Asta Bidspirit | The Third Hour of Thr

The Third Hour of Thr Day, large micromosaic panel, Rome, 1884 - cm. 107x81Signed and dated on lower right: L.Schibba Roma 1884Cfr: for a micromosaic panel of similar dimensions see J. Hanisee Gabriel, Micromosaics, New York, Private Collections, 2016, p. 42, fig. 9.The subject is taken from the series of the Hours of Day and Night according to Raphael.These female figures called Horae, floating on a black background and representing The Twelve Hours of Day and Night have traditionally been attributed to Raphael. Based on Fosseyeux's 1805-1806 engravings, it has been suggested that the frescoes of these twelve figures were once ceiling decorations in the Sala Borgia of the Vatican and later covered by another fresco (Crowe and Cavalcaselle, 1885, pp. 549- 550). The ”Horae” were copied into color prints or tempera paintings by late 18th century artists such as Michelangelo Maestri (1741-1812), whose works were the inspiration for many of the images used in Roman micromosaics along with the nymphs of the wall paintings of Herculaneum.