Montelatici Giovanni

Giovanni Montelatici, born 1864 and died 1930. He is often credited with revitalizing the skill of painting in hard stone or pietra dura, an art that uses cut and adjusted colored stones, highly polished to create mosaic paintings fallen into decline since the mid-19th century.

The difficulties in the execution of a mosaic figure are enormous, the face, the hands, the feet, in short all the movement of the human or even animal body. Hundreds of pieces are needed for a figure, create all natural shades, using only the color the stone can offer.

In 1898 he went into business with Galileo Chini (deceased in 1957), an artist from Mugello, near Florence. The two men exhibited jointly at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1900, winning a gold medal for their large table encrusted with a scene from The Annunciation.

Following the Parisian success, Montelatici, created a large workshop, known as La Musiva, on Via Arnolfo, and appointing Chini as artistic director.
This very beautiful mosaic work, received the gold medal from the Jury and it was bought abroad at an insane price by a very wealthy amateur.
Many figurative works sold around the world to major collectors, galleries and museums