114 - Vatican Mosaic Study, Reverenda Fabbrica di San Pietro

Vatican Mosaic Study, Reverenda Fabbrica di San Pietro "The Third Hour of the Day" (after Raphael), last quarter of the 19th century Small mosaic 106 x 79 cm - framed 130 x 104 cm Large panel made entirely of micromosaic, including the black ground. Signature and date outlined in red, lower right: “L. Schibba (or Jchibba), Rome 1884.” Frame molded and carved from gilded wood. The regular, concentric, and closely spaced arrangement of the black quadrangular tiles requires great mastery to avoid uneven reflections and preserve a deep, opaque surface. The result is not merely a background filler, but a device designed to enhance the clarity of the figure and the smoke rising from the gilded brazier. This extraordinary technical and artistic quality can be attributed to one of the great masters active in the Mosaic Studio of the Reverenda Fabbrica di San Pietro in the Vatican. The “Hours” were originally housed in the Hall of Chiaroscuri (also known as the Palafrenieri’s Room), located on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, adjacent to the Raphael Rooms and the Loggia. Although many of Raphael’s original frescoes have been lost or altered over time, the depictions of Chronos—personified by the suspended female Hours—have remained famous thanks to the engravings by Giovanni Volpato and Raffaello Morghen and the neoclassical reinterpretations of the gouaches by Michelangelo Maestri, who drew inspiration from the ancient Roman frescoes discovered during the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The black background, which did not exist in the Vatican original, served precisely to imitate the style and clarity of the wall paintings in Roman domus.