MISERONI, Italian family of lapidary artists

A Milanese family of lapidaries, many of whose members worked in Prague or elsewhere in the imperial service. The Miseroni workshop in Milan specialized in the carving of rock crystal and hardstones and gained international recognition in the mid-16th century. Imperial patronage from the Habsburgs prompted the re-establishment in 1588 of the workshop in Prague, where it flourished until 1684.

Girolamo (1522–1584) and his brother Gasparo (1518–1573) entered the service of Cosimo I de' Medici. Four of Girolamo's sons entered the imperial service: Giulio (1559–1593) worked in Spain from 1582; Ottavio (1567–1624) worked from 1588 in the court of Rudolf II in Prague, and was later joined by his brothers Giovanni Ambrogio and Alessandro. Ottavio was appointed as official lapidary to the imperial court, a post that was in due course passed to his son Dionysio (d. 1661) and his grandson Ferdinand Eusebius (d. 1684).




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.