Attributed to Francois Ladatte

Exhibited by Burzio.

Material Gilt bronze

Dimensions 43 x 30 cm

Place of Creation Turin

Status Vetted

About the Work

A pair of rare and important Italian Rococo ormolu twin-branch Candelabra which can be transformed into single candle holders, each with two removeable arms in the shape of scrolling leaves, with refined bobéche in the shape of a blossomed flower, set onto a stem in the shape of a torchon with cartouches, scrolls, and shells, onto rocaille bases, onto moulded stands. The distinctive shape of both the supports and the arms of the present pair of candelabra, with the distinctive movement of leaves and scrolls, is most probably the work of the Piedmontese bronze smith Charles-François Ladatte (1706–1787), first sculptor in bronze to his Royal Highness Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy. Born in Turin, Ladatte moved to Paris where he was receptive to the influence of Charles Cressent and Thomas Germain. He was made a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture of Turin in 1736. He was more than a mere bronze worker, however: he was a silversmith, a painter, a sculptor, and an academician. The creative fancy, the extravagance of design, the technical virtuosity, the sculptural qualities, and the refined international taste typical of Ladatte’s production can all be found in the present pieces.

Ladatte’s work rests onto the production of one of the greatest exponents of the Rococo style, Juste-Aurele Meissonier (1695–1750), who also was born in Turin into a family of French silversmiths. After training in his family workshop and working and the mint of Turin, Ladatte moved to Paris around 1714. A few years later, Louis XV of France appointed him dessinateur du Cabinet and orfèvre du Roi. The French king must have appreciated Ladatte’s fanciful inventions and his versatility, as he is recorded to have provided designs for ephemeral apparatuses, furniture, bronze and silver. Active as a silversmith, painter and sculptor, Ladatte overcame the rigid rules of symmetry, exasperating the Baroque style, designing objects with unbalanced surfaces, rounded and coiling shapes, shell-inspired motifs and fanciful vegetal elements. His Italian origin and training were probably at the base of the extravagance of his decorative style. Several wall lights by Ladatte are documented in the Royal Palace of Turin (Galleria del Daniel and in the Breakfast Room). François Ladatte collaborated with Pietro Piffetti on many of the cabinetmaker’s most important commissions such as, most notably, the Queen’s Cabinet in the Royal Palace of Turin. The cartouche found on the stem of the present candle holders have important similarities with the gilt bronze keyhole patches found on the commode by Pietro Piffetti of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, which are attributed to Ladatte. It is important to stress that the gilt bronze patches found on the New York commode are extremely close to those of the Ashburton Cabinet, sold at Christie’s London in 1992 (lot 166), and several other elements in gilt bronze firmly attributed to Ladatte.

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Provenance

Fabre Antiquaires Paris, Geneva private Collection

Literature

•Angela Griseri, Francesco Ladatte: un protagonista dello stile Luigi XV, Antologia di Belle Arti,
edited by Alvar Gonzales-Palacios, Studi sul Settecento III, Turin, 2003, p. 49, fig.6.
•Mario Tavella, Due coppie di appliques in bronzo dorato di Francesco Ladatte, Antologia di Belle
Arti, edited by Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, Studi sul Settecento III, Turin, 2003, p. 53.
•E. Colle, A. Griseri, R. Valeriani, Bronzi decorativi in Italia, Milan, 2001, Cat. 36, pp. 110–111.
•L. Mallé, Le Sculture del Museo d'Arte Antica, Turin, 1965, pp. 234–235, tab. 284–285.
•V. Natale, et al., Gli Splendori del Bronzo, Turin, 2002, tab. 10, p. 107.
•Vittorio Viale, Mostra del Barocco Piemontese, Turin, 1963, tab. 298, for a similar pair of wall lights by Ladatte held at the Museo Civico di Arti Antica, Turin; tab. 21 n.107, for a similar pair of silver candle holders.