Pair of Late Renaissance Polychromed Candle Bearers

Carved in wood and retaining traces of their original gilding and polychromy, this charming pair of figures represents youthful attendants holding pricket candlesticks. Each figure is dressed in a short belted tunic with boots, their curly hair framing delicately modelled faces, and each stands on an integral square plinth decorated with painted foliate motifs. The candlesticks they support are turned in baluster form, a design popular in Italian decorative arts of the later 16th century.
Figures of this type were typically produced for placement on or beside altars, tabernacles, or reliquaries, where they symbolised the offering of light as a visible expression of divine presence. Their scale and lively, almost playful manner distinguish them from liturgical acolytes, aligning them more closely with the decorative and symbolic tradition of putti and youthful candle-bearing attendants in Renaissance sacred art.
The survival of such a matched pair is notable, as many were later separated or lost. Their naive yet engaging style suggests the work of a provincial Italian workshop, where sculptors blended Renaissance ornament with enduring Gothic traditions of gilded surface and bold colour.
With their expressive poses and rare pairing, these candle bearers provide a vivid insight into the visual culture of late Renaissance Italy, when light itself was a medium of devotion and splendour within the church interior.