Raffaele Castellini

micromosaic plaque representing Pope Pius VII (Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti 1800 - 1823), signed Raf.(faele) Castelini F(ecit) (lower left), gilt-bronze frame. This mosaic was commissioned by Pius VII as a papal gift. The model for this unique object is the portrait by Vincent Camuccini of 1815. Raffaele Castellini was born in Rome in 1791 and descends from a family of mosaicists in the service of the Reverend Fabric of St. Peter's where he started working in 1812. Among his works it has to be mentioned the portrait of Pope Gregory XVI , commissioned by Cardinal Giustiniani, one of the most important collectors of art of the first half of the seventeenth century, in whose archives were among others also 15 paintings of Caravaggio. Also Vincent Verdejo, another mosaic artist, took the risk with the same subject, but his works are unfortunately of a minor quality. Bibliography: Il celebre Studio del mosaico della Rev. Fabbrica di S. Pietro, A. Busiri Vici; I Mosaici Minuti Romani, D. Petochi , 13x10 cm.