Lapis Lazuli Religious Items

A 17th century Roman altar cross after Guglielmo della Porta Approximate size: 67 x 27 cm The present altar cross, likely of Italian Roman origin, reprod...

Bronze in its color and gold, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, enamel. In the centre of the work is presented, enthroned, the figure of Mary, with a mantel (fireplace) on her shoulders and hair and holding on her knees the child, who appears addressing one of the angels. The virgin is also sheltered by an ogee arch supported on turned columns, and raised visually by steps. This composition achieves a very striking contrast: the dark bronze figure, in contrast to the lapis lazuli background and the part of the arch and the outside of it, in gilded bronze. Under the steps there is a heraldic enamel shield with a key on an azure background. The angels, kneeling, are flanking this figure, and, appearing in dark bronze, visually share the "category" of religious figures with Mary, while their (lower) position gives more status to both the Mother and Jesus. The rest of the composition is completed with a delicate landscape: constructions and walls on mountains, clouds in the sky, plants, stones, etc. To the outside, another lapis lazuli frame is placed decorated in the corners with appliques, giving way to carved and polychrome wood. The lapis lazuli is a semiprecious stone already known in the seventh millennium BC., found in deposits from the Caucasus to Mauritania. From the end of the middle ages, it increased its export to Europe, its use being more frequent since then both to use it as a pigment in paintings after grinding it (giving rise to the finest and most expensive of the blues, and of the colors in many occasions), as for backgrounds of paintings, incrustations in works of art, jewelry and, a little later, in the well-known "hard stone works". The figure of Mary still shows an influence of Gothic models, although more European than Italian, along with elements that could already show a closeness to the Renaissance: although the nakedness of Jesus is already shown in Gothic works (Madonna with Angels by Fra Angelico ), the creation of space by playing with the cloth in front of Christ can be appreciated in more advanced paintings (Virgin with Child by Domenico Ghirlandaio, National Gallery of London); the presence of a powerful throne can be seen frequently in Italian Madonnas of the Quattrocento (and before), but not quite as presented here. As for the landscape, it is necessary to compare it, for example, with that of the fresco of the Condotiero Guidoriccio de Fogliano (Simone Martini, finished in 1328). This is a work of great technical and aesthetic quality, not to mention the materials chosen for its creation, comparable only to outstanding examples from around the world, such as those preserved in the Palazzo Madama in Torino (Italy), where the coral It also has an important role. It is essential to mention, also, works such as the plate of hard stones (lapis lazuli between them) with a relief of Mary with the Child in...