Antique Fireplaces, Chimneypieces & Mantels

THE ANTIQUE RENAISSANCE FIREPLACE ...A short narrative...January 2010.

THE EXPRESSION "RENAISSANCE" …meaning in French “Rebirth” , was coined in the 19th century and variously covers a period from the 14th to the 17th century…different schools of thought give different dates. It originated in Florence in Italy and was a broad cultural movement including style and design which drew inspiration from Classical Antiquity…Ancient Greece and Rome and the Etruscans in between….and spread through all of Europe, where it gained further impetus …the French even claimed it as their original creation at one point.
9902...An antique Marble Renaissance Revival Fireplace Mantel , 19th century...typical of the genre...Available.

ELEMENTS OF THE RENAISSANCE STYLE of design in fireplace mantels were again revived at later periods …notably the 19th century in Europe and North America, and called Renaissance Revival or Neo Renaissance..... 10837 is another typical example of a Venetian Renaissance Revival Inglenook fireplace mantel in this case it is richly carved in oak and was recently removed from what had been Sir Walter Raleighs still existant 15th century house in Ireland....Available.

RENAISSANCE , HIGH RENAISSANCE and NEO RENAISSANCE style fireplaces and design generally were and are mostly found in prestigious buildings of Grand Scale…both Palaces…. Palazzo ...Chateaux…. Castles and more recently in Municipal and State administration institutions…even Railway stations. 9856 on the right is a very early 16th Century Antique Italian Period Renaissance chimneypiece from the North East Venetto ...Verona / Venice region of Italy and was possibly the work of Jacopo Sansovino , 1486 -1570...and carved from intensly rich Fossilised Lumachella Bigia ...translates to Snails....marble....Sold.

THE STYLE IS BEST DESCRIBED AS RICH AND INTRICATE , and while not appealing to all tastes or suitable for all locations or decors it is universally appreciated for its sophistication and quality of craftsmanship and materials essential to its proper execution.... incorporating as it does linear and geometric shapes and forms scrolled and intertwined with motifs from the natural world…frequently symbolic plants Vines , Palmettes, Oak & Laurel leaves , Acanthus etc….And floral … Anthymion / Honeysuckle , Fleur de Lys , Roses….. also Mythological, and Heraldic Animal forms…Griffins , serpents ,Dragons, Lions ,Panthers Unicorns and so on.....many of these motifs are to be seen on 7030 a period Italian Renaissance fireplace mantel in richly carved white marbleon the left ......Sold.

APART FROM THE MANY EXAMPLES OF RENAISSANCE Chimneypieces in Florence…home of the Medicis and their rivals the Strozzis … L’Alberti …L’Albizzi , many Renaissance Mantels are to be found in Venice…in the Palazzo Ducale in Piazza San Marco of course , and in many waterside Palazzos and Villas in that great former Maritime City State....4721 on the right being another very rare example of a period Italian , Venetian antique fireplace mantel finely carved in Pietra D'Istria...an attractive hard limestone...also considered to be a marble... which has sculpted characteristics from the 15th century Dalmatian Sculptor Giorgio de Sebenico who carved very comparable high profile imagery on the facade of Il Duomo D'Ancona....Ancona's Cathedral.....Available.

IN ENGLAND THE RENAISSANCE ERA STARTED much later than and was mostly different from the Italian ...being heavily influenced by the Flemish and German...the evolving Northern Renaissance Architectural style. It included the Elizabethan Tudor and Jacobean eras and other examples in the preceeding reign of Henry VIII... during which Hans Holbein from Augsburg in Bavaria was gainfully employed at the court doing highly acclaimed portraits of the King and Thomas More, and actually produced a design for a large Chimneypiece in the style. Fine examples are to still to be seen in the Great houses or Palaces even, of Hampton Court, Hatfield House , Hardwick Hall and Burghley House….9061 ..this superb antique English fireplace mantel removed by us with the partly 17th century panelled room from a great house in Yorkshire , is an exact 19th century Renaissance Revival replica of a large English Jacobean Renaissance mantelpiece now in the Victoria & Albert Museum…but originally from the Hunting Lodge of King James 1st..in Bromley by Bow…Sold...

REFLECTING ON THE ABOVE AND IMPORTANT to acknowledge….the Antique Renaissance Fireplace mantel….especially the typical Italian example.. can be said to frequently embody the Sophistication, the style , prestige , opulence and.. not least..the symbolised nature which when stylistically portrayed epitomised the emergence of civilised society from the gloom, ignorance…and repression of the aptly named Dark Ages…revealing the joy , beauty and fascination with the planet…the heavens…the liberated human mind and body……the rediscovery of the facts and exotic wonders of life and the Universe… such as Perspective in the Graphic arts… and the spirit... known to the Ancient Romans and Greeks but squirreled away theretofore by those Latin Scribes ..in the Know. 10321 is another 19th century Renaissance Revival Fireplace mantel in polished Namur Black Marble.... architectural , smart and imposing…with a Palladian element in the design......Available .

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