POSSIBLY TURIN, IN THE MANNER OF FRANCESO LADATTE, CIRCA 1740

These wall lights recall the oeuvre of Francesco Ladatte (1706-1787), court bronze sculptor to Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia. Ladatte's production is rare and most of his known works remain conserved in the Palazzo Reale in Turin where several comparable large sets of rocaille wall-lights are in the Galleria del Daniel (see V. Viale, Mostra del Barocco Piemontese, exhibition catalogue, 1963, figs. 299 and 300). The present wall lights are closely related to a mid-eighteenth century design for three sconces with tree branch ornamentation by Giovanni Battista, see A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Vol. II, Milan, 1986, p. 123, fig. 263. They are very similar to a set of wall lights, originally part of the Tullio Fossati Bellani collection in Milan, see V. Peria, Arte e Decorazione nelle Casa Italiana, Milan, 1967, p. 52, fig. 1. Pairs of this model sold Sotheby's, London, 13 December, 1991, lot 98 and 10 June, 1999, lot 120. Another pair, additionally adorned with realistically cast flowers, foliage and acorns, was offered Sotheby's, London, 8 June, 2005, lot 15. More recently, a set of four comparable wall lights, also in the manner of Ladatte and removed from the Villa d’Aquarone, sold Christie’s, London, 25 April, 2017, lot 12.