Question

Which of the following statements is correct regarding the term 'pietra - dura'?
1. It was a technique for the inlay of precious stones and gems into stone walls.
2. It was a style of gardening.
3. It was a form of Hindustani classical music played in the courts of Delhi Sultans.
4. It was a type of painting style carried out on palm leaves.

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 1 : It was a technique for the inlay of precious stones and gems into stone walls.

The correct answer is It was a technique for the inlay of precious stones and gems into stone walls.

• Pietra dura:
  • It is several kinds of hard stone used in commesso mosaic work, an art that flourished in Florence particularly in the late 16^th and 17^th centuries.
  • It is involved in the fashioning of highly illusionistic pictures out of cut-to-shape pieces of colored stone.
  • It was a type of painting style carried out on palm leaves.
  • Pietra dura items are generally crafted on green, white, or black marble base stones.
  • This style of ornamentation was extensively used on the walls of the Taj Mahal.
  • This style carves floral designs made of semi-precious stones onto the walls of monuments.

• The technique of pietra dura is a Florentine invention of the end of the 16^th century, at the time of the Medici.
• It is Francis I of Medici, who is the promoter of this art in Florence.