Stock No: 13874

THE ITALIAN WARS
A monumental and imposing richly carved French walnut trumeau chimneypiece. The generously moulded cornice lies above a dramatically carved arched central panel dominating the trumeau frieze and depicting a scene of battle probably relating to the eighth Italian War (1551-1559) when Henry II of France declared war against Charles V ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The panel is flanked on either side by two large carved horned and winged mythical beasts and the whole rests on the wide and sturdy fireplace surround beneath.

The deep shelf of the fireplace surround, with its carved alternating bossed frieze, sits above a pair of robust fluted columns with Corinthian capitals and stepped footblocks and the deep set fireplace opening is topped by a finely carved and decorative border detail.
French, mid 19th century.

Notes: The 1551-1559 Italian War was also known as the Habsburg – Valois War. There were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Originally arising from dynastic disputes over the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, the wars rapidly became a general struggle for power and territory among their various participants, and were marked with an increasing number of alliances, counter-alliances and betrayals.

Link to: Antique Renaissance, Gothic Tudor Fireplace mantels and Chimneypieces: 1260 - 1600