column with grapevine motifs

column with grapevine motifs , 1600s

Where object was made: Spain

Material/technique: gilding; gesso; wood

Dimensions:
Object Height (Height): 174 cm
Object Height (Height): 68 1/2 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1961.0033

Not on display

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Collection Cards: Plants

Grapevines on Spanish sculptures from the 1600s sometimes appear so realistic that scientists can identify the exact kind of vine the artist used. Scientists have benefitted from the lifelike grapevine sculptures because some varieties of grapes have become very rare, and are in danger of becoming extinct. Scientists are able to use these highly detailed sculptures to find out when certain kinds of grapes were more widely grown. This also helps them to better understand the history of grapevine farming.

Even though the form and texture of these grapes may be very realistic, the color isn’t. The artist wasn’t trying to make the grapes look like something that you would want to eat. They would look much more appetizing in their natural color.

What do you think the sculpture would look like if it had more colors?

Empire of Things

This twisted column was originally part of an altarpiece. 17th-century Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini memorably used twisted columns in the bronze canopy he sculpted over the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica (1623–1634). Bernini was in turn imitating columns from Old St. Peter’s that were (falsely) said to be from Solomon’s Temple but are now thought to date to the second century CE. The term for this type of twisting column, dating back to those antique examples, is “solomonic.”