Candlestick 1500

This bronze candlestick, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was created by Jehan Aert van Tricht in the late 15th or early 16th century. Van Tricht worked in a period marked by the Northern Renaissance. Consider the figure itself: a winged, almost childlike being, caught in a dynamic pose, balancing a sphere in one hand while holding the candlestick aloft. How might this figure reflect the era's evolving understanding of childhood and innocence? The choice of bronze, a material valued for its durability and sheen, elevates this object beyond mere utility. This was the period of the 'Low Countries' in the Hapsburg Empire, and bronze would have been an integral part of the wealth that made the merchants of Bruges and Antwerp so powerful. The figure's ambiguous identity—is it an angel, a putto, or something in between?—complicates any straightforward reading. It invites us to consider the fluidity of identity. How does this object both reinforce and challenge the conventions of its time?