In this

 empire style 

is an early 19th century Neo-

 Classicism 

A movement in art, literature and music which advocated a return to the harmony, simplicity and balance that defined Classical Antiquity. In the arts, it emerged with the Renaissance, when it became the new aesthetic canon in the quest for perfection, and was the prevailing movement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With the appearance of

 Romanticism 

A cultural movement born in Germany and the United Kingdom in the late-eighteenth century, as a reaction against the Enlightenment. It extolled the expression of feelings and the search for personal freedom. It spread throughout Europe, with different manifestations depending on the country. In painting, Romanticism reached its peak in France between 1820 and 1850, replacing Neoclassicism. It main purpose was to oppose the strictures of academic painting, departing from the Classicist tradition grounded in a set of strict rules. Instead it advocated a more subjective and original style of painting. Its main formal features are the use of marked contrasts of light, the preponderance of colour over drawing and the use of impetuous and spontaneous brushwork to increase the dramatic effect. Its greatest exponents were: Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) in Germany; John Constable (1776-1837) and J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851) in the UK; and Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) and Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) in France.

, it entered into decline until it gradually lost all traction with the advent of the early avant-gardes in the twentieth century.

style which originated in France to extol the heroism and praise the glory and triumphs of the self-appointed emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Like the rest of disciplines, the decorative arts also adapted to the magnificence of the court in the period of military conquests. Its motifs fused classical sources and Napoleonic symbols, associating the name of Napoleon with Caesar.

clock, the base of the casing where the mechanism is housed, with severe straight lines and octogonal base, is made of black Belgian marble. On top of it rests a sculpture in blued bronze which depicts an infant Bacchus with vines and grapes, playing with the goat Amalthea, a popular classical motif. Cast in wax with a two-tone patina, this type of clock, whose mechanism is incrusted into the base of the sculpture, reached its high point throughout the 19^th century.

The mechanism has two trains: a chiming train which strikes on the hour and the half-hour with counting wheel on a bell, and the motion train with anchor escapement, suspension spring and pendulum. Etched on the back plate are the numbers 5-2 480 and the die-stamp of the clockmaker “Vincenti et Cie. Medaille d’argent”. 

The white enamel dial with Roman numerals in black and fine lines and dots for the minutes, was an innovation introduced by French clocks in comparison with the English tradition. The two arbors are located at the height of the 4 and the 8 and between them we see the company name “Pedro Kramer Madrid”, referring to the place where it was sold, a standard practice at the time. Over the 12 is an arbour for adjusting the time.

The artist was initially known as Jean Vincenti but, after winning the silver medal at the Universal Expo in Paris in 1855, he started to appear as Vincenti et Cie. So the date of this clock is between 1855 an 1870 when he was no longer active.