Its name, “VERSAILLES” originates from the fact that its main decoration (that series of floral festoons carved all along the front of the fireplace) is often found in many decorations inside the palace itself and even outside: When you go to visit the most beautiful mansion in the world, you cannot fail to stop for a moment, even before entering, to admire, astonished, these same festoons on the gate of the palace. These are huge, made of forged iron and then covered in pure gold and were meant to represent the Beauty, the Grandeur, the Opulence of this gracious little house...
So let us begin the actual commentary by explaining that this specific specimen is what is known in the vernacular as a“Unique Piece”, that is, a fireplace commissioned by a particular client from the trusted architect (in these cases, it was almost always the designer of the house itself) and, of course, carved in ONE EXEMPLARY. And it is for this reason that our fireplace, unlike 99.9% of its brethren, including those published here, DOES NOT HAVE A NAME, BUT ONLY A SURNAME, “LOUIS XVI,” THE STYLISHNESS THAT COMES FROM ITS ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURE. IN THE PERIOD IN WHICH IT IS DESIGNED (SECOND EMPIRE, CIRCA 1850-80) THERE HAD BEEN AN IMPORTANT REVIVAL OF THIS STYLE, ALBEIT REVISITED (BUT I HAVE ALWAYS ARGUED HOW SAID "REVISITATION" GAVE LIGHTNESS AND GRACE TO THE EARLY LOUIS XVI STYLE.. I KNOW THAT NOT ALL ANTIQUE DEALERS WITH CASHMERE JACKETS AND PATEC PHILIPPE ON THEIR WRISTS DON'T THINK SO, BUT IN MY OPINION THEY SPEAK IN GENERAL, FEW KNOW THE NICHE OF THE ANTIQUE FIREPLACE WELL). SORRY FOR THE OUTBURST, BUT FROM TIME TO TIME I CAN'T RESIST EXPRESSING IT....
EVERYTHING else, and it is a lot, is the result of the pen, imagination and experience “in the field of the antique fireplace” of its nineteenth-century “designer.”
Beginning with the refined choice of marble, A Calacatta (quarry of Vagli) with a milky white background with streaks of a very light gray containing shades of green just as light and not at all invasive in addition to some “touch of gold” (artistic rises of ferrous oxides). On this point regarding the “choice of marble,” I would like to make a small (and in my opinion necessary if we are to inform possible customers of the intrinsic value of this fireplace) “pause” to elaborate on this definition of marble in the titling of this card: CALACATTA STATUARY MARBLE. Now, we almost all know that Calacatta is one marble and Statuario is another marble. However, almost no one knows that in the jargon of many sculptors and marble masons, when we say CALACATTA STATUARIO we are referring to a particular slab of Calacatta that has the whiteness of the more beautiful Statuario, which moreover happens a lot, there is a lot of kinship between the two marbles, both Apuan marbles. The word “marble” comes from the Greek “marmaros,” a word meaning “Shining Stone...” The adjective “lustrous,” should be interpreted as “very white,” “iridescent,” “candid,” ALL ADJECTIVES THAT ONLY TWO MARBLES IN THE WORLD CAN BOAST, THE CALACATTA AND THE STATUARY.
Interesting and NEVER seen is the expanse of floral elements all over the frontal. . Interesting both because this expanse literally covers the ENTIRE front and not just the central part (or a little more) as is generally the case;
Interesting how this endless array of flowers is made up entirely of different varieties of .... wildflowers. Even the roses are as tiny as they are very nice “wild rosettes.”
I THINK, OR RATHER, IT PLEASES ME TO IMAGINE HOW PERHAPS THIS FLORILEGIUM OF WILDFLOWERS, AS PRETTY AS THEY ARE “POOR,” AROSE FROM THE MIND OF OUR GOOD ARCHITECT BECAUSE HE WAS INSPIRED BY THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE FIREPLACE WAS LOCATED, THAT IS, IN THE HILLS OF THE AZURE COAST.
I WOULD SAY THAT ABOVE WE HAVE WRITTEN EVERYTHING WE KNEW ABOUT OUR FIREPLACE (LET'S REMEMBER, AN ONLY CHILD, IT HAS NO SIBLINGS, ONLY SOME DISTANT NEOCLASSICAL KINSHIP), IT ONLY LACKS TO SAY HOW ITS PHYSICAL REALIZATION IS, UNDOUBTEDLY, ITALIAN AND LUNENSE (FROM WHAT IS MY EXPERIENCE, I WOULD SAY THAT THE HAND IS THAT OF A SCULPTURE WORKSHOP IN SARZANA).
SIDE NOTES: ECOLOGY AND ANCIENT FIREPLACES, A VERY TOPICAL COMBINATION.
Take note, for the past few years it has been all about adding the prefixes “ECO” and “BIO” to any product, and even the fireplace does not escape this publicity deception.....
I won't give you the name of the company because otherwise they will sue me, but there is even a fireplace manufacturer who brought up Geppetto's fireplace (Pinocchio's, eh..) just because Geppetto rhymes with bio-fireplace, forgetting the fact that the “real” Geppetto was so poor, but so poor that he had the fire, at home, yes, but ... painted on the wall !!!
In truth, modern fireplaces (mostly produced in China, India or Pakistan and then marketed in Italy after finely labeling them..) have very little ecological about them, since they are produced through the use of chemical components in their processing (that's how it's done faster..), especially in polishing and assembly, resulting in the production of sludge that is highly toxic to humans and the environment…
ASIDE NUMBER 1: IN YOUR OPINION, IN CHINA OR SIMILAR PLACES (BUT ALSO IN ITALY, CAMORRA DOCET...), WHAT HAPPENS TO THAT SLUDGE!?
Besides, and this is a sad key, we all know that in those countries, in order to save money, they enslave even children for the most toxic jobs...
ASIDE NUMBER 2: ACCORDING TO YOU, IN BANGLADESH (BUT I COULD WRITE A HUNDRED OTHER DERELICT COUNTRIES...) IS THERE CONTROL OVER CHILD LABOR!
That's Ecology too, maybe “Moral Ecology,” but... let's reflect, isn't that important too?!) What to do, then?
What can we do in the face of this issue!!!
Well, in our own small way, something we can do, we can try to direct everyone to THE CERTAINLY MOST ECOLOGICAL FIREPLACE OF ALL, THE ANTIQUE ONE!
An antique fireplace is made of a marble or stone that has already been quarried, and therefore does not need newly quarried materials.. Our Apuan Alps, already so disrupted by millennia of quarrying, certainly do not need any more scarring, and this also applies to all the quarrying areas everywhere in the world, now wildly (especially in the so-called “emerging” countries..) disfigured in their appearance and morphology with the inevitable hydrogeological consequences.
Another “ecological” point in favor of the ancient fireplace lies in the fact that ancient fireplaces were assembled with entirely natural materials (especially plaster) and not with plastic or silicone mastics as is the case today. Their carving, then, was entirely manual, and did not produce those waste slurries that modern machines (“PANTOGRAPHERS”) spit out with each piece and which we then, perhaps, find ourselves illegally dumped in the sea or in some disused quarry given the high cost of their disposal by law... In short, it can certainly be said that the antique fireplace IS ECOLOGICAL AND WAS ECOLOGICAL even at the time of its construction!
Cheers (which is the most important thing..) to you, Maurizio and Enrico Dal Pezzo
