Tribute to Delaunay

This work created in Commesso Fiorentino reproduces the painting "Infinite Rhythms" from 1934 by Robert Delaunay, a french painter who lived between the 17th and 18th century.

Robert Delaunay was born in Paris, France, on April 12, 1885, the son of George Delaunay and Countess Berthe Félicie de Rose; when he was still very young his parents divorced and entrusted him to the care of his maternal aunt, Marie, and her husband Charles Damour, who lived in La Ronchère a few kilometers from Bourges.

During the 1930s, Delaunay experimented with the potential of large architectural spaces, repeatedly testing himself in the field of mural painting, especially suitable for enhancing his "pure" and colorful painting and freeing his poetic imagination from the limitations of the canvas. Delaunay, like many other artists in the first decades of the 20th century, was powerfully fascinated by the innovations that were changing the image and lifestyle of metropolises: from the electric lighting of streets and shops to advertising billboards, from the spread of motor vehicles to the extension of urban spaces. Delaunay's painting interprets these changes by committing himself to mainly restoring the dimension of gigantism (of which the Eiffel Tower represents in his eyes the emblem par excellence) and of excess: in his works the city is a sort of exciting global sensitive experience in continuous transformation, which the artist tries to fix in a guise capable of immediately capturing the attention of any spectator. 

Delaunay was able to harmoniously combine art, science and technology, with a particular attention to light and color for which he developed his own theory, "simultanism": based on the sensorial perception of light and colours, it led to the creation of works of art characterized by a strong synesthesia. Robert Delaunay's works of art, in fact, are characterized by a strong chromatic and geometric component, in which the sensorial perception of light and color act as central elements, creating effects of movement and vibration. Delaunay's works represent an important chapter in the history of 20th century art, influencing many subsequent artists and contributing to the birth of new artistic currents, such as abstract art and surrealism. 

The colored discs of the years preceding the Great War are thus transformed by Delaunay into infinitely repeated circular modules, which become a sort of correlative of the inexhaustible rhythm of the existence of large modern cities. In 1935 Dealunay exhibited painted reliefs made with a new technique, in which he experimented with the use of a wide spectrum of materials called upon to animate the surface of the images he created. In his intentions it had to be a real artistic revolution: painting freed itself from the confines posed by the two-dimensionality of the support to invade the spaces of architecture and make light and color interact in a total rhythm.

Stones used: Lapislazzuli, Green Vald'Osta, Brown Breccia.

Year of composition: 2024

Size: cm 14x18.7

Artist: Leonardo Scarpelli

An original and authentic hand-made artwork created whith the antique technique of Commesso Fiorentino which is unique for Florence.

Commesso Fiorentino was born with Medici family, one of the most important families in Florence, in the second half of 1500.

The research of the stones is made by the mosaicist that must be able to choose from a rich and wide range of shades and veins: for this reason the artists personally search and collect the stones retracing the paths of the Medici researchers.

The processing starts by drawing the subject on adhesive paper, that is then cut into small tamplates that will be attached to the variegated shades of the stones following the visual instinct, the innate gift of the artist and his perfect knowledge of the materials. The shape of the little piece will be cut by hand with a chestnut, cherry or hazelnut wood bow and an iron wire that flows with abrasive powder and water. It creates a very precise and inclined cut to form the essential spaces to accommodate the glue, made by artisans with beeswax and pine tree resin. The different stones are previously glued onto a slate surface which acts as a support during the cutting and filing phase. The various pieces which form the composition are adjusted in shape with diamond files, glued together so that the joints are invisible, flattened and finally polished in order to create a perfect decorative harmony showing the colors of nature in all their radiance.