FIRST ACT OF THE COMMENTARY.
PREMISE ESSENTIAL TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THIS EXTRAORDINARY AND UNIQUE MANTEL BORN IN THE NAPOLEON III PERIOD AND FOUND BY US (AND WHERE ELSE?!) IN PARIS:
IT IS WHAT IN JARGON IS CALLED A “UNIQUE PIECE,” IT IS AN IMPORTANT SCULPTURE OF WHICH BELOW, EVEN BEFORE EXAMINING ITS AESTHETIC-ARTISTIC ASPECTS, I WILL LIST THE PHYSICAL VICISSITUDES THAT HAVE ALLOWED US TO OFFER IT TO YOU:
(A) IT WAS BORN, THIS SCULPTURE, IN THE MIND OF A VERY RICH CLIENT (ONLY THE BERLUSCONI'S OF THE TIME, IN FACT, COULD AFFORD TO FINANCE THE PROCESS YOU WILL READ ABOUT BELOW) WHOSE CLIENT HAD AN ORIGINAL “IMAGINATION” THAT WAS DEFINITELY DESCRIPTIVE OF THE POWER MANIA HE HIMSELF WAS HATCHING (SOUNDS LIKE THE BERLUSCA, HEH...), BUT WE WILL TALK ABOUT THIS “POWER MANIA” LATER.
B) IT WAS DESIGNED BY AN ARCHITECT (A VALIANT PARISIAN “DESIGNER,” THIS I WILL DETERMINE WITH PUTINIAN COMMAND, BUT YOU CAN BELIEVE ME, “THE SCENT” IS THAT, UNMISTAKABLE, OF THE ATELIERS DES ARTS OF THE WHITE CITY);
C) THE ENVELOPE OF GREASEPROOF PAPER ILLUSTRATING THE DESIGN OF THE FIREPLACE (AT LEAST TWENTY VERY LARGE SHEETS DRAWN IN INDIAN INK) WAS NOT SENT TO THE ITALIC SCULPTOR THROUGH AMAZON, BUT WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE ARCHITECT HIMSELF TO PIETRASANTA (I TAKE THE NAME OF A TOWN IN LUNIGIANA, ITALY, BUT I COULD TAKE AS AN EXAMPLE ANY OTHER VILLAGE IN THAT BLESSED ITALIC LAND), ABOUT A THOUSAND HUNDRED KILOMETERS TO BE DONE BY THE COUPE' OF THE TIME, A COVERED BUGGY;
D) AT PIETRASANTA, THE ARCHITECT AND THE MASTER SCULPTOR OF ONE OF THE VARIOUS WORKSHOPS THERE AND ACTIVE SINCE 399 B.C.E. (THE YEAR OF THE TAKING OF VEIO, THE CAPITAL OF ETRURIA, BY THE ROMANS), CHATTED AT LENGTH ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION DETAILS TO BE OBSERVED, AND PROBABLY, THE ARCHITECT RETURNED TO PARIS AFTER TWO OR THREE DAYS OF CONSTRUCTIVE TALK AND VALUABLE COMPARISONS WITH THE SCULPTOR HIMSELF;
(E) THE SCULPTURE WORK, GIVEN THE SHEER VOLUME OF DECORATIVE LOAD OUR PROJECT PRESENTED (THERE IS NOT AN INCH OF SURFACE FREE OF SCULPTURE, AS IN ANY “TAPISSERIE WORK,” ALL SMOOTH PARTS ARE COVERED IN THIS CASE BY A REAL CARPET OF LAUREL LEAVES) CAN BE ESTIMATED TO HAVE TAKEN NO LESS THAN 30 TO 40 WORKING DAYS TO SCULPT AND AROUND 15 TO 20 DAYS TO POLISH WITH PUMICE STONE (POLISHING, BY HAND OF COURSE, ACCORDING TO THE OLD SCULPTORS, TOOK HALF PLUS A DAY OF HOW MANY DAYS IT TOOK TO COMPLETE THE SCULPTING WORK). THREE OR FOUR PEOPLE GRAVITATED, LAVISHING ART AND EXPERIENCE FROM MORNING TO NIGHT, AROUND THE BLOCKS OF SELECTED “WHITE P” WHICH, DAY AFTER DAY, TOOK THE FORM OF LEG , LEAF, PLINTH, SIDE, PLATFORM ETC. WE ARE AROUND 18 TO 20 MARBLE PARTS THAT WOULD THEN BE ASSEMBLED IN PARIS;
F) WHEN EVERYTHING WAS READY, A WAGON DRAWN BY DONKEYS OR HORSES OR OXEN CARRIED ALL THESE MARBLE PARTS OF THE FIREPLACE (PLACED IN VARIOUS WOODEN CRATES PACKED INSIDE WITH PLENTY OF STRAW) TO THE PORT OF CARRARA (IN ANCIENT TIMES CALLED “PORTUS LUNAE”)TO THEN BE PLACED ON SHIPS SPECIALLY BUILT FOR TRANSPORTING MARBLES (THE ANCIENT “NAVES LAPIDARIAE”), WHICH CARRIED ALL THESE CRATES TO THE PORTS OF NIZZA OR MARSEILLES.
(G) YOU THOUGHT IT WAS ALL OVER, HUH? BUT WHY, THE GOOD STUFF (IN THE SENSE OF THE MOST TIRING AND PERILOUS STRETCH) IS YET TO COME BECAUSE, IF THE SEA “CRADLED” OUR MARBLES, THE FRENCH ROADS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES WERE MADE BY THE ROMANS (FORMDABLE BUILDERS OF ENGINEERING WORKS, FROM ROADS TO BRIDGES, VIADUCTS ETC. . .), MICA WERE LIKE TODAY'S HIGHWAYS, IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY EVERY METER WAS A POTHOLE (WITH WATER OR WITHOUT) AND IF YOU WANTED TO GO TO PARIS, IT REMAINED TO BE DONE, AT PRACTICALLY WALKING PACE, HUNDREDS OF KILOMETERS MORE, YOU CALCULATE THE LABORS AND COSTS ...;
F) ONCE THE CRATES ARRIVED AT THE “MAISON” IN PARIS THAT HAD ORGANIZED EVERYTHING, THE VARIOUS PARTS WERE ASSEMBLED, USING REFINED PLASTER (IN ESSENCE, SCAGLIOLA) MIXED WITH JEALOUSLY KEPT SECRET GLUES (USUALLY, HOWEVER, BASED ON FISH OR RABBIT OR GOAT OR COW GLUE OR GELATIN OBTAINED BY BOILING ANIMAL NAILS AND BONES). AND OUR FIREPLACE, AT LAST, WAS SERVED!
SECOND ACT OF THE COMMENTARY
Let us now come to trying to understand the significance of the ONLY DECORATIVE ELEMENT OF THIS INCREDIBLE FIREPLACE, A LEAF OF LAURUS NOBILIS TREE, MORE SIMPLY KNOWN AS LAURUS NOBILIS OR ALORO, take your pick .
Since this is not a mass-produced fireplace mantel, it is presumable that it was the commissioning owner who asked his trusted architect to develop his primal idea, that of giving the fireplace all the meanings of his favorite plant, the Laurel.
WHAT ARE THE MEANINGS OF THE LAUREL PLANT?
Well, perhaps the starting point should be seen in its consecration to Apollo, god of poetry and music.
Apollo was also considered the lord of Delphi, and the first of the six temples erected in the city in his honor was built precisely using laurel branches.
Not only that, the plant was also consecrated to Asclepius, Apollo's son and god of medicine.
That is why for several centuries the plant was used as a cure for numerous diseases, especially the plague. Who knows, perhaps it would also have been successful in combating COVID, could it be that no doctor emeritus had considered this possibility?
But soon, this beautiful and healthy path of poetry, music and medicine was soon abandoned and the Laurel began to be the princely representative of Victory..
Victory in general, any Victory..
It ranged from scholastic achievement and the corresponding crowning with Laurel Leaves (hence the term “LAURED”) to the crowning of all emperors with a CROWN, LOOKING FORWARD, OF LAUREN LEAVES (OR OF laurel, IF YOU PREFER, WHAT A CAUSE, WITH ALL THESE SURRANNIES..).
And if the aforementioned consecrations were after all to crown moments of GLORY, soon the laurel wreath with which the popes crowned emperors, BECOME A SYMBOL OF POWER.
Returning to us and our fireplace, we have certain proof that, of all these considerations, the aspect that most interested our patron was that of POWER.
“And how can you, Maurizio, be so sure that our ancient owner was there, in power, in short, that he was aiming!”
Simple: In both legs of our fireplace, half-hidden by all those laurel branch fronds, there is, neatly upright, THE COMMANDER'S STICK THE SAME ONE THAT EVEN THE POPE CLUTCHES IN HIS OCEAN APPEARANCES.
It is a staff with a pine cone at the top.
The pine cone symbolizes the pineal gland.
THE PINEAL GLAND IS CONSIDERED THE MOST IMPORTANT GLAND IN OUR BODY. LARGE AS A WALNUT AND PLACED IN THE CENTER OF THE BRAIN AT THE HEIGHT OF THE EYES (FOR THAT REASON ALSO SAID “THIRD EYE”) IT COMMANDS MANY FUNCTIONS OF OUR BODY (don't ask me which ones because I, in science subjects never excelled, I only made a good impression when I could copy, an activity in which I excelled) AND Hence, FROM THIS HIS INDUBLIC SUPERIORITY BECOME THE SYMBOL OF COMMAND, IN ALL LANDS OF THE WORLD, VATICAN INCLUDED.
INDEED, IN THE VATICAN ESPECIALLY, THIS SYMBOL OF COMMAND AND POWER FOUND ITS HIGHEST EXPRESSION IN THE.... “PINION,” A BRONZE CAST PINECONE FOUR METERS HIGH AND MADE IN THE SECOND CENTURY AFTER CHRIST. THE VATICAN SQUARE IN WHICH IT IS LOCATED IS CALLED, PRECISELY, THE “PINION SQUARE.”
POST SCRIPTUM: A FIREPLACE WITH NO PARTICULAR STYLISTIC REFERENCES, NO FAMILY, IN ESSENCE, MOREOVER MADE IN A SINGLE SPECIMEN CANNOT HAVE A NAME.
AND SO, YOU MAY ASK, HOW COME YOU WROTE ABOUT THIS FIREPLACE THAT ITS NAME IS “FEUILLE DE LAURIER”?
Well, I confess, I imagined that name, it didn't seem right that our orphan didn't have, of his own, even a name.
Why, you don't like it, perhaps!
