Stone mosaic (commesso) panel, 'Return from the Market', Florence, 1928, by Mario Montelatici signed and dated.

Rectangular stone mosaic (commesso) panel depicting a monk, two elderly men and a young woman with a group of animals on their way back from the market in a snowstorm.

The Return from Market illustrates the wintry journey of a monk, a young woman with a lamb and two elderly farmers with a goat, a sheep and a dog returning from market in the nearby hill town; one with the daily bread supply tucked under an umbrella which offers little protection from the gale. T

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Provenance: Marjorie Merriweather Post. Donald Trump. Sale, Christie's, New York, 30/03/1995 (199)

The creation of pictures in stone mosaics, so called pietre dure (Italian for ‘hard stones’), has been an art associated in particular with Florence from the sixteenth century onwards as Grand Duke Ferdinand I de’ Medici (reigned 1587-1609) elevated the art officially through the court workshops, established in 1588. The presence of this important centre also lead to the foundation of numerous private workshops, drawing upon the large number of craftsmen trained at the Ducal workshops.

Florentine stone mosaic (commesso di pietre dure) artists always aimed at a niche clientele, few could afford precious pictures in stone. The first half of the twentieth century was therefore a particularly challenging period for Florentine pietre workshops: traditions of production and style held dear for centuries were challenged in a rapidly changing world. They responded with changes in technique, preferring less expensive Tuscan stones, as well as with a change of subject-matters and styles away from traditional motives. The most exciting works from this period share a realism and preference for rural subjects, celebrating the simple pleasures and harsh reality of a Tuscan farmers’ life at the time, amid the beauty of the natural landscape. It is hard to imagine a starker contrast to the romantic couples set against varying historic backdrops, which were the dominant subject of Florentine pietre dure makers only a generation earlier. The change in imagery is in part supported by a different palette of stones used for their creation: Tuscan limestone increasingly replaced marbles. The pictures therefore have softer colours and are more akin to watercolours than to oil paintings when seen from a distance.

Mario Montelatici was the son of lapidarist Giovanni Montelatici (1864-1930). In 1908 Giovanni established the Società Arte Musiva, a not-for-profit training school and workshop for commessi production, where he was assisted by his sons Mario (1894-1974) and Alfonso (1880-1948). Mario was renowned for his reproduction of paintings and portraits across a variety of subjects. The ‘Return from the Market’ was a subject after a painting by Lugli Crosio (1835-1915) and it is known to have been a popular creation reproduced in stone mosaic by the Montelatici workshop. In 1928 when this work was made, the Montelatici family moved from the Arte Musiva workshop to set up a new family workshop in Via A. Foscari 16 where they remained until 1933.

To find out more about the making of pietre dure, watch the video Making a Pietre Dure panel (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/m/video-making-a-pietre-dure-panel)

This work was part of a commission by the American heiress and patron Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1927 for Mar-A-Lago, her estate at Palm Beach, Florida. The subject is based on a painting by Stefano Bruzzi (1835-1911) that won a prize in the Parma exhibition of 1888 (now in the Bruzzi family collection, Parma). The workshop also supplied a round centre table and a large table for the villa's dining room. This picture and the tables were exhibited in the Montelatici workshop in Florence before being sent to Florida.

A photograph of the facade of the Montelatici workshop in Via Arnolfo, Florence is reproduced in Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection: Hardstones, 1999, p.14

Rachel Elwes, ‘Pietre Dure for an American Palace: A dining table for Mar A Lago’, Antiques Magazine, March, 2003, records that the dining room table was described by Mrs Post as ‘probably the most important thing in the entire house’ and bequeathed by her in 1973 for display at Hillwood, her home in Washington DC. Made by the Societa Civile Arte de Mosaico, the table took 17 craftsmen a full year to complete under the supervision of Giovanni Montelatici (1864-1930). The same workshop exhibited at the Paris 1900 International Exhibition a table with a scene in pietre dure of The Annunciation made with the assistance of Montelatici's partner Galileo Chini (1873-1956). The workshop also supplied Mrs Post with two round centre tables and this picture The Return from the Market, signed by Mario Montelatici and dated 1728. Elwes describes the mosaic decoration with the armorial crest of Mrs Post's then husband Edward Francis Hutton and the medallion for the Societa Civile Art del Mosaico –side by side at each end of the table, and the use of hardstones identified as red jasper, white oriental alabaster, yellow chalcedony and green gabbro. The Montelaticis' agent in NYC, Gommi had still not been paid for the table in 1930. The table was over 16 foot long with six extension leaves which added 12 feet to the total length. Elwes illustrates a photograph of Giovanni Montelatici at the cutting wheel in circa 1900.

The Return from Market uses hardstones local to Florence, white and bardiglio Carrara marble, onyx, gabbro (an igneous rock named after a village in Tuscany, near Livorno) and alberese (from Pratolino) to illustrate the wintry journey of a monk, a young woman with a lamb and two elderly farmers with a goat, a sheep and a dog returning from market in the nearby hill town; one with the daily bread supply tucked under an umbrella which offers little protection from the gale. The bardiglio grey- veined marble brilliantly captures the storm-laden skies, whilst white marble recreates the heavy weight of freshly fallen snow

LOAN:GILBERT.75:1, 2-2008