A PAIR OF ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE CANDELABRA, ROME, BY LUIGI VALADIER FOR THE PALAZZO BORGHESE IN 1785 |

the stem chiselled with caryatids, lion heads and masks, issuing three removable light branches, topped by a flamed vase forming a nozzle; one of the candelabra numbered 2 on the top of the stem (where issuing the removable branches), the other one 22 on the same place and also on the removable branches (twice under the flamed vase)

Prince Marcantonio Borghese (1730-1800) at the Palazzo Borghese, Rome

A. González-Palacios, « Luigi Valadier a Palazzo Borghese », Antologia di Belle Arti, 43-47, 1993, p. 34-51, fig. 460, 486 et 492
A. González-Palacios, « Vie de Luigi Valadier », catalogue de l'exposition Luigi Valadier au Louvre ou l'Antiquité exaltée présentée au musée du Louvre du 17 novembre 1994 au 13 février 1995, Paris, 1994, p. 39

The photograph is quite accurate. Good overall condition. Very few stains and spots of oxidation; a little wear on the flat surfaces. Historical objects by one of the best goldsmiths and bronziers in late 18th century Rome.
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TWENTY-FOUR CANDELABRES BY LUIGI VALADIER Luigi Valadier took his own life on 15 September 1785. In a document dating three months after his death (1), mention is made of the commissions he executed probably for his best client, Prince Marcantonio Borghese. They pertain to three works: a small monument called Porticato, one gilt bronze figure and finally the 24 candelabras that concern us here. The first consisted of a pronaos in colored marbles and gilt bronze including a pediment clock whose location is currently unknown (2).

The second object is described very succinctly: "a metal figure representing a river, which supports a clock dial to set the movement, and a stone base below, which was requested by his Excellency, whose expenditure for the bronze and gilding is in the amount of 110 scudi." The object itself was never found, but it is known due to an old photo published in the Borghese auction catalogue of 1892 (3). The bill ends with the description of 24 gilt bronze candelabras:

For having made 24 metal candelabras with their triple light branches, adorned along  the base with laurel leaves tied with ribbons, gadroons, small masks and leaves; the baluster in the upper part is decorated with flutings and ornated with bust caryatids and below with lion heads and laurel leaf and rope garlands. Above the baluster stands a small fluted vase from which three branches decorated with foliage are tied with small ribbons, at the end of which are placed the drip pans and sockets chiseled in the same way as the candelabras. The central stem ends with a sconce that can be turned and form a drip pan matching the others. Counting the metal, cast iron and chiseling, as well as  underfooting lined with Holland cloth imported quickly, the price of each candelabre is 20 scudi, and the set is equivalent to the sum of 480 scudi ... which candelabre should be used for the palace apartment [Borghese] in Rome ....

In addition, for each of these candlesticks, was spent 10.5 ducats of gold, the sum of 252 scudi And, for the drip pans, was spent 9.5 ducats of gold

[the total price of the candelabras was 480 scudi or ecus, to which must be added the value of gold calculated in ducats or sequin, that is 252 ecus for candelabras, plus 9.5 ducats for drip pans, for a total of 741.5 ecus]

Six candelabras of this model are already known. Four belonged to the late Parisian antique dealer Maurice Segoura, and two others to Benjamin Steinitz. The Galerie Steinitz published in a fascicule (undated) the candelabras exhibited by these two Parisian galleries and cited in a writing’s bibliography in 1993 in which I had published the above document. In the Steinitz booklet, it was mentioned in particular that the candelabras, along their upper part, comprised certain incised numbers while others were ink-inscribed under the central stem. On the two candelabra that we present here, one of the candelabra is numbered 2 on the top of the central stem (on the drip pan which receives the removable part from the three branches), the other 22 in the same place and on the removable part (twice under the burning torch).

However, I must make a few precisions, given the lack of clarity from the 1785 document. The Porticato and the River figurine are mentioned as part of the "works executed for the Villa Pinciana apartment"; as for the 24 candelabras, only the end of the document indicates that these "must be used for the apartment in the Palazzo di Roma" located in Campo Marzio. The quality of the six candelabra corresponds to Luigi Valadier's productions during the very last months of life. The candelabras currently listed certainly come from the Borghese Palace where they were until the 1892 and 1893 auctions. It is quite likely that, following the bankruptcy of the Banca Romana, the titled Prince Borghese, Don Paolo was forced to hold these important auctions. During the great financial disaster that ensued, the prince lost the property of Campo Marzio Palace, as well as the immense ensemble of Villa Borghese on Pincian Hill. After its acquisition by the Italian State in 1901, the Villa became one of the most beautiful museums in the world.

In order to better understand the origin of these candelabras, which are among Luigi Valadier’s last works, it is important to examine three designs conserved at the Pinacoteca de Faenza, which houses one of the most important graphic archives from the Valadier workshop. I have published in the past a first drawing. It depicts a candelabrum with two fluted branches having a more Louis XVI styling, on which appear two lion muzzles with hoops in the mouth. This project, with its fluting and its stem accented with laurel leaves, seems to correspond, at least one section, to our candelabras. When I published this drawing a few years ago, it was mostly meant to note that certain elements of this decorative repertoire were found ten years later on the service items executed by Giuseppe Valadier, around 1795, for Monseigneur Odescalchi (4).

The other two designs are more closely related to our model, as well as having a greater pictorial quality and a better craftsmanship. They depict two candelabras in which we find many typical elements from Luigi Valadier’s later period, the whole rendered with vivacity and delicacy, not only in the execution, but also in the very conception of the model. The first, marked with the letter A, presents a very studied composition, with abstract geometric patterns and spiral flutings. The approximation to the second design, marked at the top with the letter B, is even more relevant. The base has a smooth surface surmounted by a laurel roundel, while the stem is decorated with masks and phytomorphic motifs identical to those on the Borghese candelabras. Other garlands animate the middle part, while the small Antiquity vase topping everything is particularly slender. It is not determined if these three designs by the same draftsman is Luigi Valadier, but they were certainly executed according to his ideas, and probably by his workshop.

Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios

 

(1) A. González-Palacios, Il Gusto dei Principi. Arte di corte del XVII e del XVIII secolo. Milan, Longanesi, 1993, I, p. 261, note 96. Documentation found with the Vatican Secret Archives, Borghese Archives, fascicule 5349, n. 5504. Begining titled: “Adì 31 Dec.re 1785 Ristretto delle somme dell’annessi conti di lavori fatti da Luigi Valadier Argentiere dalli 30 Marzo a tt° il 30 Ap.le del cad° anno [1785]”.

(2) The Porticato comprises a clock based on a sketch by Agostino Fantastici, architect from Sienna, during a trip to Rome in 1806, found in his sketchbook of objects from the Villa Borghese (cf. González-Palacios op.cit., vol. II, fig. 486).

(3) On River mantle clock (actually a scale model of Dusk by Michelangelo),

see A. González-Palacios, Luigi Valadier, The Frick Collection, New York, 2018, p. 433.

(4) A. González-Palacios, op. cit. note 1, vol. II, fig. 388 (and vol. I, p. 204).