Vincenzo Belli Silver “Florentine” Oil Lamp Rome, third quarter of the XVIII Century

The term “lucerna” refers to an oil lamp, the origin and use of which dates back to ancient times, having been one of the main and most common means of illumination in antiquity. Having fallen into disuse over the centuries, it came back into vogue from the 16th century onwards thanks to some technical modifications that made it more usable.
Our specimen, which can be dated to the third quarter of the 18th century, can be traced back to the so-called ‘Florentine’ type, a model derived from the ancient lanterns on a stand and used since the 14th century especially in the Tuscan capital, hence the name. For the birth and diffusion of long-stemmed shapes, as well as the use of silver for their production, it was necessary, however, to wait until the 18th century, a period in which Rome and the cities of the Papal States hosted the most important Italian silversmiths’ workshops of the time. These included the Belli, a renowned family of silversmiths originally from Piedmont and active between Turin and Rome between the 18th and 19th centuries. Vincenzo Belli (Turin, 1710 – Rome, 1787), son of Bartolomeo, worked for a few years in Turin, in workshops that carried out commissions for the House of Savoy, and later moved to Rome, where from 1740 he was among the active silversmiths at the head of a flourishing workshop located, at first, next to the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, and then moved to the vicinity of the Teatro Valle.

The oil lamp analysed here is to be attributed to Vincenzo’s Roman production, both in terms of its decorative-formal style, in keeping with the taste of the richer Roman Baroque and characterised by an elegance and grace learnt during his work in Turin, and for the presence of the hallmarks: ‘V B’, the silversmith’s personal hallmark containing the initials of his name and surname, and the city chamber seal of guarantee depicting the keys of heaven crossed with a banner (basilica) placed in the centre. Vincenzo Belli’s style was much appreciated by the Roman, Italian and international nobility and this is testified by the many important works he executed, including, for example, the sacred silverware for the chapel of St. John the Baptist in the Church of St. Roch in Lisbon, commissioned by King John V of Portugal, and a group of four soup tureens, made for a Torlonia family in Rome, now dispersed in various private collections. It is precisely in the context of the patronage of the Roman aristocracy that the oil lamp in the studio, originally owned by the Roman De Angelis family, was realised. It is portrayed by the heraldic coat of arms engraved on the front of the lampshade fan and depicts ‘an angel in majesty […] on a terrace […], palm leaf […] on the right’. The coat of arms is stamped with a helmet bearing the tolerated crown of the Duke, surmounted by gold florins crowned with a pearl and supported by spikes, which is one of the fundamental ornaments of heraldry and indicates the degree of nobility attained.