Hearth and Home

We have been nearly 15 years in our house in Spain and for all of those years I have been meaning to clean or black lead this fire screen in the sitting room.
I recall as a child my mother assiduously blacking the range every day, sadly I have not inherited her zeal, however it is
now done and the detail of the Grecian ladies is now much clearer. I have no idea why these fire fronts were decorated with such detail, this one also has medallions depicting classic Greek boys and Saracens heads.