The second putto standing next to Geometry represents Architecture. His hand holds a ruler and rests upon a floor plan. On the ground lies a set square, next to which is the capital of a Doric column (figure 4). This apparently simple reference to a building component in fact alludes to the classical orders of architecture. Defined by the Greeks and Romans, the orders were not merely decorative styles in architecture but whole systems of rational proportions and geometric relationships.[8] These orders were codified in Greece from the sixth century B.C. onwards and detailed in Vitruvius’ De Architectura in the first century B.C., the only complete treatise on architecture surviving from Classical Antiquity. Today, we are surrounded by architecture founded upon these orders of Antiquity, yet many have lost the key to identifying them. To the eighteenth-century viewer, however, this simple artefact broadcasts a much deeper symbolic statement of classical knowledge.

The companion sculpture to Caffiéri’s in the collection at Waddesdon Manor, by Félix Lecomte (1761-1768), represents two more scientific disciplines: Geography and Astronomy (figure 2). Lecomte had also attended the Academy in Rome in 1761 and achieved similar status as a highly skilled sculptor. The putto representing Geography kneels over a globe, holding dividers, and peels back a piece of drapery to reveal a mapped region (figure 5). Closer inspection reveals that he is unveiling Indonesia, while the divider points to Australia. This was an area of active European exploration in the late eighteenth century.[9] After the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) had ended, Europe was experiencing a brief period of relative peace. The ships previously occupied with warfare could turn to expeditions, and both colonial expansion and scientific exploration became intensely competitive between France and Britain. This part of the Pacific Ocean was at the time largely uncharted, and so began major endeavors by each imperial nation to dominate the region. While Britain was the naval superior, France was undaunted and no less intrepid in its efforts. Recent French expeditions included that by Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe from 1766–69, and Jean-François de Surville (1717-1770), who in 1769 crossed paths with Britain’s own ‘Captain Cook’ (1728-1779) while exploring New Zealand’s coasts.[10] These voyages were heralded as triumphs of global discovery, scientific investigation and rational inquiry. The globe is a typical attribute to the personification of geography, but here the sculptor alludes to much more by referencing and celebrating these recent specific expeditions.