Blackmoors couple; Venice, 19th century.

Pair of Blackmoors; Venice, 19th century.
Carved and polychrome wood.
Size: 182 x 50 x 30 cm (x2).
This couple of Venetian servants are shown dressed in a completely idealised manner. The figures of black slaves as a support for the furniture, as well as free-standing as candlesticks, appear in Venice at the end of the 17th century, by the cabinetmaker and sculptor Andrea Brustolon (1662 - 1732). His furniture was characterised by the abundant presence of sculpture, often even in round figures. His most characteristic figures were black figures such as the one shown here, ebonised and painted, which served as supports for large pieces of furniture, or were freestanding. These figures were so popular throughout Europe that they became a key element in luxury Baroque furniture until well into the 18th century and, within the historicism, during the 19th century. They are pieces of exceptional carving quality, conceived as independent works of art. The iconography is the result of the taste for the exotic that characterised the 18th century, and which continued into the 19th century through the Romantic spirit, which liked to reflect and fantasise about everything that was different and distant, both in time and space. This piece recreates the idealised eighteenth-century Venetian world, which in the new industrial century symbolised an elegance and luxury that could never be recovered. This type of piece was meticulously and exquisitely worked, paying as much attention to the carving as to the polychromy, which freely and fancifully reproduces rich embroidered fabrics.