1700

These four panels underline the importance of the painter and designer Jacopo Ligozzi (1547-1626) who influenced Florentine pietre dure workshops as the fashion for images with birds and flowers grew extensively in the first half of the 17^th century. Much like Ligozzi achieved through his drawings, the composition of each panel succeeds to emulate nature thanks to the impressive skills of the Florentine craftsmen who were undoubtedly at the time the very best in the trade to achieve these type of images.

Jacopo Ligozzi was the court painter of the Medicis and worked not only in close connections with the famous naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, but also prepare designs and cartoons for the production of the Opificio. His drawings were, for example, the basis for the design of the altar in the Church of Ognissanti built under the patronage of the Bardi. Most importantly, his drawings were the source of inspiration for the fiorante, the painters specialized in depicting flowers and in charge of supplying designs to the Galleria dei Lavori. The demand for these panels was so popular that the manufacture had a stock of these panels destined to be mounted on cabinets, caskets and other furniture pieces, much of which were bought individually by visitors to bring back and have them mounted as they wished in their home country.