Candlesticks; following Piranesi's models, XIXth century

Candlesticks; following models of Piranesi, XIX century.
Stucco.
Measurements: 118 x 30 x 30 cm.

Candlesticks of large dimensions that follow a design similar to those found in the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. The piece sits on a quadrangular base on which lion claws appear and from which emerge four sides adorned with reliefs of classical inspiration. In the upper area, ram's heads give way to the shaft of the candlestick.

According to Sánchez-Jaúregui "the candlesticks as a decorative element of the salons became one of the pieces of certain luxury for the neoclassical adornment. There were not many models and they were inspired, more often than not, by the design of paintings, which is what Piranesi usually used for the many examples of candlesticks that he included in his engravings. Such is the fondness of Piranesi and his English clients for this type of pieces, be they candlesticks, urns or antique altars, that for a long time the artist will make many loose plates with this type of pretended antiques".

Battista Giovanni Piranesi was a distinguished engraver. After studying architecture, he studied etching with Giuseppe Vasi in Rome. In 1743 he published his first series of prints, "Prima Parte di Architettura e Prospettiva". Produced at the age of 23, it already revealed his mastery as an engraver. Combining descriptive zeal and fantasy, his interpretations of ancient Roman monuments were an important contribution to the development of neoclassicism. In the collection "Carceri d'Invenzione", he transformed the ruins into enormous dungeons full of passages and steep staircases that would have a significant influence on romanticism and even surrealism. The palatial architecture and English country houses are also indebted to Piranesi's engravings. Many plates passed to the current "Calcografia Nazionale" in Rome.

In Spain, his engravings are preserved in the National Library and in the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. In the engraving that concerns us, we see the artist reinterprets the peculiar superimposition of the church of San Lorenzo on the foundations of the temple of Antoninus on the Via Sacra in Rome.