Listen as former curator David Whitehouse describes this micromosaic panel in a carved gilt wood frame. The panel shows a view of St. Peter’s Square in Rome at the time of a Sunday benediction by Pope Leo XIII. The Pope can be seen in the background standing on the balcony blessing a large gathering of pilgrims; in the foreground promenade elegantly dressed figures.
A panel, with this design, was commissioned by the Pecci family in 1879, from the master mosaicist Biagio P. Barzotti at the Vatican Mosaic Workshops. The panel is signed in the lower left corner “B.P. Barzotti, R.F.S.P.”
http://www.cmog.org/