THIS MANTEL HAS BEEN INCLUDED IN BOTH THE LOUIS XIV AND LOUIS XV SECTIONS.
THIS IS BECAUSE ITS LOW ARCHED FRONTAL IS DERIVED FROM THE STYLE THAT MADE THE SUN KING FAMOUS (HOW MANY LOUIS XIV FIREPLACES (ESPECIALLY THE MANTELS CALLED "BOUDIN" WERE BUILT WITH THIS PROFILE!!) WHILE ITS PECULIAR SQUARES EXECUTED BY FLUTING ARE PROPERLY LOUIS XV (MUCH IN USE IN "POMPADOUR PLAT” FIREPLACE MODELS).
AS IT HAPPENS, THIS VERY PLEASANT “MIX,” CREATED IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES, WAS SO SUCCESSFUL IN PARIS TO THE POINT OF BEING CALLED “ PARISIENNE”.
IN THE CASE, THEN, OF THIS SPECIFIC MANTEL, THE FACT THAT IT HAS BEEN CARVED IN ONE OF THE FINEST AND MOST VALUABLE MARBLES IN THE WORLD (A “CLASSIC CALACATTA” BELONGING TO THE FAMILY OF CARRARA STATUARY) MAKES IT EVEN MORE APPEALING, SYMPATHETIC, AS IT WERE, “MORE CHARACTERFUL” AS WELL AS, CERTAINLY, IN HIGH DEMAND BECAUSE OF ITS OWN “WARM” EFFECT.
PERFECT PRESERVATION, SCULPTURAL WORK DONE ON THE CÔTE D'AZUR, MOST LIKELY BY BASQUE SCULPTORS, WHO IN THE SUMMERTIME WERE WORKING PRECISELY IN THE FRENCH SCULPTURE WORKSHOPS IN NICE AND MARSEILLE (THEY WERE DOING “THE SEASON”), FOUND IN A PARISIAN CONSTRUCTION SITE.
As I write these lines, I am thinking of what more to say to magnify the fireplace in question, but it is so beautiful and healthy, so sympathetic and nobly colored that I can think of nothing else to add to the proposed images.
And so I look outside, maybe I'll be inspired....
Macché, there is a fog that can cut it with a knife, and ... inspiration leads me to talk about this fog instead of the fireplace.
And I think about how many different ways each of us has of judging this weather phenomenon that we Padanians experience daily (my talking cricket: exaggerated!! let's say two days out of three..).
Some of us, if compassionate by others who are more weather-lucky, even become proud of it and perhaps say (with a manner somewhere between the leghist and the nostalgic..) “We are a race tempered by fog!”
Someone else, if in late September the fog is late in coming, feels nostalgic for it....
Some, even, use it as an excuse not to go to an annoying appointment, and so the fog becomes a good mother signing the excuse to the child who does not feel like studying.
There are also those who think that if the people of the Po Valley are thought to be open, sympathetic and convivial individuals, it is because we are compensating for tedium and despondency of atmospheric origin with antibodies of optimism... Take note: In the Po estuary, one of the poorest places in Italy but certainly the richest in fog, the houses are all tinted with vivid colors, from strawberry to turquoise,from Old Red to pea green, a little artificial color, heck, in reaction to the prevailing gray of fog.
Personally (and so I link back to the talk about fireplaces...) I appreciate the fog and thank it when it allows me to stay home on Sundays.. No “out-of-town trips” or duties imposed by the wife who would demand (but I'm not a gardener, I !!) landscaping or other such dabblings. Here then, after lighting my reassuring fireplace, I curl up on the couch with a book that merits.
It's a piece of advice I give everyone, that of a Sunday in the company of the fireplace, relaxes much more than a yoga session !!!
