An upcoming jewelry exhibition co-curated by the fashion designer Carolina Herrera sheds new light on the Italian Duke Fulco di Verdura, who can be credited with changing the look of 20th century jewelry through his innovative idea to combine precious gemstones with yellow gold.
Born in 1898 to Sicilian aristocracy in Palermo, Verdura was most known for his influences by surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, with whom he collaborated on a collection that was exhibited at an art gallery in New York in 1941. One of the highlights in the exhibition is his “Medusa” brooch (pictured left),which comprises 13 intertwined snakes made of 14k yellow gold and cabochon ruby eyes, framing a miniature painting of Medusa by Dalí set with a 73-carat Morganite.
