THE ART OF THE VALADIERS

Edited by Teresa Leonor M. Vale

Published by Umberto Allemandi for Alberto Di Castro Pl. i. Luigi Valadier, attrib. Tabernacle in gilt bronze and enamel. , 1770 ca. The cherub and Christ in green jasper; the Pentecost relief in steatite. Private collection. 5 THE ART OF THE VALADIERS

Scientific editor Acknowledgements Teresa Leonor M. Vale Fabio Benedettucci Anna Maria Bertoli Barsotti Authors Don Giancarlo Biguzzi Alberto Di Castro Emmanuelle Brugerolles Alvaro Marigliani Paolo Buonora Clemente Marigliani Stephen Bury Teresa Leonor M. Vale Anna Calissoni Bulgari Card. Angelo Comastri Translations Claudio Casadio Kennistranslations (Maisie Fitzpatrick, Mons. Marco Cocuzza Paul Wright, Victoria Weavil, Jane Ledlie) Lorenzo Coppa Marina De Carolis Andrea De Franceschi Restauration Andrea Depasquale Manuela Belli, drawings Lia Di Giacomo Andrea Cordiano, works of art Rosanna Di Pinto Franziska Eggimann Edith Gabrielli Publisher Maria Jacini Umberto Allemandi, Turin Barbara Jatta in collaboration with Francesco Leone Antichità Alberto Di Castro, Rome Riccardo Luongo Alexandra Markl Jonathan Mennell Carlo Milano Jennifer Montagu Teresa Morna Francesco Moschini Federica Pirani Marco Pupillo Florian Ruhland Xavier Salomon Alexandra Toscano Pietro Zander

The Antichità Alberto Di Castro wishes to express its particular gratitude to Leontina Pellino. Without her tactful and tireless work, this volume would not have been possible. Photographic references Eisenbibliothek, Schlatt, pp. 100, 256-285 © AA World Travel Library - Alamy Stock Photo p. 45 © Eisenbibliothek, Schlatt (http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/ it/list/one/ebs/0013) Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome, pp. 46, 84 © Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Archivio Musei Vaticani, Vatican, p. 55 fig. 18 Fotografico © Foto Musei Vaticani

Antichità Alberto Di Castro, Rome, pp. 4, 14, 16, p. 19 Museo del Tesoro della Cattedrale di San Pietro, Bologna, figg. 3-4, p. 25, p. 26 fig. 11, p. 40, p. 50 figg. 10-11, p. 55 p. 54 fig. 17, pp. 56, 61, 66, p. 71 fig. 3, p. 72 figg. 5-7-8, p. 73 © Su concessione dell’Ufficio Diocesano dei Beni Culturali – figg. 9-10, pp. 74 fig. 12, pp. 75, 76, p. 77 figg. 15-16-17, 30 maggio 2016 pp. 80, 81, p. 82 fig. 3, pp. 88, 90, p. 92 fig. 14, p. 95 fig. 19, pp. 124, 286-358, 364, 379, 380 , Palazzo Braschi, Rome, pp. 44, 93, p. 94 © Arte Fotografica, Rome fig. 17 © Comune di Roma – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Archivio di Stato, Rome, p. 48, p. 51 fig. 12, p. 102 Culturali – Museo di Roma © Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo 30/2016 Museo Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, p. 71 fig. 4 © Direção Geral do Património Cultural / Arquivio de Archivio Scala, Florence Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC/ADF) © 2016. Foto Scala, Florence © 2016. DeAgostini Picture Library / Foto Scala, Museo Napoleonico, Rome, p. 94 fig. 16 Florence, p. 58 fig. 21 (below) © Roma Capitale – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali Basilica Minore di Sant’Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane e Alessandrine, Rome, p. 43 fig. 2, p. 74 fig. 11 Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, Rome, p. 58 fig. 21 © Foto Giuseppe Schiavinotto, Rome (above) © Polo Museale del Lazio – Archivio Fotografico Basilica Papale di , Rome, p. 21 fig. 7, p. 33 fig. 15, p. 34 fig. 17, p. 43 figg. 3, 4 Museu de São Roque, Lisbon, p. 53 © Per gentile concessione della Basilica Papale di Santa © Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Lisboa, Museu de São Maria Maggiore Roque / Cintra & Castro Caldas, Lda

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican, p. 20 Palazzo Reale, Milan, p. 24 © Per concessione della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana © Paolo Manusardi, Milan

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rome, p. 33 fig. 14, p. 34 Pinacoteca Civica, Faenza, p. 70 fig. 2, p. 72 fig. 6 fig. 16, p. 51 fig. 13, p. 86, p. 95 fig. 18 © Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività © Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Pinacoteca Civica, Faenza Culturali e del Turismo, RM 11/2016 Reverenda Fabbrica della Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican, Bibliothèque de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- p. 27 arts, Paris, p. 52, p. 70 fig. 1 © Per gentile concessione della Reverenda Fabbrica della Basilica di San Pietro Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Desing Museum, New York, p. 82 fig. 2, p. 96 © Roma Capitale – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, p. 47 fig. 8 Table of Contents

10 Preface Alberto Di Castro

13 Presentation Teresa Leonor M. Vale

PART I

17 1. From San Luigi dei Francesi to

17 1.1. The Rome of the Valadiers Clemente Marigliani

41 1.2. The Valadier Workshop According to the Sources: from the Inventory Drawn after the Death of Andrea Valadier to the Registro of 1810 Teresa Leonor M. Vale

67 2. The Drawings: Testimonies of a Multifaceted Workshop

67 2.1. Preliminary Notes on the Valadier Drawings Teresa Leonor M. Vale

69 2.2. Drawings for Silver, Sculpture, Objets d’art and Decorative Elements and Motifs: Testimonies of a Multifaceted Workshop Teresa Leonor M. Vale

81 2.3. Prime idee e progetti. The Representation of Architecture in the Valadier Archive alvaro Marigliani PART II

103 1. Documents

103 Document 1 Inventory of the workshop and house of Andrea Valadier, 1759 (Rome, Archivio di Stato, 30 Not. Cap. Uff. 17, busta 386, fls. 451-491)

125 Document 2 Registro Generale di tutti li Lavori Ferriordegni ed’altri generi necessari per le professioni di argentiere, doratore, e fonditore di qualunque genere varie pietre dure e tenere lavorate e grezze nel negozio del Signore Giuseppe Valadier nell’anno MDCCCX (General register of all works, smithery implements and other kinds necessary for the profession of silversmith, gilder, and smelter of any kind various precious and semiprecious stones, cut and uncut in the shop of Mister Giuseppe Valadier in the year MDCCCX) – (New York, Frick Art Reference Library)

255 Document 3 Disegni, e spiegazione della Fonderia principio, e termine della Campana di S. Pietro, fusa dal Cavalier Luigi Valadier, e Giuseppe di lui figlio nell’anno 1786 – per ordine di N. S. PP. Pio Sesto disegnata dal medesimo Giuseppe Valadier che umilia alla Santità Vostra, e prostrato divotamente le baggia i Santissimi Piedi, implorando un benigno compatimento, e la S. Benedizione (Drawing and explanation of the principles of metal casting and finishing of the bell for St. Peter’s, cast by Mr Luigi Valadier and Giuseppe, his son, in the year 1786 – which was drawn on the orders of His Holiness Pope Pius the Sixth by the same Giuseppe Valadier, His Holiness’s humble servant, who devoutly prostrate kisses His Most Holy Feet, imploring his kind indulgence and a Holy Blessing) – (Schlatt, Eisenbibliothek, Mss 13)

287 2. Drawings

359 List of Illustrations

365 Bibliography

375 Index of Names

379 Notes on Contributors Preface Alberto Di Castro

he Valadiers were acknowledged as being among the most skilled and internationally renowned of all the Tcraftsmen of Rome. The objects created in their workshop over three generations were of consistent quality and displayed an inventiveness that was unique in their genre. This is why my family has always loved them, and sought them out to buy and sell.

This book tells the extraordinary story of the work of the Valadiers who, throughout the eighteenth century, received commissions from the most important courts of Europe. The aim of this volume is to provide information to the public and the academic community about new and unpublished documents on this important melting pot of the arts, which will undoubtedly be of use for future studies.

The collection assembled by John Winter (Trinity Fine Arts), which is the source of most of the material we are publishing here, consists of both documents and drawings. It is to this day an almost inexhaustible mine that has been studied only in part.

The history and artistic evolution of Rome at that time, the great planning projects that were carried out, and the atmosphere of the district where the artisans worked are excellently described by Clemente Marigliani.

Teresa Leonor M. Vale, editor of the volume and researcher and professor at the University of Lisbon, offers a fresh and engaging perspective on the history and lives of this extraordinary family of artists. Her contributions reveal how their workshops were organised and open to collaboration with a diversity of craftsmen. We have found drawings by Righetti, Asprucci and Giani, as well as many others still to be attributed. Moreover, the sheets “da spolvero” (pouncing) are especially rare and precious, clear evidence of the workshop’s practical methods. Thanks to these we are able to understand the technique used for the painstaking manufacture of an artefact, whether for crafting a single piece (as, for example, the Trophy with the Instruments of the Passion which decorates one of the friezes of the bell in the Basilica of San Pietro), or for re-utilising a particular design in different settings.

In addition to the drawings, in order to better understand the daily life and organisation of this important workshop the volume includes previously unpublished documents that span the three generations. The first, from the Archivio di Stato in Rome, is the post mortem inventory of the workshop of Andrea Valadier, the founder of the family, who hailed from France and opened his studio near the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

His son Luigi separated from his brother Giovanni, and moved the workshop to the Via del Babuino, in the building at the corner of present-day Via Alibert and Via Margutta, a stone’s throw from the . Under his direction the workshop enjoyed a remarkable success. Prominent Roman families, European nobility, and even customers from across the Atlantic vied to purchase his products. The Pope himself visited the workshop in the Via del Babuino on several occasions, and was impressed with the technical expertise of the workmen, and the incomparable quality of their products. This resulted in the most ambitious and arduous

10 commission of the time: the casting of a great bell for San Pietro. Overwhelmed by debt and by the numerous difficulties in executing this extraordinary and challenging task, Luigi committed suicide, throwing himself into the Tiber. The work was completed by his young son Giuseppe, who signed it with his father’s name. We are also publishing in large colour plates a rare manuscript from the Eisenbibliothek of Schlatt (Switzerland), which recounts the story of the casting of the bell and how it was transported to San Pietro. This document describes, almost in the manner of a comic book, the construction of the machines and furnace and the lost-wax casting technique, all of which were necessary for this undertaking, and which would be difficult to understand without such a clear explanation.

Giuseppe did not wish to pursue silversmithing, and never took up the licence of the guild but, as is well known, devoted his life to architecture. To provide an analysis of the collection of architectural drawings by Giuseppe, Alvaro Marigliani examines this new material, comparing it with the actual works.

Giuseppe decided to continue to live and work in the building on the Via del Babuino, although he sold his father’s workshop. The most important new contribution offered by this book is the transcription of an exceptional document that dates from this crucial period of transition for the workshop: the Registro Generale di tutti li Lavori Ferriordegni ed’altri generi necessari per la professione di argentiere, doratore, e fonditore di qualunque genere varie pietre dure e tenere lavorate e grezze nel negozio del Signore Giuseppe Valadier nell’anno MDCCCX (General register of all works, smithery implements and other kinds necessary for the profession of silversmith, gilder, and smelter of any kind various precious and semiprecious stones, cut and uncut in the shop of Mister Giuseppe Valadier in the year MDCCCX). As stated on the title page, after putting together this inventory Giuseppe Valadier sold the workshop in the Via del Babuino with all its contents of works, tools and drawings to Giuseppe Spagna, who was later to marry Giuseppe Valadier’s sister, Margherita.

11