Large Italian Mirror, Andrea Fantoni

Elaborately carved mirror by Andrea Fantoni.  The almost square mirror is framed in a triple bead and reel moulding followed by an interleaving trail of acanthus leaves bound with a carved ribbon. This basis is surrounded by elaborately-carved scrolling acanthus wildly waving around the mirror ending symmetrically in the cresting and the apron.
Andrea Fantoni (1659-1734) came from a dynasty of carvers renowned for their celebrated work in churches around Bergamo as early as the mid-15th Century. He was born in Rovetta in 1659, and he died in Bergamo in 1734. He trained with his family of artisans as well as the noted wood carver Pietro Ramus (1639–1682), and then traveled to Parma to work in the Palazzo Ducale. He returned to Rovetta in 1679. His studio produced a variety of works, including statues, reliefs, and wood carving. He is best known for his wooden confessional from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, and the Duomo of St. Alessandro in Brescia

Andrea led the workshop that flourished with the production of such sought-after mirrors. The Lombardian Fantoni was clearly influenced by the works of Andrea Brustolon (1662-1692). Designs and drawings relating to this type of mirror are in the Fondazione Fantoni in Rovetta.
Typical for the work of Andrea is the curling stem from which leaves sprout in baroque curving. As can be seen in the two designs by Andrea Fantoni the carved leaves  always are bound with the circular band in the middle. The elaborate way in which the gilded leaves follow a certain pattern can also be seen in the diverse altarpieces he made in the surroundings of Bergamo.

 

Literature:

Rossana Bossaglia, Fantoni : quattro secoli di bottega di scultura in Europa, Vicenza 1978.
Lidia Rigon, La bottega dei Fantoni , Clusone 1988.