sht. 18

A

Luigi Valadier, Oil lamp with two rearing bears at the base; shade with a crest, c. 1775, graphite, pen, brown ink, brown, grey, red and light sky blue wash on paper, 340 x 240 mm.; numbered above: “19”; inscription in pen below: “La base che sia pesante per equilibrarla con il peso dell’olio acciò non traballi / L’anima che sia di rame perché il calore dell’olio non avesse à cagionar danno”.

Bibliography: Leone 2019a, p. 84; Leone 2019b, pp. 71, 72, 73.

B

Luigi Valadier, Silver oil lamp topped with a sphere; stem with grooved herm, ships’ rostra for the ampullae and double shade, c. 1780-5, graphite, pen, brown ink, brown and grey wash on paper, 330 x 230 mm.; inscription in pen bottom left: “Alta in tutto palmi due / Peserà libre sette e mezza / Importerà di fattura scudi quaranta”.

Bibliography: Leone in Valadier, 2019-2020, pp. 79

The motif of the stem with a truncated-inverted-pyramid grooved herm with four heads at the top is found in a drawing with a design for an oil lamp (current whereabouts unknown) and in a number of white marble and ormolu candlesticks (Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, on permanent loan to the Musée du Louvre). Both the drawing and the candelsticks have been attributed to Giuseppe Valadier and dated c. 1790 (González-Palacios 2018, p. 237, figs. 5_27, 5_28). Giuseppe may have used his father Luigi’s graphic ideas to make the candlesticks.

Bibliography: Leone 2019a, p. 84; Leone 2019b, p. 72.