Florentine mosaics

Only skilled and experienced craftmen are able to transform the rough stone in a "painting". The inlay work is a very difficult technique that need precision, creativity, deep knowledge of the different stones and their nuance, structure, and, above all,  passion.

This is the result of three years' work by Jacopo Lastrucci, from the Lastrucci workshop in Florence: the Sibilla Libica, from the fresco by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. This wonderful panel can be seen in the workshop. It is a nice experience to visit the workshop and see the Lastruccis working and creating new mosaics.
The inlay work, or "commesso in pietre dure", as we call it in Italian, was started in 1588, when Ferdinando I De' Medici founded the Opificio delle Pietre Dure for the decoration of the interior of the Princes' Chapel in San Lorenzo.
The stones were marbles, granites, porphyre, jaspis, lapis lazuli, calcedonium, malachite, quartz.....
The museum of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure displays the stones used, the working tools used to cut them, to glue the pieces, and the evolution of this technique from the end of the 16th century to the modern times.
Also, in occasion of the 150th anniversary of Italy, an interesting exhibition is now going on in the Gallery of Modern Art until next September: when Tuscany became part of the Italian Kingdom the granducal manifacture  (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) started to have a larger public...