Pair of Large Italian Neoclassical Carved Giltwood and Metal Two-Light Wall Sconces. Exquisitely detailed leaf and flower forms, silver toned with metal support backings. 

Size: (each) 13 1/2 x 7 x 43 in. 

The Neoclassical style, based on straight lined rectilinear forms and using a selection of Classical ornaments, began in the 1750s when craftsmen of the 18th Century began tiring of Rococo and turned for inspiration to Classical art. The movement was stimulated by archaeological discoveries in Italy, Greece, and the Middle East, and by the publication all over Europe of works on the Classical monuments. A greater number of pieces were signed during this period thanks to it being made compulsory in Paris, and Jean-Henri Riesener, Martin Carlin, and Jean Saunier were a few of the leading cabinetmakers, accompanied by several German craftsmen who migrated to France because of the royal patronage, among them Abraham and David Roentgen, Adam Weisweiler, and Guillaume Beneman. The Neoclassical reaction in England was of a lighter and more delicate touch than that of the previous Classicists, the Palladians, with Robert Adam, whose name is inseparably associated with this movement and had studied in Italy, found his own inspiration in the monuments of both Classical times and the Renaissance. His furniture incorporated paterae (disks with a design in relief or intaglio), husks (a drop ornament made of whorls of conventionalized foliage usually in a diminishing series), rams’ heads, and urns coupled with  symmetrical structural lines, with his style copied and modified by contemporary cabinetmakers such as George Hepplewhite. A uniquely American variant of Neoclassical style developed as well in the midst of the Revolution, as the new nation sought to validate its heritage but establish an identity of its own in every possible aspect of art, culture, and fashion.

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