Once upon a time, when there were no cameras, much less iPhones, tourists visiting Rome bought small mosaics. These depicted their favorite ancient monuments of the Eternal City and they bought them as souvenirs of their trip. Antiques were so widespread that one can still find them today in shops in Rome such as Studio Gioielleria Quattrocolo.
In a nod to the past, Gucci has incorporated the antique micro-mosaics from the Grand Tour into the Hortus Deliciarum High Jewelry collection. The collection was designed by creative director Alessandro Michele and banned visitors from posting photos of the precious exhibits from Villa Albani last week.
Villa Albani is also a place that, as we all know, cannot be photographed.
The magnificent 18th-century building was originally built for Cardinal Alessandro Albani. A place to house his antiquities collection, which is one of the birthplaces of neoclassical style.
Someone who got permission to do a photo shoot at the villa was then only allowed to show an extremely limited part of the space. An internet search proves this to be true. There are very few photos and most of them are of the exterior.
Now Gucci has released images of several pieces from the collection, which means they did a great job of creating anticipation but also controlling the image.
Gucci's Hortus Deliciarum collection, which means “Garden of Delights” in Latin, has five categories.
These cover a fantastic Grand Tour through time zones, myths and realities. The first room is literally the Grand Tour. Journeys through Europe starting or ending in Italy during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The miniature paintings depicting ancient Roman landmarks in several of the designs gave the jewellery a sense of history and place. Interestingly, Alessandro Michele includes them in his personal collection and they have been authenticated by Christie's.
Classic pearls became dreamy sea gems of the myth of Cleopatra, as seen by Michele in the Gucci collection.
He also priced colourful gemstones in a category called kaleidoscope, which conveys the collection's imaginary journey to Maharaja India.
Then we go to the 1930s and 40s. The skyscrapers and geometries of the New World (or you could say New York) inspired all the jewellery. One of the most striking pieces of jewelry is a 172-carat emerald in a hexagonal shape.
The piece is one of the many that Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain featured in the collection campaign photographed by Mert & Marcus. More can be seen on Gucci's Instagram.
The last stop on Gucci's Grand Tour is the 1970s. Colour again plays a role in the designs and silhouettes include long pendant necklaces.
One is in the form of Gucci's Savana design that originally appeared on a scarf made at the time. For Gucci, the flower from its past is just as much a stop on its Grand Tour as the micro-mosaics. The representational designs always convey the story clearly.
