Giuseppe Zocchi realized four pictorial models between 1752 and 1753 to be transposed into four Florentine mosaic pictures representing the allegories of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Music.
In 1754 the semiprecious stone panels were already completed, ready to be delivered to grand duke Francesco Stefano Lorraine for his collection in Vienna. The artworks are still conserved in the presidential apartments of the Hofburg palace.
The painted models remained in Florence and had a great success, so that after 20 years new hard stone commesso versions were made for the Florentine palace of Pietro Leopoldo, now here exhibited together with the pictorial models. While the ones in Vienna have bronze frames, the new versions have hard stone inlaid frames, made after designs by Gesualdo Ferri. The painter conceived an innovative neoclassical frame, outlined with metal bars, with a ribbon connecting the diversified emblems of the four different Arts.
In comparison with the panels in Vienna, the pictorial effect in the Florentine versions is particularly evident due to a very effective choice of shades and the use of very small stone sections.
