Federici Workshop was born in Bologna in 1905. Oreste Federici, the oldest man in the left side of the photo besides, was the first owner of the Workshop. Federici was endowed with great ability in the practice of Decorative Frames Design and woodcarving. He devoted much of his life to the study of antique frames, designing and plays through the observation of the original models found in most important Italian art galleries. He bequeathed to his students a vast production of drawings and wood carved model frames. From this heritage the subsequent owners watched to improve their skills enriching and upgrading with new models and new studies the entire knolodge of the Workshop. Among the best works he made there are painting frames and mirror frames for the Residence of the king Vittorio Emanuele III.

After the death of Orestes Federici, in 1956, Alberto Zaniboni became the new owner of the Workshop. At that time Zaniboni was 50 years old, was full of experience in the field of decorative design frame and woodcarving. Among the most important works he made there is a sixteenth century Emilia frame for a Raphael painting commissioned by the British Museum of London in 1960. There are three carved and gilded Emilia frames for the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna commissioned over the years "70". He also produced many huge 18th century venetian and Emilian mirror frames for various noble families from all over Italy. He was a very patient man and was devoted to the teaching of art to his students, giving special attention to the seventeenth and eighteenth century emilian and venetian frames.

In 1982 is time for Antonio Gurrieri to be the new owner of Federici Worshop. Antonio Gurrieri specializes in carving and especially in the practice of leaf gilding. He got the commission for monumental gilding works, including the gilding of the ceiling of the "Pale de la Culture in Algiers", commissioned directly by the Algerian government in 1983. In 1984 He got the commission of the huge decoration of the portal of the King Hussein Jordan Residence. In 1991 he is responsible for the furnishing decoration of the yacht belonging to the Sheikh of Brunei. The most prestigious work he got was to make a score of frames for such important painting as G. Batoni and Masolino during the fall of the Berlin Wall that give the opportunity to the Statliche Museen to discover greit old master paintings in the west side of the city to frame. During 1990 to 2001 Antonio Gurrieri framed more than 30 paintings for the Statliche Museen of Berlin.

In 1999 Massimiliano Gurrieri, pictured on the rigth side, has the prestigious role of being the new owner of the Workshop. His father retired leaving the task to make the huge carved, gilt and laquered frame containing seven paintings of Sebastaiano Ricci for Berlin State Museum (Museen Statliche). This is an entirely hand-carved frame, seven meters long by three meters large, which reproduces the original frame lost during the Second World War. In 2000 He framed a painting of Prospero Fontana with an Emilia seventeenth century carved frame commissioned always for the Statlichee Museen. In the same year he was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum to make an eighteenth century Roman frame for "Il Gonfalone" painting of Artemisia Gentileschi. In 2003 the Patriarch of Venice commissioned to him thirty Venetian-style oval frames for thirty paintings of the previous Patriarchs of Venice. Since 1999 Massimiliano Gurrieri is committed, along with his group of students, for reproductions of antique frames for art galleries and private clients from cities all around the world.

Massimiliano Gurrieri - Curriculum Vitae

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