Masterpieces of Italian Decorative Ironwork

Augusto Pedrini

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486149912
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Dekorative Kunst

This magnificently illustrated volume showcases elegant examples of ironwork designs by five centuries of Italian masters. Spanning the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, the collection encompasses both simple and elaborate ornaments for doors, windows, gates, balcony and staircase railings, and other architectural features. A remarkable variety of motifs are depicted--from gracefully executed florals and foliated elements, to exquisite swirls and curls, and striking portrayals of mythical beasts.
A dazzling treasury of ornamental ironwork, this archive of royalty-free motifs will delight lovers of antiques, commercial artists, and anyone intrigued by decorative flourishes from the past.

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page

Publisher’s Note

Among the vast riches of Italian architecture is its decorative ironwork—gates, grilles, railings and banisters, pilasters, fanlights, and copings. Marvels of artistic sensibility, the handcrafted wrought-iron architectural details presented in this collection were produced during the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries. All are examples of the application of a pleasing design to a distinct purpose (a gate or a balcony railing, for example). The collection of plates in this book show the profusion of ornamentation used by Italian craftsmen, including quatrefoil (a popular four-leaf-clover motif), fleurs-de-lis (an emblem of France), floral- and foliage-inspired forms, scrollwork and spirals, and various other patterns that were enthusiastically applied to wrought-iron projects.

Although ironwork was produced in Italy in the fourteenth century, it wasn’t until the fifteenth century that the country’s ironsmiths began to move from simple designs to more elaborate ornamental patterns. Sixteenth-century Italian craftsmen incorporated scrolls [displayed on Plate 8 and throughout—the variety of scrollwork is quite extensive], as well as lacelike effects {Plate 10},...