Gubbio's treasures.....

You never know when inspiration will strike you...while waiting for a plane in Rome, I found this ruler made of common woods in Italy.

Livio de Marchi

Close to the Peggy Guggenheim museum in Venice is the shop of Livio de Marchi. He uses wood to depict common items in life.

Livio de Marchi

I have always had a fascination with wood...the unique graining and colors.....

Ducal Palazzo-Gubbio

That silly ruler started me thinking about the history of intarsia, or inlaid decorative wood.

Intarsia can be dated back to ancient Egypt, but is best know from 15th c Italy..

Maple, pear and walnut were the main woods used in the finest pieces...with some cypress and pine for accents.

Only the elite afforded the labor intensive pieces.

The 15th century ushered in the Italian Renaissance, and arabesque ornamentation...

This type of decoration was perfectly suited for intarsia.

One of the best examples of intarsia is from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio, Italy.

If you live in the U.S., you don't have to update your passport to see some of the greatest intarsia work from Italy.

Robert Kirkbride photo-Metropolitan Museum

The Metropolitan Museum owns the studiolo from the Ducal Palace

Thousands of pieces of pear, walnut, maple and other woods create this incredible work..

Due to the cost of creating inlay, it was mostly used in furniture.

This is a lovely example of pear with ebony....

Musee des Arts Decoratifs

Italy is not the only country know for inlay. This piece is in the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris.

Musee des Arts Decoratifs

They also own this collection of small panels of intarsia .

Fra Giovanni da Verona created this incredible work in the Santa Maria Church in Organo, Verona.

Lucretia Moroni

So, this silly ruler led me to study with Lucretia Moroni of Bergamo, Italy. Lucretia, founder of  Fatto-a-mano, has created incredible faux inlay for the Russian Consulate in New York and mentored under Renzo Mongiardino. 

With the costs of traditional inlay, faux can be a better alternative.

This is my finished panel from her class.

...and  another piece I did, a wine box, which now holds my brushes.

I have  taken several classes with Lucretia learning more traditional Italian painting techniques.

Now, full circle, here is the panel I did in class, mounted on a small cabinet in my home...all from the inspiration of a small ruler.....don't let the small influences around you slip by unnoticed...!