Dresser

At the end of the eighteenth
century, Neoclassicism dominated throughout Europe. Furniture
changed to meet the new requirements
of families, who were commissioning smaller furniture, better suited to use in
all the rooms of the palazzi, even
those once used only for entertaining. New types of furniture were created,
such as desks, tables and bedside tables. When the Viennese court moved to
Milan, the city became an important artistic centre, where craftsmen could open
thriving workshops
that turned out pieces of exceptional quality. Notable among them was Giuseppe
Maggiolini, creator of some of the finest furniture of his age. This
dresser is one of the few examples signed by Maggiolini himself. The structure of the piece of furniture is
simple and elegant and is decorated with an inlay depicting a medal with male
head in profile, standing out among scrolls of acanthus leaves that terminate
in cornucopias with flowers. This decorative motif, used more than once in the
Maggiolini workshop, was derived, in part, from designs for stucco decorations
carried out at that time by architect and decorator Giocondo Albertolli.