Inside, wooden mosaic on an axonometric scale depicting the Madonna enthroned with child and San Giovannino. Signed on the back Alessandro Monteneri of Perugia and dated 1879.
We draw inspiration from the previous expertise of Paolo Cesari, expert of the court of Ferrara , C.T.U. of the Public Prosecutor of Bologna, member of the European Meeting of Art and Antiques Experts.
Alessandro Monteneri (Perugia 1832-1920), a well-known inlayer from Perugia, achieved extremely important results, from a technical and executive point of view, in the years in which the historicist neo-Renaissance style, especially in Italy, experienced extraordinary growth and saw protagonists at national exhibitions and international, a large group of great names: the Gattis of Faenza, the Falcini brothers of Florence, the Gargiullos of Naples, the Lancetti of Siena.
Pa He participated in numerous exhibitions, including those in Florence (1861), London (1862), Vienna (1873) and Milan (1881) and worked at the Quirinale, in the Vatican and for numerous churches in Loreto, Mantua, Perugia and Urbino.
In 1928 he created the stalls in the Basilica of San Paolo outside the walls in Rome inlaid choir, based on drawings by Calderini.
Estimated also talented restorer, Monteneri reached its artistic peak with the creation of the "Cabinet for the Crown of Italy", defined as his masterpiece, commissioned by the Municipality of Per ugia as a gift to be offered to Vittorio Emanuele II, now kept in Florence, at Palazzo Pitti.
On the occasion of the Milan Exposition it was written about him: "He is an artist who stands out from the crowd for his value, for the method used in his works which differs from that of other artists of his kind because the marquetry he uses is not a veneer, a surface coloring coating, but rather an infinite quantity of pieces of wood sawn divergently and then, vertically together, reunited with admirable skill and patience. Monteneri, with his system which won him honors and prizes at the exhibitions in Florence, London, Dublin and Paris..., in addition to carrying out the works designed by himself, reproduced with rare perfection paintings by great painters, in which the fusion of colors imitates to the point of deceiving the work of the brush, thus giving art new masterpieces of wooden mosaic...".
"Alessandro Monteneri, a well-known inlayer from Perugia, achieved extremely important results, from a technical and executive point of view, in the years in which the historicist neo-Renaissance style, especially in Italy, experienced extraordinary growth and saw protagonists, at national and international exhibitions, a large group of great names: the Gatti of Faenza, the Falcini brothers of Florence, the Gargiullos of Naples, the Lancetti of Siena.
He participated in numerous exhibitions, including those in Florence (1861) , London (1862), Vienna (1873) and Milan (1881) and worked at the Quirinale, in the Vatican and for numerous churches in Loreto, Mantua, Perugia and Urbino.
In 1928 he created, in the Basilica of San Paul outside the walls in Rome, the inlaid choir stalls, based on drawings by Calderini.
Also esteemed a talented restorer, Monteneri reached his artistic peak with the creation of the "Cabinet for the Crown of Italy", defined his masterpiece, commissioned by the Municipality of Perugia com and gift to be offered to Vittorio Emanuele II, now preserved in Florence, at Palazzo Pitti.
On the occasion of the Milan Exposition, it was written of him: "He is an artist who stands out from the crowd for his value, for the method used in his works which differs from that of other similar artists because the marquetry he uses is not a veneer, a surface coloring coating, but rather an infinite quantity of pieces of wood sawn divergently and then, vertically together , brought together with admirable skill and patience. Monteneri, with his system which won him honors and prizes at the exhibitions in Florence, London, Dublin and Paris..., in addition to carrying out the works designed by himself, reproduced with rare perfection paintings by great painters, in which the fusion of colors imitate the work of the brush to the point of deceiving, thus giving art new masterpieces of mosaic in wood...".
The inlaid small altarpiece, kept within the refined coeval aedicule frame, placed in alternation of wooden and ivory inlay, it shows a clear parallel with the altarpiece known as Santa Maria dei Fossi, preserved today in Perugia, in the National Gallery of Umbria.
The skill Monteneri's virtuosic pictorial can be seen in the reproduction of Perugino's painting with the Virgin enthroned, the Child Jesus and the Infant Saint John, which can be admired in the central mirror.
The artist's intention, in fact, was to celebrate Umbrian Renaissance art, participating with this work at the Umbrian Exhibition, held in Perugia in 1879."ASORstudio
