The Spanish lovers, model

Modelled by Kändler c1740–41. The group was possibly inspired by Pierre Filloeul’s engraving after Jean-Baptiste Pater’s painting ‘The kiss (Le baiser donné)’ of 1736. The figures are sometimes identified as Beltrame and Columbine from the commedia dell’arte, but they lack appropriate attributes. The group was described in factory documents as ‘Spanish’ and has generally been known as the Spanish lovers. The man is perhaps in Spanish stage dress, but the figures are probably intended to be courtiers in masquerade costume rather than actors. As in a fête galante by Watteau they enact a scene from the theatre of life.