MISERONI, Ottavio
(b. 1567, Milano, d. 1624, Praha)

St Mary Magdalen

c. 1610
Hard stone relief, gold-plated silver setting, 11 x 7 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni discovered the principle of the cameo conceived as a 'commesso', in which various types and colours of stones were composed in a relief. His inspiration possibly came from the works of the Castrucci workshop in Prague, or from commessi, as they were created in the Florentine court of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici.

For the oval-shaped representation of St Mary Magdalen, Ottavio Miseroni meticulously combined fifty individual pieces from about a dozen different stones (various agates and jaspers, carnelian on chalcedony) on a plate of chalcedony. Colour and structure of the various stones are effectively combined into a composition.




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