I MUST MAKE AN IMPORTANT PREMISE, A PREMISE THAT YOU WILL HAPPEN TO READ OTHER TIMES IN THE LUIGI XVI AND EMPIRE SECTIONS, A PREMISE THAT, HOWEVER, IS NECESSARY TO A BETTER POSSIBLE UNDERSTANDING OF THE FIREPLACE PRESENTED:
THIS FIREPLACE IS PUBLISHED BOTH IN THE LUIGI XVI SECTION AND IN THE EMPIRE SECTION, THIS IS BECAUSE WHILE IT IS TRUE THAT THE EMPIRE STYLISM (HERE I AM REFERRING TO THE “FIRST EMPIRE,” THAT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE) STEMS FROM THE NEOCLASSICAL STYLISTIC MATRIX AND MORE PRECISELY LUIGI XVI, IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT IN THE NAPOLEON III PERIOD (WHO WAS EMPEROR FROM 1852-1870) THE BASIC STYLISM OF THE FIRST EMPIRE WILL LOSE CERTAIN TOO AUSTERE AND/OR SPARTAN ASPECTS AND WILL BE DECISIVELY “REFINED.”
AND ALSO, EXCUSE ME, I WOULD NOT MAKE TOO MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NAPOLEON BONAPARTE AND NAPOLEON III, THE LATTER IN FACT A) WAS DESCENDED FROM THE FORMER (HE WAS HIS NEPHEW AS HIS BROTHER'S SON), B) HAD HIS OWN DEFECT OF WANTING TO BE EMPEROR AT ALL COSTS, C) WAS A PROPONENT OF FRENCH GRANDEUR (IT WAS HE WHO BUILT, AT THE COST OF DEMOLISHING THE CENTER OF PARIS, THE CHAMPS ELYSEES) AND HE TOO, D) AFTER A MILITARY DEFEAT ENDED UP IN EXILE.
TALIS ZIUS TALIS NEPOTEM!!! (MACHERONIC LATIN BUT VERY UNDERSTANDABLE).
ALL THIS PARROT TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT, AFTER ALL, EVEN THE SO-CALLED “SECOND EMPIRE” IS NOT AT ALL SECOND TO THE “FIRST EMPIRE.”
AND IN ANY CASE, BOTH CAN BEAR THE TITLE OF “EMPIRE.”
NOW LET US GO TO THE ACTUAL COMMENTARY ON THE MANTEL IN THIS FILE:
At first glance, the lines of this fireplace belonging to the Second Empire seem to return to the primal austerity of the First (Empire).
Which is partly true; the columns are not tapered (as they 99% are when we have Napoleon III-era specimens as this one is) but maintain the same diameter from bottom to top.
Moreover, one breathes an air of ... “Spartan,” no ornate details (except for the baccellaturas -also called ‘Pompeian flutes’- at the feet), as if the focus was only on architecture.
Why did I write that “in part” the concept of a return to early Empire stylistic patterns is true?
What is the other part, if any?!
In my opinion, there is an air of Directoire here, a stylism that in turn served as a transition between Louis XVI and the First Empire, a stylism therefore also strongly related to all the Empires of the world (which are three, the First Empire, the Late Empire and, finally, the Second Empire).
Well, I cannot claim (in the sense that I have no proof, it is just a matter of a strong FEELING) that the architect who designed this “very clean” fireplace actually acted inspired by Directoire stylism, but if I had to bet on it, I would point in this direction.
Too different, in fact, is this specimen from its other brethren of the same historical period, too smooth its surfaces, too “revolutionary” its minimalist pen strokes.
MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL, I ALMOST FORGOT:
A FIRE SURROUND LIKE THIS WAS NEVER MASS-PRODUCED AND IS TO BE CONSIDERED A UNIQUE PIECE, DESIGNED AND MADE FOR THE PARISIAN HOUSE FROM WHICH WE NIGHTLY RUB... EHMM. LOVINGLY COLLECTED.
PARIS, NAPOLEON III PERIOD, MARBLE WHOSE FRENCH APPELLATION MAKES “BLEU TURQUIN” WHILE THE ITALIAN ONE (FROM WHICH IT COMES) MAKES “IMPERIAL BARDIGLIO.”
QUESTION (PERHAPS NOT TOO PEREGRINE): DOESN'T IMPERIAL MARBLE HAVE A BEARING ON ITS ILLUSTRIOUS EMPEROR MENTORS!?
