by Jon Lackman | 5 May 2006 | Uncategorized
From the blog Giornale Nuovo: “The second of the four fascinating essays in the Lithuanian-born art-historian Jurgis Baltrušaitis’ book Aberrations is entitled ‘Pictorial Stones’ and is concerned with the varieties of natural imagery found in marbles, agates, alabasters, and the like; and with the kinds of artificial imagery painted upon such stones. The plates in the book include some fine examples of the former: including ‘ruiniform marbles,’ ‘landscape stones,’ and slabs of jasper bearing weirdly organic patterns. Stones such as these were highly prized in early modern Europe, and many found their way into the collections and cabinets of that era’s connoisseurs…”
