An Italian gilt-bronze and silvered metal mounted hardstone girandole seven-light candelabrum, Rome, circa 1790-1800, attributed to Francesco Sibilio and Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836)

Private European Collection;

Galerie Kugel, Paris.

A. González-Palacios, Fasto romano, dipinti, sculture, arredi dai palazzi di Roma, 1991, cat. nr. 197, pp.225,227, pl. LXXIX.

RELATED LITERATURE

A. González-Palacios, ‘Marmi, Pietre e Vetri – Lavori de Sibilio’, in Antiques, March 1991, n.12, p-84-89.

A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Milan, 1984, Vol. II, pp.123-124. 

Simonetta Ciranna, ‘Francesco Sibilio, un pietrajo dell’Ottocento; La bottega, la casa, l’attività e l’inventario del 1859’, in Antologia di belle arti. Studi romani I, N. S. № 67-70, 2004, p.146-167.

Fasto Romano, dipinti, sculture, arredi dai Palazzi di Roma, Roma, Palazzo Sacchetti, 15 May - 30 June 1991, nr. 197.

An object that, through its design and materials, embodies the creative explosion unleashed by the neoclassical period in Rome, this candelabrum can be connected to two of the most interesting artists and tastemakers of the beginning of the 19^th century: Francesco Sibilio (1784-1859) and Giacomo Raffaeli (1753-1836). It is also linked to one of the most relevant Roman aristocratic families, the Borghese.

The composition and overall conception of this candelabrum is quite innovative, but what really makes this piece exceptionally different is its base, with a cosmatesque-inspired mosaic of a highly complex pattern made with vibrantly coloured small glass paste pieces and micromosaic tesserae, recalling comparable table tops made of marble and coloured glass by the marble worker Francesco Sibilio (see table signed and dated in Gonzalez Palacios, 1991, p.86, and Sotheby’s London, The Eclectic World of Edric van Vredenburgh, 6 June 2006, lot 96 and 98). At the centre of the concentric patterns, instead of the traditional porphyry, roundels of Russian hardstones are used, namely lapis lazuli, rhodonite, kuskhudin jasper and a rare stone commonly known as “fruit” jasper.

Sibilio was one of the most skillful makers of the first half of the nineteenth century, and also a dealer and collector (the Vatican purchased his collection of over 400 coins), but most importantly he was a marble specialist and worker, a pietrajo. With premises at the centre of the tourist hub, Piazza di Spagna, he not only catered to international tourists, but also to knowledgeable stone collectors such as Faustino Corsi, the brothers Tommaso and Francesco Belli and Edward Dodwell, all of whom had important specimen marble collections.

Sibilio also had a strong commercial relationship with Nicolaï Demidoff of the long-standing dynasty of collectors, who was the first promoter of the use of malachite in the European decorative arts owing to the malachite mines that his family owned in the Urals. When Demidoff moved from Paris to Italy, he transferred all his commissions for works with malachite to the Roman workshop of Sibilio.

Between 1822 and 1828 Sibilio produced many objects in malachite for the Russian aristocrat, and veneered many to be completed in Paris, including candelabra for a big surtout de table (see Ciranna, p.153). The most famous of his works for Demidoff are the extraordinary malachite columns and pavement of the Rotunda Temple (The State Hermitage Museum, 1826-1834). Extensive correspondence between the two exists in the Moscow Archives and it is known that Demidoff not only supplied Sibilio with the malachite needed for his commissions, but also other Russian hardstones (see Ciranna p.167). Consequently, it is only natural to see Demidoff-mined malachite used in this candelabrum, with the small green spots scattered throughout the veins revealing this particular origin.

The sophisticated and distinctive composition of the present candelabrum suggests a maker more in tune with the market for decorative objects such as Giacomo Raffaeli who, like Sibilio, had his studio just off Piazza di Spagna, and the Righetti workshop.

The figures of maidens with their arms raised in this piece are based on canephorae, caryatids which supported baskets. This model copies a classical sculpture published by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi in his Raccolta d’antiche statue (1768) which was acquired by Principe Giovanni Torlonia from the sculptor's auction after his death in 1799. This sculpture is still in the Torlonia collection (Fondazione Torlonia, Rome, MT 485), and was used as inspiration for artists such as Righetti and Valadier.

A drawing sent by Giuseppe Valadier to Charles Tatham (now at the V&A Museum, London, inv.D.1532-1898), shows a candlestick with a similarly draped maiden holding a vase to her head, but even closer to the present lot is a signed pair of candelabra by Francesco Righetti (Gonzalez-Palacios, 1984, vol. II, nr.266) and a pair which Pius VII acquired from the Righetti workshop in 1801 (idem, vol. I, ill. LII). This same motif is also seen in drawings by the Righetti workshop of these same candelabra, as well as on a project for an andiron (Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, inv. nrs. 1938-88-631, 1938-88-605, 1938-88-617).

Furthermore, this figure is also found on the surtout made by Giacomo Raffaelli for the court of Eugene de Beauharnais in Milan. Raffaelli is known to have outsourced some of the work for this surtout and it is possible that he sourced the bronze figures from a workshop such as Righetti’s, revealing strong relationships between the most important Roman workshops for luxury objects. Another example of this is the reference in one of the letters of Sibilio to Demidoff where the pietrajo mentions sourcing a micromosaic from Raffaelli for the Russian aristocrat (Ciranna, p.167).

Interestingly, a description of a candelabrum that could be close in design to the present lot is in Raffaelli’s post-mortem inventory of 1836: “due Candelabri di Marmo a 3 ordini, guarnito ciascuno di Sfingi, Testuggini, Ipogrifi, Cicogne et Telamoni di Metalli patinato, e con vasi di Alabastro sorreggenti de ‘Serpi con boccagli di metallo dorato” (document found by Roberto Valeriani, quoted by González-Palacios in Fasto Romano, p.225).

All these multiple references underline the interwoven relationships that existed between the great Roman workshops, the specialisation of these workshops and their reliability on each other to produce spectacular objects to awe and delight their international patrons. Fundamental to all of this was the fascination with Antiquity, embodied in the use of hardstones and Classical vocabulary that allowed the creation of such glamorous objects to reflect the cultured understanding of the collectors.