A LARGE ROMAN MICROMOSAIC PANEL

Emerging from the grand tradition of micromosaic production in Rome, Luigi 'Cavaliere' Gallandt's panel demonstrates his mastery of the medium. Gallandt was active in the Eternal City during the second half of the 19th century, with a studio in Piazza di Spagna, by the Spanish Steps. Few works are attributed to his name, though the artist "may possibly be the Monsieur Galland who produced the models for some of the mosaic decoration of the Pantheon in Paris" (see E. Gerspach, La Mosaïque, Paris, 1881). In this rare panel, depicting a priest offering benediction to a nursing woman in a country kitchen, both settings and figures are rendered with virtuoso skill. An unsigned panel of the same subject was sold at Christie's, New York, 20 April 2006, lot 5 ($114,000).