PAIR OF SOLOMONIC COLOMNS. GUILDED WOOD. SPAIN, CIRCA SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY.

Pair of Solomonic columns. Carved and gilded wood. Spain, towards the second half of the 17th century. Pair of columns made of carved and gilded wood composed of a simple base with smooth moldings, the Solomonic shaft decorated with branches with vine leaves and bunches of grapes, and a composite capital. The Solomonic column was an element used in the History of Christian Art from time to time, although it was a common architectural motif during the Baroque and, above all, since Bernini used it in the baldachin of Saint Peter's in the Vatican (finished in 1633), moment from which it became popular throughout Europe. It soon arrived in Spain: there are examples in Andalusia from around 1639; in Madrid they have been seen since 1636 (it seems that it was used for the first time in the Church of Buen Suceso); and spreads rapidly through peninsular and colonial territories. Although there are known examples decorated with flowers (normally in altarpieces of cloistered female convents) or with birds, the most common typology is the one that uses branches and bunches of grapes as a decorative element along the Solomonic shaft, thus alluding to the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Compare, for example, with the pair preserved in the Sorolla Museum in Madrid, dated to the 18th century; works of José Benito de Churriguera and his family (churrigueresque); etc

· Size: 36x36x234 cms