Giovanni Maffezzoli Secrétaire inlaid in different woods

Giovanni Maffezzoli (Cremona 1776 – 1818)

Secretaire inlaid in different woods, 156x124x60 cm.

Signed on the front and on the right side. The attribution of the piece of furniture presented is evident from the splendid pictorial rendering of the inlays to architecture that makes Maffezzoli famous. The two signatures, one on the front and the other on the right side confirm the first intuition. If this is not enough, thanks to further research, the text by Luisa Bandera, Giovanni Maffezzoli, Cremonese inlayer, Florence, 1964, comes to the rescue; extract from “antichità viva” n. 7-8.
Giovanni Maffezzoli, the most illustrious pupil of Giuseppe Maggiolini, already at a young age achieved notable success as the author of important furniture for noble Milanese families and high-ranking names such as the viceroy Eugenio de Beauharnais himself. The taste of these years abandons the rounded and rococo shapes of the past to prefer a French taste inspired by the models of cabinetmakers such as Oben, Riesener and Roentgen. The shapes are simple with straight and austere silhouettes but lightened by extraordinary inlays in rare woods and with delicate designs such as trophies, bouquets, ruins and views.
Maffezzoli fits into this cultural and artistic context with all his skill as a carver. After his stay in Milan, he returned to Cremona and among his first works there was the furnishing of a room in the Mina Bolzesi palace in Cremona which, from the date shown on the center table, can be dated to 1795. And it is among the furniture of this supply that we find the touchstone with our secretary. A half-moon sideboard with rounded doors has inlays very similar to the inlay of the piece of furniture presented here. “The two doors are adorned with views which, due to their open and airy appearance, intensely chiaroscuro, and their loose and darting appearance (see the beauty of the tree foliage), seem to recall contemporary Venetian compositions, such as the landscapes of Giuseppe Bernardino Bisson” (L Bandera, ibidem). In fact, the two buildings to the right of the panel, the rock on which they are built, the passage towards the seated figures, the architecture and the village that overlook the body of water are perfectly identical on the door of the sideboard and on the flap of the secretaire , index of the use of the same cardboard.

2024.14.1

To supplement the descriptions, the “Antichità Giglio” gallery makes available, upon request, condition reports on the state of conservation of its assets and national and international transport estimates.