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Valadier.
Italian family of artists, of French descent. Andrea Valadier (b Aramont, 1695; d Rome, 23 July 1759), a goldsmith from Provence, settled in Rome in 1714. He established a workshop in Via Babuino that continued operating under the control of successive generations of the family until the mid-19th century and was the precursor of the modern Valadier factory employing some 150 craftsmen. Andrea’s workshop produced decorative objects in a variety of media that had a profound influence on prevailing taste and established a distinctive style characterized by classically inspired Rococo elements. Andrea’s son, Luigi Valadier I (b Rome, 26 Feb 1726; d Rome, 15 Sept 1785), took over his father’s workshop in 1759 and started working for the Vatican in 1769. In 1779 Pope Pius VI appointed him superintendent of the restoration of the bronzes in the papal collection and gave him responsibility for the collection of ancient cameos. Luigi Valadier’s greatest religious work, aside from the silver and lapis lazuli chalice (Paris, Louvre), given by Pius VI to Prince Stanislaw Poniatowski, was the gold- and silver-plated bronze altar (in situ) with depictions from the Life of the Virgin for Monreale Cathedral, executed in Rome between 1770 and 1773. Luigi also produced a large number of secular items, in which his extraordinary technical skill in all media is evident; these include silver and bronze pieces (e.g. mirror in the Salone d’Oro in the Palazzo Chigi, Rome) and jewellery. He also engraved cameos and hardstones and worked as a cabinetmaker (e.g. cupboards in Rome, Vatican, Mus. Profano Bib. Apostolica). He became well known for his silver dinner services, pendulum clocks and centrepieces; his tableware incorporating architectural features and made of gilt bronze combined with rare marble and hardstones was particularly successful. His suicide in 1785 was supposedly linked to the founding of the monumental bell of St Peter’s, which was completed by his son (1) Giuseppe Valadier, an architect working in the Neo-classical style, who took over the family workshop and became the silversmith of the Sacro Palazzo Apostolico and head of the Vatican foundry. As Giuseppe became increasingly occupied in his work as an architect, he turned over his workshop to the Spagna family in 1817, but the goldsmithing tradition continued in the Valadier family through Luigi’s younger brother Luigi Giovanni Valadier (1732–1805) and Luigi Giovanni’s three sons Filippo Valadier (b 1770), Tommaso Valadier (b 1772) and Luigi Valadier II (b 1781). The last member possessed considerable technical skill and invention and developed an eclectic and original style that assimilated various historical motifs and that remained an important influence in the European Neo-classical movement. The following members have entries:
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