First Half of the 18th Century Putti Pair of Sculptures in Gilded Wood

18th 18th Century Pair of candle-bearing angels Carved and gilded wood, 28 x 71 cm The item is in good condition

19th century Pair of desks with portraits of Petrarch and Leonardo (2) Alabaster, 34 and 35 cm diam The pair of alabaster discs features a central cameo with the effigy of Petrarch and Leonardo, probably part of a larger series that featured illustrious characters from Italian history. On the openwork frame of Petrarch there are portraits of some characters who face each other, combined for centuries, as can be seen from the shapes of the garments that span several centuries: from the thirteenth century, in which men wear long-tipped bonnets, to the fifteenth century and Sixteenth century, the two characters at the top, in the seventeenth century, with wide collars, up to the eighteenth century. Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) embodies the figure of the humanist intellectual par excellence, entirely dedicated to the study of Latin conceived as the only form of expression worthy of a man of letters, so as to serve any form of written communication, including letters and the reflection on himself witnessed in the Secretum. A personality made more complex by obsessive perfectionism, which led him to a continuous and infinite editing of the work which he also flaunted to consider as minor and which instead ensured him an undying fame among posterity, the Canzoniere. But the only aspect fixed in the collective imagination is that of the lover who idolizes the places where his ideal love blossomed...

Very impressive 18th century pair of carved and parcel gilt cherubs on steel stands from Italy. Lovely carving and patina on these.

A pair of lovely carved wooden figures depicting two angels with flute and harp in gold gilding, decorated with small fleur de lis's, standing on plinths.