Fragment van kandelaber opgebouwd uit satyr met vedel en vaas op voet geflankeerd door wapentrofeeën 1500

Giampietrino Birago made this fragment of a candelabra, built from a satyr with a fiddle and a vase on a foot flanked by trophy weapons, with etching. Let's consider the world of design and ornament in the Italian Renaissance. Ornament was not simply decoration; it was a language through which power and status were articulated. The satyr here, a figure from classical mythology, is combined with martial trophies and a grand vase, all meticulously rendered. This print would have served as a model for craftsmen, disseminating classical motifs and influencing the design of objects for wealthy patrons. Made in a time when the printing press allowed new visual ideas to spread quickly, the circulation of models like this were crucial to the institutional history of the arts. To understand Birago's world, we might look at pattern books, architectural treatises, and inventories of princely collections. Through such sources, we come to see how art is always entangled with the social structures of its time.