The production of bronze doorknockers has very ancient roots in Italy. The classic lion heads with a ring between their jaws, widely present in the Roman Empire on most of the doors of civil buildings, enjoyed renewed popularity in the Middle Ages, standing out with symbolic and ornamental value on the portals of all the most important cathedrals, sometimes in complex and spectacular versions thanks to the inventiveness of master casters. A few centuries later, in the height of the Renaissance, the bronze doorknocker was once again elevated to superlative aesthetic levels through the famous models designed and created by great Venetian sculptors. Later, until the late Baroque period and especially in northern Italy, this type of artistic artefact sometimes reached great heights of quality, as demonstrated by the two splendid examples presented here.

 

 

This special pair of doorknockers immediately catches the eye due to its high formal quality. The bodies are elegantly moulded – according to a design that is in fact an elaborate variation of the Renaissance lyre-shaped model – and are characterized at the bottom by the presence of female faces in low-relief, wrapped in a drapery closed under the chin with an asymmetrical knot and encircled on the sides by broken volutes and rich plant scrolls. The compositional elegance of the lower part of the two handles is emphasized and amplified by shaped backplates, which serve as a backdrop to the female faces, ending at the top and bottom with two vegetal finials. Similarly, behind the moulded lace joint – usually placed at the top between the scrolls of the lyre to allow the knocker movement – there is a rich backplate in the shape of an elaborate vegetal cartouche: a so-called “exploded” palmette typical of Rococò ornamentation. One of the most exclusive qualities of these handles is undoubtedly the fact that they have retained a splendid fire gilding on all external surfaces, which immediately catches the eye – although today it is partly worn away – and gives these artefacts a particularly luxurious character, clearly distinguishing them from various other formally similar examples in bronze with a dark patina and never gilded.

 

Pair of bronze doorknockers from Palazzo Dondini Ghiselli (1751-1753), Via Barberia 23, Bologna.

As for their origin, we can say with certainty that this pair of bronze doorknockers was made in Bologna around the mid-18th century. Their attribution to the Emilian city – partly recognizable to an expert eye in their grace and balanced sobriety, which are the mature fruit of Pellegrino Tibaldi’s classical and mannerist heritage, mediated through the Carracci’s sweetness – is also unequivocally confirmed by anyone less experienced who has the opportunity to stroll through the streets of the center of the Emilian capital today, where it is easy to spot different doorknockers very similar to those illustrated here on the doors of historic 18th-century buildings. One of the most significant comparison is undoubtedly offered by the dark bronze pair, almost identical to ours, hanging on the main door of Palazzo Dondini Ghiselli: a noble residence built on a design attributed to Alfonso Torreggiani and completed in 1753, year which is obviously also a very useful chronological reference for dating the specimens in question. Other doorknockers with the same design are also preserved in the Davia Bargellini Museum collections, including one from Palazzo Hercolani.

 

Left: Ubaldo Gandolfi, Study for a doorknocker with dolphins and masks, pen and bistro, New York, private collection.
Center: Ubaldo Gandolfi, Study for a doorknocker and other elements,pen and bistro, Paris, Fondation Custodia (formerly Lugt collection).
Right: Ubaldo Gandolfi, Study for a doorknocker with mermaids and masks, pen and bistro, Milan, Castello Sforzesco.

The Bolognese origin of our gilded doorknockers is further confirmed in two significant ways from a historical and artistic perspective. In the cultural landscape of 18th-century Bologna, one of the most important and celebrated families of artists has been certainly the Gandolfi family. In addition to the two most famous brothers, Gaetano and Ubaldo, great draughtsmen and painters very active in the city, there is also a third older brother, Rinaldo Gandolfi, always working in town in close contact with the other two, precisely mentioned in the archives as a “maker of artistic doorknockers”. There are also evidences of close collaboration between Rinaldo and his brothers, who designed sculpted heads for casting in bronze and preparatory drawings for metal objects, including some specific designs for doorknockers: remarkable testimonies not only documenting the clear integration between figurative and applied arts, typical of 18th-century culture, but representing also an amazing confirmation of the involvement of leading artists even in the design and creation of doorknockers. It is therefore likely that Rinaldo Gandolfi was the creator of this pair of gilded bronze doorknockers, perhaps based on a design not by one of his brothers but by another artist.

 

Stefano Orlandi, Sheet with various drawings and ornaments, 1730-50((full and details), Venice, G.Cini Foundation.

The iconographic design of our doorknockers could in fact be traced back to Stefano Orlandi, a painter and quadraturist active between Rome, Bologna, Milan and Brescia. A comparison with some of his drawings dating from between 1730 and the middle of the century and our doorknockers, reveals clear similarities, particularly in the airy palmettes, broken volutes and veiled heads with the characteristic knot of the fabric under the chin.

 

 

In any case, the typical Bolognese delicacy, influenced by France through the papal environment, emerges very clearly in the knockers presented here, which find further interesting comparisons in contemporary Bolognese cabinet-making, such as in two pieces of furniture preserved in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna: a highly refined console table dating back to the mid-18th century and a wall table that displays, in inverted form, the same open foliage as our doorknockers.

 

Left: Bolognese woodcarver, Console, c. 1750. (detail), Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale.
Right: Bolognese woodcarver, Wall table, c. 1750. (detail), Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale.

The multiple cultural references reconstructed around this pair of doorknockers, their integrity and formal refinement, enhanced by the survival of the gilding, all contribute to highlighting the historical and artistic value of these works, which are therefore significant examples of the technical expertise and refined balance between functionality and beauty, achieved in Bologna in the mid-18th century.

 

 

Rinaldo Gandolfi (Bologna 1718–1780), attr.
maybe after a drawing by Stefano Orlandi (Bologna 1681–1755)
Pair of Doorknockers
Cast, chiselled and gilded bronze
Cm 18 x 36 h
Bologna, circa 1750