19th Polychrome Venetian Torchère

Nubian torchiere in polychrome and gilded carved wood. It represents a gondolier standing with a raised arm clutching a torch. Under his feet, the front part of a gondola with his figure of prouel. Adjoining base painted in imitation of porphyry. 19th century Venetian work. . The vogue for exoticism which manifested itself very early in the 18th century, with everything that came from the Far East, continued at the end of the century and at the beginning of the 19th century, with everything that came from Africa and of America. The publication of the adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe in 1719 and then by Paul and Virginie de Bernardin de Saint Pierre in 1788 spread the image of the good savage living in an idyllic nature not perverted by the white man. Many decorative objects represent this theme, confusing both African black, black slave in North America and the American Indian. The fashion for these good savages lasted until the 19th century, notably with the distribution of Atala de Chateaubriand, published in 1801. Bibliography: E. Schlumberger, "L'heure exotique", in Connaissance des arts, Paris, 1978, n ° 318, p. 30.