Luigi Valadier, virtuose of the 18th century
Born is 1726, Luigi Valadier was the son of the French goldsmith Andrea Valadier established in Rome in 1714 with whom he started his apprenticeship at a young age. He quickly turned out to be a talented drawer and many of his early designs were created under the influence of his father in a style mainly described as rococo. L.Valadier growing interest for antiquity explains why his work would over time become more severe and classical. His hallmark is recognisable either by its initials “L.V “ followed by three fleurs-de-lis or with his name followed by “ROMA”.
Luigi Valadier (1726–1785)
Table with Dodecagonal Porphyry Top (one of two), 1773
Giallo antico, portasanta, bianco e nero antico, gilt wood, gilt bronze, and porphyry
Galleria Borghese, Rome
© Mauro Magliani
In 1756 he married Caterina Della Valle who was the daughter of the prominent Italian sculptor Filippo Della Valle. 1759 marked a turning point in his life and career since his father and mentor died, but this year he also started working for the the Borghese princes. His first important order is for the St Mary Major basilica in Rome where he refurbished the altar.
In 1765 he created religious silver statues and tableware pieces for the Borghese prince and become member of the Congregazione dei Vituosi gathering the greatest and most skill-full artists of Rome at this time. He was then entrusted with an important project from 1766 to 1769 as he was in charge of designing and decorating an apartment for the prince Chigi. The most spectacular room of the appartment remains to this day the “Gold living room”. A vase recently purchased by the Frick - which is Valadier’s only known marble object with gilt-silver decorations - was possibly made for the Chigi family in Rome a few years later after this first project, in the second half of the 1770s.
Preparatory drawings by Luigi Valadier
© Michael Bodycomb / Met Museum / Frick Collection / Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali — Museo Napoleonico
But one of Valadier’s most important project happened a few years later, between 1768 and 1773, when he once again was charged with the design of an alter, this time in the Cathedral of Monreale in Sicily. The altar is decorated with a number of reliefs showing scenes from the life of the Virgin, to whom the church was dedicated. On top of the altar, Valadier placed six large statues of saints connected to the Cathedral : Louis, Castrense, Peter, Paul, Benedict, and Rosalia. Each statue is executed in silver, highlighted with gold and chiselled with incredible finesse.
Luigi Valadier, Bacchus and Ariadne,1780–85.
Alabastro d’Orta, bronze and gilt bronze,ancient intaglios and cameos, crystal, ancient glass paste, sculpted fragments
© Musée du Louvre, Paris
From 1768 to 1770 Luigi Valadier created for the Borghese prince many decorative art objects including fine jewelry pieces such as gold and lapis lazuli bracelets but very few of them are still existing due to the large castings of the Roman goldsmith's pieces following the Treaty of Tolentino signed in 1797. As a bronzer, Luigi Valadier’s rich clients also ordered from him many decorative bronze ornements.
1773 was probably the peak of Valadier’s artistic career as during this very year he rearranged and modernized the lower gallery of Marcantonio Borghese's palace in Rome. Among the objects created for the Palazzo Borghese, one of the most magnificent and lyrical ones is the Herm of Bacchus which has a bronze Bacchus head and a body made out of alabaster a rosa, a rare colored marble. Luigi Valadier also restored antique bronzes or stones which he then use to create new objects mixing different materials and stones. In 1775 he finishes a series of precious works for the Vatican.
Luigi Valadier (1726–1785)
Herm of Bacchus, 1773
Bronze, alabastro a rosa, bianco e nero antico, and africano verde
Galleria Borghese, Rome
© Mauro Magliani
In the 1770s Valadier works, combining modernity form antique inspiration and extreme quality, became more and more known in Rome and throughout Italy to the point that it eventually raised the attention of Pope Pius Vi from whom he created a gilt bronze and red marble writing case in 1779.
Luigi Valadier died tragically from dementia as he threw himself into the Tiber while some believe he took his own life because he was riddled with debt. What strikes us in his work is the quality associated with a skilful staging of the different pieces and his extreme attention to detail. His style is classical, drawing his inspiration in the antiquity, but the vivacity and fantasy of his ornementations gives a modern dimension to his pieces. His works - rich but just enough to not confuse the viewer’s eye - are mixing different techniques such as goldsmithery and sculpture, and materials like precious stones, marbles, bronzes, gems and so on.