Object Type
This candlestick is one of a pair. It comes from two pairs in the V&A intended to be placed on a dining table and viewed from all sides.
Design
The stems are formed of female and male figures that also support the candle sockets. The nymph Daphne is fleeing the amorous advances of the Olympian god Apollo, the male figure. She finally escapes by turning into a laurel tree, symbolising the victory of Chastity over Desire. Figural candlesticks had been known in antiquity and were popular in Europe from the 16th century.
People
The Daphne figure on one of the candlesticks appears to be based on an original design (also in the V&A) by the renowned Swiss-born gold chaser George Michael Moser (1706-1783). No equivalent design for the Apollo figure has been traced. Moser's Daphne derives from the famous and much-reproduced sculptural group Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, made in 1625 for the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The bold scrollwork and marine theme of the bases show the clear influence of the ornamental designs of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), a celebrated exponent of the Rococo who worked in Paris. Moser and his fellow artist members of the St Martin's Lane Academy in London are credited with the dissemination of the Rococo style in England.
Physical description
Candlestick, one of a set of four
Place of Origin
London, England (probably, made)
Date
ca. 1740 (made)
Artist/maker
Moser, George Michael, born 1706 - died 1783 (after, designer)
Materials and Techniques
Silver
Marks and inscriptions
Unmarked
Town mark: Probably London
Dimensions
[Candlestick] Height: 37 cm, Width: 17 cm
Object history note
After a design by George Michael Moser (born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, 1706, died in London, 1783)
Probably made in London
Descriptive line
Apollo and Daphne candlestick (one from a set of four)
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
The conceit of a candlestick designed as a figure holding a candlestick is an ancient one, although the earliest such forms to survive in silver date only from the late seventeenth century. This pair, unusually refined in design and modelling, takes its subject from Greek mythology: the nymph Daphne, amorously pursued by the Olympian god Apollo, prays for rescue and is transformed into a laurel tree by Gaea, the primal goddess, the mother of all things.
Felicitously, the Apollo and Daphne Candlesticks related to a drawing by George Michael Moser already in the V&A collection, thus making the pair an especially desirable acquisition. There are many works in the Museum collection that are represented by original design drawings, offering rich opportunity for firsthand comparisons between an object's design and its final form. Acquisition of the Moser candlesticks, however, also marked a shift of aesthetic attitude. Until at least the 1960s, this type of English Rococo work had been dismissed by V&A curators as no more than an interesting aberration.
Although Moser's drawing for the Daphne candlestick (fig. 116) has been described "more as a pleasant jeu d'esprit of the artist than as a sober design for execution by a working goldsmith," the drawing nonetheless attributes the design to this Swiss modeller and enameller who taught life drawing in London at St. Martin's Lane Academy. Founded as a drawing school for artists and craftsmen in 1735, the Academy was one of the key centres for exploring and disseminating new design ideas in England. As scholarly work on the English Rococo developed, the Academy's members-including Moser-were increasingly seen as important for an understanding of this style.
Lit. Grimwade, 1974; Snodin, 1984, p. 70
PHILIPPA GLANVILLE
Exhibition History
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 12/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Labels and date
British Galleries:
The designer, George Michael Moser, was a virtuoso chaser of gold. He also taught drawing at the St Martin's Lane Academy, the birthplace of English Rococo. He based the dramatically twisting figures and scrollwork bases of these candlesticks on the work of the great French Rococo goldsmith Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750). [27/03/2003]
Categories
British Galleries; Metalwork; Lighting
Collection code
MET
