Bernini meets Brazil in the Campana Brothers latest exhibition, Brazilian Baroque, running at David Gill St James’s in London from May 1 – June 15.

Intensively decorative and sumptuous style of the 17th and 18th centuries defines the collection, combined with the Campana Brothers own take on Brazilian art and culture. The collection includes new coffee tables, to be shown for the first time, as well as a selection of works first shown at The Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris last fall.

‘The work of the Campana Brothers never fails to surprise us,” said David Gill, gallery owner. “Their choice of material, research and use of found and created objects makes their work new and contemporary.”

The collection introduces a strongly theatrical, gothic element and a sense of luxury, channeling the glories of the Rococo period and its sumptuous gold and bronze decoration.

Each piece is made by craftsmen in a Roman workshop, specializing in bronze work, demonstrating skill in welding together a jumble of decorative motifs—keys, leaves, cupids and crocodiles—to create organic and playful shapes which are combined with other materials. The Campana Brothers’ fascination with the natural world and their sense of humor can be clearly seen, for example, in the tiny, detailed crocodiles, which can be seen clambering up the stem of the Candelabro Coccodrilli.

The Campana Brothers began working together in 1983 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where they still live and work. Humberto trained to be a lawyer but gave it up to be a sculptor and Fernando studied architecture but decided to work with his brother to experiment with design and making furniture.