Giovanni Righetti, Camera decorata a mosaico / Mosaic decorated room

all photos courtesy of Catharina Pinelli

About 12 km northwest of the city of Verona in the north of Italy  there is the municipality of Negrar di Valpolicella with about 16,000 inhabitants (end 2004). 

In the 1970s the municipality experienced a considerable growth in population, mainly due to influx from outside, such as well-to-do residents from  nearby Verona who found a pleasant living place in Negrar.

From the point of view of art environments, in Negrar di Valpolicella there is a special creation. In a room in the basement of a house the four walls and the floor have been richly decorated with a variety of mosaics.

Life and works

This art environment was created by Giovanni  Righetti, who was born in a simple family in Negrar di Valpolicella on December 12, 1950 . His mother did the housework and his father worked on farms and on road construction in the area. Giovanni was the only son and had three sisters.

As a boy he was already good at drawing and he also ventured into making sculptures, working stones that he found in the area. The local pastor was enthusiastic about Giovanni's artistic aptitude. However, his parents could not afford an education at an art school and, after holding several jobs, Righetti became a mason, a job he would practice for most of his working life.

In his late teens, Giovanni made a trip to Rome, where he viewed mosaics made in Roman times. And around age thirty he made sculptures with an archaeological slant, such as runes, amulets and totems. 

The larger creations were displayed in the garden at his house,in the La Bassa district, a part of the community surrounded by a beautiful, hilly landscape. The smaller creations were placed indoors in a display case.

An extensive creative project

The artistic activities of Giovanni Righetti summarized above form a prelude to the major project he would undertake in the years 2020-2022. He was 70 years old when he started and had been retired for several years. 

The idea was initially to decorate one wall of a room in the basement of his house with mosaic, but gradually all walls and the floor were decorated, a major project during the period of lock-downs due to the COVID pandemic, on which he also worked on Saturdays and Sundays.

The first wall he decorated is depicted in the very first photo. In the center is a geometric mosaic-filled circle, flanked by a colorful star on the left and an alien on the right.

After that first wall, Righetti continued to decorate the other walls and the floor in the room in the basement, creating creations not only from his imagination, but also by drawing inspiration from legends, stories and myths, as well as historical events and famous sculptures. 

There are imaginative scenes with dragons, but also an image of the sculpture of the mermaid in Copenhagen. Noah's ark, the Trojan horse, the pyramids, they are part of the decorations.

Righetti has worked on his decorative project with great diligence and perseverance. Just to collect the pieces of marble that make up the mosaics, he had to search the streets and the dumps of local quarries. The photos in this post also demonstrate Righetti's sensitivity to color and the great degree of precision used to manufacture the tiles that cover the floor.

To what extent this particular art environment can be visited by those interested in this form of art is unclear. Righetti is a modest person and it is not to be expected that he will transform his house into a kind of museum. In addition, he has said that he doesn't see himself as an artist; he considers making mosaics more of a playful activity. 

So it remains to be seen how things will continue in the coming years. Righetti himself said he sometimes wondered how archaeologists in later times would react if they stumbled upon the mosaics during excavations at the site of his house.......

Documentation

* The text in this post is based on an article recently published in the Italian magazine Osservatorio Outsider Art: 

Daniela Rosi, La stanza meravigliosa. Racconto Musivo di Giovanni Righetti (The wonderful room. Mosaic story by Giovanni Righetti), Osservatorio Outsider Art, no. 25, Spring 2023, p 40-53   (photos by Catharina Pinelli)

As far as could be ascertained, no publications have appeared in regional newspapers

Giovanni Righetti

Mosaic decorated room

Address details not available

Negrar di Valpolicella, dept Verona, region Veneto, Italy

Josué Virgili, La cittá fiorita / The flowered city

 this picture and the next two (undated, probably 1980s)
© Francis David and © LAM from the website Habitants Paysagistes

Now that in March 2018 the Lille Art Museum, France, has published it's website Habitants Paysagistes, illustrative material has become available with the effect that some new entries may be added to this blog. Like the following note about a by now disappeared art environment in Kremlin-Bicêtre, a community south of Paris, France

Life and works

Josué Virgili (1901-1999) ¹, who created this site, migrated in 1922 from Italy to France where he worked as a marble mason, first in Monaco and later -from 1932 on- in the Paris region.

He liked to write poetry and other texts in Italian and he somehow considered himself a messenger of god with the mission to spread love and brotherhood.

When retired, around 1970 he began transforming exterior and interior of his house in Kremlin-Bicêtre into an art environment.

His artistic production in particular includes a large variety of colorful small-scale objects that almost completely cover floors and walls, such as self-made dolls, vases, small sculptures and other objects, often displayed on a variety of equally self-made pedestals and small tables.

For some creations cement was used and these items are often inlaid with pieces of mirror glass, marble or faience, like most exterior and interior floors were also decorated with mosaic in various patterns.

A rather special and characteristic part of Virgili's art includes a series of all kinds of circular creations, often decorated with mosaics or colorfully painted, which evoke associations with or symbolize the sun.

The exterior had various totems, poles with doves or weather-vanes on top and other structures such as a towery one as in above picture that is reminiscent of the Eiffel tower.

Some of Virgili's creations in detail

Francis David's pictures of the site as shown above, mainly provide an overview of the site. But it is interesting to look at some details of Virgili's creations,

The picture below, from the website of the ABCD-art brut collection, showing a pedestal/table made by Virgili, gives a good impression of the way Virgili decorated his creations with mosaic and small concrete structures.

Sculpted heads similar to the one that can be seen in the table leg, return in various other table legs and totems that are part of this art environment, as can be seen in the photo by Bruno Montpied below.

picture (1984) by Bruno Montpied, from his weblog

Also rather interesting is the story around Virgili's creation pictured below, a shining sun that has an accompanying inscription, saying LA RACINE fait pousser (the root makes grow).

This creation became the emblem of the French association l'Aracine. Presided by Madeleine Lommel, the Association brought together an important collection of art brut artworks, which currently is cared for by the Lille Art Museum.

Madeleine Lommel explains in an interview ² with Jeanine Rivais that this emblem was chosen because of the expressiveness of the image and its title (for Virgili faire pousser also meant faire brisquer, which in English is something like to beak, to enrage or to make jealous)

The site has been partially lost, partly preserved

Virgili's art environment doesn't exist anymore. The small items generally are preserved, and have ended up at art dealers, in the collection of l'Aracine or other private collections.

The mosaics and similar decorations on walls and floors probably have gone lost.

Documentation
* Entry about Virgili in website Habitants paysagistes
* Article in Wikipedia
* In his weblog (October 2010) Bruno Montpied reports about a visit he paid in 1984 to Virgili

notes
¹ The date of birth mentioned here is the one as stated in the article in the website Habitants Paysagistes and in the website ABCD-art brut; Wikipedia; mentions 1907 as birth year
² In this interview Madeleine Lommel also explains that l'Aracine means: Les Amis Réunis Autour d'une Création Intemporelle, Novatrice, Essentielle (The Friends Gathered around a Timeless Creation, Innovative, Essential)

Josué Virgili
La cittá fiorita

(formerly) avenue Charles Gide

Kremlin-Bicêtre, dept Val de Marne, région Île-de-France, France

the site doesn't exist anymore

Isravele, l' Eremita di Capo Gallo / The hermit of Capo Gallo

the semaphore in Capo Gallo

Facing the Mediterranean, Capo Gallo is a natural area, since 2001 a natural reserve, north of Palermo, on the Italian island Sicily. Because of the proximity of the sea the area has marine facilities, such as a lighthouse and an elevated building as in above picture, that once was a military lookout and semaphore. 

Life and works

In the late 1990s this building became the home of a hermit who is known as Isravele ¹, the name he has adopted.  

picture by Raija Kalioinen (May 2015)

Not much is known about his life. He was born in 1950, had a job as a mason, worked in Palermo and was a deeply religious man.

He told a reporter who visited him, that in 1985 he had a dream that changed his life, convinced as he became by that dream that he had to be a prophet with the mission to save people's souls.

this picture and the next two: 

screenprints from the video (2008) by Guiseppe Tucci

After that dream he continued his job, addressing his colleagues with religious insights, and then in 1997 he left wife and children to restart his life as a hermit. First he lived in a cave in the seaside rocks in the Capo Gallo natural area, later he squatted the abandoned semaphore building in the same area which wasn't used anymore.

In the course of the years Isravele decorated this building in such a way that it became kind of a sanctuary.

He signposted the road uphill to this sanctuary with small decorations, painted or made from pebbles, and mostly depicting a heart, suggesting this path is a Via Santa. 

 

The interior of the building has been lavishly decorated. The walls are geometrically divided into compartments, each of which is decorated with a large item, such as a portrait or a mosaic representation, surrounded by smaller items like stars, crosses or other signs.   

pictures of the interior: screenshots from 
the video by Ester Affronti (September 2012)

To make his decorations Isravele uses small pebbles, he collects on the beaches. He makes great use of the hexagram and other religious symbols.

It is noteworthy that there are no religious texts and inscriptions on the walls, except one above a clock reading ALLELUIAMEN. The appearance of the interior is rather quite, orderly and understated, which constitutes a major difference with art environments in the USA that include religious expressions, or one of the few European sites with such expressions. 

Outside, however, there is an unscripted text about the End of Times, the return of Gods kingdom, which will be accompanied by great destructions (see the full text in OEE texts).

Isravele is a shy person. A visitor who met him in 2010, has described him as a good looking man with dark, graying hair and a bushy graying beard, adding:  He's articulate, and enthusiastic when talking about God (Kate Ludlov's blog, 2010, see documentation).

Isravele, however, is not eager at all to meet visitors, rather avoids them and he doesn't appear in the video's below. One may wonder if he agreed that the videos were recorded. 

However, if a visit is pre-arranged by people or organisations he trusts, Isravele will welcome (small) groups of interested people.

Documentation

* Article by Helga Marsala, "L’uomo che viveva dentro a un faro. Isravele, eremita e artista irregolare a Pizzo Sella" in Artribune, November 2016

* Article by Eva di Stefano "Israele, a contemporary hermit", in Raw Vision, nr 78 (spring 2013)

* Post in Kate Ludlov's weblog of June 9, 2010 (in English)

Videos
* Video by Giovanni Boscaino (YouTube, 5'51", December 2009)

* Trailer of Lassù (Up There), a documentary film (2022) by Bartolomeo Pampaloni (YouTube)

note

¹ In the original version of this post the name of the hermit appears as Israele. Currently he apparently calls himself Isravele 

first published April 2013, revised May 2023

Isravele

l'Eremita di Capo Gallo

Palermo, Sicily, Italy

not open to the public

Robert Vasseur, La Maison de la vaisselle cassée / The Broken Crockery House

picture courtesy of Sophie Lepetit, from her weblog 

This art environment can be compared with the one made by Raymond Isidore (also Picassiette), although it is less famous.

  
Life and works

Textile worker and milk transporter. Robert Vasseur (1908-2002) lived in the Normandy community of Louviers in a house he had rented in 1942. After he could buy the house in 1948, Vasseur made several structural changes and in 1952, when he had broken a plate, he decorated a kitchen sink and a wall with some broken crockery.

Vasseur and his wife liked the result. Mrs Vasseur in particular, because the mosaic decorated kitchen sink was easier to clean than the original one from reinforced concrete. So the couple decided it would be fine to have more mosaic decorated elements in their house.

Vasseur began a project that would keep him active for the next fifty years: decorating house and garden with mosaic from kitchenware, glass, sea shells and so on.

the dog kennel, used as such 
picture (2007) courtesy of website Outsider Art in France

The neighbors would bring him empty bottles and broken crockery which could be used in the creations.

Although Vasseur's art environment may be not so well known as the Maison Picassiette in Chartres, his creation is based upon the same principles and it has the same appearance. With respect to themes and the use of materials there are differences of course. For example, Isidore's creation has more religious connotations and he did not use shells.

decoration of an interior wall
picture (april 2010) courtesy of Jessica Straus

Robert Vasseur died in 2002. 

Further developments

Vasseur's art environment was maintained first by his son Claude Vasseur and then in 2025 by his grandson Jean Vasseur.

.
Sophie Lepit, author of the weblog Les grigris de Sophie (see Documentation) in the spring of 2010 paid a visit to the site. She was warmly welcomed by Claude Vasseur. He told her that he would like to continue restoring and developing this art environment, both as a tribute to and a continuation of his father's work.

In May 2025 the management of the site was subsequently passed on to Robert Vasseur's grandson, Jean Vasseur. The art environment is now known as La Maison mosaïque.

Here is a short video of the site in January 2026

The site, which has a Facebook page, reopened to the public in mid-2025 after a period of preparation..

a picture on Facebook of the site in 2025

Documentation

* Robert Vasseur appears in Jarvis Cocker's Journeys into the Outside (1999, on YouTube in 2012)
* Pictures (spring 2010) of the site by Sophie Lepetit on her weblog. with overviews and details

* The local Musée de Louviers has published the book La maison aux papillons (1966), text and photographs by Claude and Clovis Prévost
* The website Outsider Art in France has two pages with pictures of the site, both from the interior and the exterior.
* Report of a visit to the site in February 2017 by Jessica Straus

* Article by Sonia Terhzaz, reporting the visit she paid to the site in 2020 on her website Cartographie des Rocamberlus
* Website Habitants-paysagistes (by Lille Art Museum from March 2018 on) has a series of pictures by Francis David (1983) and l'Aracine (1981-1986), and also documentary panels by André Escard (1984-2008)

* La Maison Mosaïque on Facebook

Video

* Video Voyage en Normandie by Catalan 66270 (2009, YouTube, 6'.05")

first published January 2009, last revised January 2026

Robert Vasseur and son and grandson

La Maison de la Vaisselle Cassée, 

from 2025 on referred to as La Maison Mosaïque  

80 Rue du Bal-Champêtre
27400 Louviers, dept Eure, region Normandy, France

site can be visited, see Facebook 

Streetview 2025

Raymond Isidore, La maison de Picassiette / Picassiette's House

picture from a postcard

Located in Chartres, a town in northern France known for its centuries old cathedral, the house of Raymond Isidore (1900-1964), surnamed Picassiette, is among the best known mosaic-decorated sites in the world.

In France it ranks as one of the three top art environments, the other ones being facteur Cheval's Palais Idéal and the sculpted rocks by Abbe Fouré.

Life and works

Isidore mainly had simple jobs. As a young man, living with his parents, he worked as a moulder in foundries. In the early 1930s he was employed by a tramway company and around 1935 he became employed by the city of Chartres as a cantonnier, in which capacity he worked as a sweeper at the local graveyard.  

In 1924 Isidore married Adrienne Dousset (1889-1986) who by that time already had three children.

In 1929 he bought a plot of land along what currently is the Rue de Répos and in 1930 he began building a house where he would live with his wife and the children.

The story of the decorations begins in 1938, when Isidore made a walk in the neighbourhood and happened to see some pieces of broken pottery, which drew his attention and inspired him to make mosaics from broken kitchen ware.

The next twenty years or so, Raymond Isidore would never stop decorating his house with mosaics, finding his inspirations in dreams he had at night.

These efforts resulted in a fully decorated site. Both the exterior and the interior of the house have been fully covered with mosaics, not just the walls, but also the furniture, the beds, the stove....

picture courtesy of Jessica Strauss

Raymond Isidore died September 7, 1964, on the eve of his 64th birthday. His wife Adrienne continued to live in the house until 1979 when she moved to a house for the elderly. She died in 1986. Both Raymond and Adrienne haven been buried in a family grave in the local Saint-Chéron graveyard.

In the 1950s interest in the site grew

In the 1950s in France interest in sites like the one made by Isidore began to grow, mainly in circles of the avantgarde artworld. Picasso paid a visit to the site in 1954 and the photographer Robert Doisneau (1912-1994), who in the 1950s became a famous photographer of the Parisian art scene and the city's street life, in 1956 made pictures of the site.

The photographer Gilles Ehrman also visited Isidore and his 1962 photo-book Les inspirés et leurs demeures might mark the beginning of recognition of sites like the one by Isidore in official French circles In 1969 the French minister of culture Malraux would classify facteur Cheval's Palais Idéal as a historical monument.

The site currently is a museum 

In 1981 the city of Chartres became owner of the house. In 1983 La Maison de Picassiette became a historical monument and currently it is part of the Chartres Museum of Fine Arts.

A digital guided tour

In this post this art environment will not be described in full detail, because the internet already has a very good guided tour on the website The Joy of Shards. The video of France 3 TV in the documentation also gives a tour of the site

What about "picassiette'?

Isidore got his nickname Picassiete by shortening Picasso de l'assiette, a nickname that probably was first used by a journalist who wrote about him in a local journal. The French word assiette means plate.

In the world of those who love or make mosaic pique assiette is a generic name for mosaic products made with found material.

Selected documentation
* Clovis and Claude Prévost, Raymond Isidore, dit Picassiette, de Chartres. Ed du Chène, 1978
* Maarten Kloos, Le paradis terrestre. -107 p. Paros (Encre), 1979, an early publication about the site
* Paul Fuks, "Les rêves de porcelaine de Picassiette", in: Imaginaire & Inconscient 1/2002 (n^o 5) , p. 17-29 

* The site appears in Jarvis Cocker's Journeys into the Outside (1999, on YouTube in 2012, see my post of August 23, 2012)

* Article on SPACES website (2012) with pictures made in 1988 by Seymour Rosen
* Presentation of the site on Facebook, edited by a descendant by marriage of Isidore. Another descendant published a website named Maison Picassiette
* Website Habitants-paysagistes (Lille Art Museum, from March 2018 on) has a variety of photographs by Francis David (1983-1992), l'Aracine (1981-1996) and Louise Tournay (1970-1995) and documentary panels from René Escard's documentation (1970-1995)

* Article about the site by Sonia Terhzaz on her website Cartographie des Rocamberlus (environments d'art singulier), reporting the visit she paid in June 2014. This article includes comments by Raymond Isidore on his creation

Some videos

* Video by Louis Coutard (June 2014, 5.49", YouTube)

* Video (2018, 4'21", YouTube) by France 3 television 

first published November 2008, last revised June 2023

Raymond Isidore

La maison de Picassiette

22 rue de Répos
28000 Chartres, dept Eure-et-Loire, region Centre-Val de Loire, France

in 2023 open for the public from 15/3-15/11,

Wednesday-Saturday 10-18 hrs 

Sunday 14-18 hrs

see the official website