{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O157836"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O157836/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC6192/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC6192/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CC6192","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O157836/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O157836","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.1054:1-2008","objectType":"Picture","titles":[{"title":"Romulus and Remus","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Micromosaics have their roots in the larger mosaics of ancient Rome used to decorate their walls and floors. The first micromosaics were created in the 18th century, but it was not until Arthur Gilbert himself became interested in collecting them and invented the term 'micromosaics' that they became known as such. The tesserae are minute pieces cut from thin pieces of glass known as smalti filati, and some of the finest micomosaics can consist of as many as 5,000 tesserae per square inch (ca. 3 by 3cm). By the late 18th century Rome had become central to the production of micromosaics and sold them as souvenirs to wealthy foreigners visiting the city. From small elegant snuffboxes to large monumental tabletops, micromosaics could be used to decorate objects of all shapes and sizes. They could even be made to resemble full-sized canvas paintings, and indeed Arthur Gilbert himself mistook his very first micromosaic for a painting. When he brought it home to show his wife, he had to convince her that it was not in fact a cracked painting, as she supposed, but a mosaic.\r\n\r\nSir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.","physicalDescription":"Marble plaque with a central round mosaic depicting the two naked infants, Romulus and Remus beside a recumbent she wolf under a tree on a river bank, after a painting by Pieter Paul Rubens. The scene is surrounded by a band of acanthus scrolls <i>en grisaille</i> on a black ground, each side of the band with a narrow red border. The  mosaic is set into a circular slate backing; in original rectangular giltwood frame","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mosaic glass","id":"AAT260731"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"slate","id":"AAT11646"}],"techniques":[{"text":"micromosaic","id":"x42499"},{"text":"setting","id":"x42734"},{"text":"framing","id":"AAT240903"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Micromosaic, set in slate, giltwood frame","categories":[{"text":"Hardstone","id":"THES270137"},{"text":"Mosaic","id":"THES253095"},{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2009CC6192"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES341822"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES341822"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"picture","id":""}],[{"text":"frame","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1850-1880","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1880-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"381","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Diameter of micromosaic panel (excluding frame)"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"580","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"5/1/23","earliest":"2023-01-05","latest":"2023-01-05"},"part":"","note":"height including frame"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"580","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"5/1/23","earliest":"2023-01-05","latest":"2023-01-05"},"part":"","note":"width including frame"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"70","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"5/1/23","earliest":"2023-01-05","latest":"2023-01-05"},"part":"","note":"depth of frame"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Provenance: Antonacci-Efrati, Rome, 1969.","historicalContext":"The depiction is based upon a painting by Peter Paul Rubens from 1615-1616, now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Rubens' work is a larger composition including the figures of Mars, Rhea Silvia and Faustulus, and was made in co-operation with Frans Snyders and Jan Wildens who painted the animals and landscape. The detail of Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf  became a very popular subject-matter for micromosaics in the nineteenth century, not only as individual circular plaque, but also as part of larger designs, such as the central motif of tabletops (example in the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg).","briefDescription":"Picture - round mosaic depiction of Romulus and Remus, Rome., circa 1850-1880","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gabriel, Jeanette Hanisee with contributions by Anna Maria Massinelli and essays by Judy Rudoe and Massimo Alfieri. <u>Micromosaics: The Gilbert Collection</u>. London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd. in association with The Gilbert Collection, 2000. 310 p., ill. Cat. no. 97, p. 165. ISBN 0856675113."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Tiber","id":"x45327"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Romulus","id":"N540"},{"text":"Remus","id":"N541"}],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Peter Paul Rubens","id":"A8810"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"wolf","id":"x31096"},{"text":"palmettes","id":"AAT9995"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.1054:1-2008","LOAN:GILBERT.1054:2-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"1054","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MM 24"},{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"GB 179"},{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.527"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","picture","frame"],"assets":["2024PB3636"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-06","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-26","availableToBook":false}}