OF THIS BOOK 
 FIVE HUNDRED COPIES 
 HAVE BEEN PRINTED 
 OF WHICH 
 THIS IS NUMBER 
 

COPYRIGHT, IQiS, 
 
 BY WILLIAM M. ODOM 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF 
 TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, 
 INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 
 
 THE J. PAUl GETTY CENTER 
 LIBRARY 
 
DEDICATED TO SIGNOR STEFANO BARDIN] 
 TO WHOM WE ARE INDEBTED FOR THE 
 PRESERVATION OF THE FINEST 
 EXAMPLES OF ITALIAN 
 FURNITURE 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ITALIAN GOTHIC 
 
 THE FOURTEENTH AND EARLY FIFTEENTH 
 CENTURIES 
 
 Page 3 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE EARLY RENAISSANCE 
 
 THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Page 49 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 THE HIGH RENAISSANCE 
 THE FIRST HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Page i21 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE LATE RENAISSANCE 
 
 THE SECOND HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Page 219 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 1. Ivory Cofanetto. XII Century.3 
 
 2. Cassone with painted and pastiglia decorations. Florentine, about 1400 ... 5 
 
 3. Cassone with painted decorations. Florentine, about 1400.7 
 
 4. Cassone with painted and pastiglia decorations. Florentine, about 1400 ... 7 
 
 5. Cassone with pastiglia decorations in gold and colour. Sienese, late XIV Cen¬ 
 
 tury .9 
 
 6. Coffer with painted panels and gilded pastiglia decorations. Sienese, about 1380 10 
 
 7. Cassone with painted panel and pastiglia decorations. Florentine, end of the 
 
 XIV Century.n 
 
 8. Cassone with painted panels and pastiglia decorations. Florentine, late XIV 
 
 Century.11 
 
 9. Cassone with pastiglia decorations in gold and colour. Florentine, early XV 
 
 Century.13 
 
 10. Pastiglia Panel from a Florentine cassone. Early XV Century.13 
 
 11. Cassone with pastiglia decorations. About 1400.14 
 
 12. Sienese Cassone with gilded pastiglia decorations. About 1400.14 
 
 13. Cassone with pastiglia decorations. Sienese, end of the XIV Century .... 17 
 
 14. Umbrian Chest with carved and intarsia decorations. About 1400.18 
 
 15. Chest with intarsia decorations. Urbino, early XV Century.18 
 
 16. Carved Wood Walnut Chest. Val d’Aosta, first half of the XV Century ... 19 
 
 17. End of Fig. 16.19 
 
 18. Venetian Carved Wood Chest. Early XV Century.21 
 
 19. Carved Wood Chest. Northern Italy, first half of the XV Century .... 21 
 
 20. Chest with carved and intarsia decorations, walnut and gold. Sienese, early 
 
 XV Cent ury.23 
 
 21. Sacristy Cupboard with doors. Intarsia decorations. Lombard or Venetian, 
 
 early XV Century.24 
 
 22. Sacristy Cupboard. Perugia, about 1400.25 
 
 23. Umbrian Chest. About 1400.25 
 
 24. Panelling from the Castello di Torchiara, near Parma. First half of the XV Cen¬ 
 
 tury .26 
 
 xi 
 
PAGE 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 25. Sacristy Cupboard with intarsia and colour decorations. Tuscan, early XV Cen¬ 
 
 tury . 2 7 
 
 26. Carved and Inlaid Doors. Late XIV Century.28 
 
 27. Sacristy Cupboard with intarsia decorations. Tuscan, first halt of the XV 
 
 Century. 2 9 
 
 28. Monastery Linen Cabinet. Umbrian, first half of the XV Century .... 30 
 
 29. Sedia Episcopale. XII Century.3 1 
 
 30. Sedia Dantesca with intarsia decorations. Lombard or Venetian, about the 
 
 middle of the XV Century.3 2 
 
 31. Sedia Dantesca with decorations. About the middle of the XV Century 33 
 
 32. Supporting End of a Canopy. First half of the XV Century.34 
 
 33. Sedia Dantesca. Florentine, about 1450-75.35 
 
 34. Folding Beechwood Monastery Chair. XVI Century.36 
 
 35. Sedia Dantesca. Florentine, second half of the XV Century.37 
 
 36. Ecclesiastical Chair. Northern Italy, early XV Century.38 
 
 37. Section of Panelling with canopy, probably part ot an early XV Century throne 
 
 seat .39 
 
 38. TuscanTable. About 1540-50.4° 
 
 39. Primitive Umbrian Table. Early XV Century.4 1 
 
 40. Northern Italian Table. About 1500. • 4 1 
 
 41. Table on Wrought-iron Tripod. Sienese, about 1400.4 2 
 
 42. Bed with painted decorations. About 1400.45 
 
 43. Panelled Bed with intarsia decorations. Tuscan, early XV Century .... 47 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 44. Venetian Cassone with carved and inlaid decorations. Second half of the XV 
 
 Century. 4 8 
 
 45. Cassone with intarsia decorations. Florentine, second half of the XV Century. . 50 
 
 46. Cassone Front, of gilded pastiglia with painted panel decorations. Florentine, 
 
 about the middle of the XV Century.5 2 
 
 47. Florentine Cassone. About 1550-60.5 2 
 
 48. Panel from a Cassone. About 1450-60.54 
 
 49. Cassone with pastiglia decorations. About 1475.57 
 
 50. Cassone with pastiglia decorations. About 1475.57 
 
 51. Painted Panels from a pair of cassoni attributed to Pisanello.5 8 
 
 52. Carved Wood and Gilded Cassone with painted panel. Florentine, about 1475 • 59 
 
 53. Gilded Cassone with painted panels. Florentine, about 1460-70.61 
 
 53A. Carved Wood Cassone with an intarsia panel. Florentine, about 1485 .... 61 
 
 54. Carved and Gilded Cassone. Verona or Mantua, end of the XV Century . 63 
 
 xii 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 54A. Carved Wood and Gilded Cassone. Northern Italy, end of the XV Century . 63 
 
 55. Cassone with gilded pastiglia and painted decorations. Northern Italy, end of 
 
 the XV Century.64 
 
 56. Cassone covered with velvet. About 1500.64 
 
 57. Gilded Cassone with pastiglia decorations. Mantua or Venetia, about 1500 . 67 
 
 58. Carved Wood Cassone. Lombardy, late XV Century.67 
 
 58A. Venetian Carved Wood Cassone. About 1500.69 
 
 59. Carved and Gilded Candlestick. Florentine, second half of the XV Century . 70 
 
 60. Carved and Gilded Candlestick. Second half of the XV Century.70 
 
 61. Carved and Gilded Candlestick. Florentine, about 1500.72 
 
 62. Bronze Candlestick. Florentine, about 1480-90.72 
 
 63. Cast taken from the antique.72 
 
 64. Bronze Candelabrum. Second half of the XV Century.74 
 
 65. Sacristy Cupboard with intarsia decorations. Tuscan, about 1450-60 ... 75 
 
 66. Standing Mirror Frame. About 1500.76 
 
 67. Sacristy Cupboard. Tuscan, about 1460-75.77 
 
 68. Sacristy Cupboard. Tuscan, second half of the XV Century.79 
 
 69. Sacristy Cupboard. Tuscan, second half of the XV Century.80 
 
 70. Writing Desk. Venetian, second half of the XV Century.81 
 
 71. Cabinet with inlay. Certosina work, about 1500.82 
 
 72. Inlaid Cabinet. Certosina work, about 1500.85 
 
 73. Hall Seat and Chest. Tuscan, second half of the XV Century.87 
 
 74. Seat with intarsia decorations. Second half of the XV Century.88 
 
 75. Lectern. Sienese, second half of the XV Century.90 
 
 76. Section of Panelling. Florentine, second half of the XV Century.91 
 
 77. Carved Wood Table. Florentine, late XV Century.93 
 
 78. Trestle Table. Florentine, second half of the XV Century.93 
 
 79. Carved Wood Table. Florentine, end of the XV Century.95 
 
 80. Carved Wood Table. About 1500.96 
 
 81. Carved Wood Table. Lombardy or Venetia, about 1500.97 
 
 82. Carved Wood Table. Late XV Century.98 
 
 83. Umbrian Table. Late XV Century.101 
 
 84. Florentine Centre Table. Second half of the XV Century.102 
 
 85. Centre Table. Bologna, late XV Century.103 
 
 86. Florentine Centre Table. Second half of the XV Century.104 
 
 87. Centre Table. Early XVI Century.105 
 
 88. Centre Table. From the Marches, about 1500.107 
 
 89. Florentine Centre Table. About 1500.107 
 
 90. Choir Stalls. About 1505.108 
 
 xiii 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 A Section of Panelling. Second half of the XV Century.109 
 
 Section of Choir Seats. Second half of the XV Century.no 
 
 Dante Chair. Tuscan, about 1490-1500. 
 
 Savonarola Chair. Tuscan, late XV Century. 
 
 Savonarola Chair. About 1500. 
 
 Savonarola Chair. Florentine, second half of the XV Century 
 Venetian Interior of variously coloured marbles .... 
 
 Sgabello. End of the XV Century. 
 
 Sgabello. Urbino, about 1500. 
 
 Two Sgabelli. About 1500. 116 
 
 Sgabello. Tuscan, second half of the XV Century. :I 7 
 
 Stool Chair. Lombardy, late XV Century 
 
 Late XV Century Venetian Bedroom. Carpaccio. 118 
 
 Interior, showing late XV Century bed. Lorenzo di Credi. !I 9 
 
 Cassone with gilded pastiglia decorations. Lombardy or Venetia, early XVI 
 Century . 
 
 111 
 
 111 
 
 112 
 
 112 
 
 113 
 
 114 
 US 
 
 122 
 
 123 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone. 
 Carved Wood Cassone. 
 Carved Wood Cassone. 
 Carved Wood Cassone. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Cassone with painted decorations. Venetian or Lombard, early XVI Century 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone. About 1500. 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone. Early XVI Century. 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone partly gilded. Roman, first half of the XVI Century 
 Carved Wood Cassone partly gilded. Roman, first half of the XVI Century 
 Carved Wood Cassone. Roman, about the middle of the XVI Century 
 Florentine, middle of the XVI Century 
 Roman, first half of the XVI Century . 
 
 Tuscan, first half of the XVI Century 
 Florentine, first half of the XVI Century 
 Sienese Cassone. First half of the XVI Century . 
 
 Cabinet with intarsia decorations. About 1500 
 Cabinet with coloured intarsia decorations. Mantua, about 1500 
 Interior, upper body of fig. 118 
 Detail of Frieze of Fig. 118 
 
 Gilded Armoire. Northern Emilian Marches, about 1500-20 . 
 
 Armoire with painted decorations. Sienese, first half ol the XVI Century 
 Carved Wood Writing Cabinet. Roman, first half of the XVI Century . 
 Leather-covered Cabinet. Venetian, about the middle of the XVI Century 
 Interior of Fig. 124 
 Tuscan Credenza 
 
 xiv 
 
FIG. 
 
 127 
 
 128 
 
 129 
 
 130 
 
 131 
 
 132 
 
 133 
 
 134 
 
 135 
 
 136 
 
 137 
 
 138 
 
 139 
 
 140 
 
 141 
 
 142 
 1+3 
 
 144 
 
 145 
 
 146 
 
 147 
 
 148 
 
 149 
 
 150 
 
 151 
 
 152 
 
 153 
 
 154 
 
 155 
 
 156 
 
 157 
 
 158 
 
 159 
 
 160 
 
 161 
 
 162 
 
 163 
 
 164 
 
 165 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Credenza. Tuscan, first half of the XVI Century.145 
 
 Emilian Credenza. First half of the XVI Century.145 
 
 Cabinet. Middle of the XVI Century.146 
 
 Credenza. Florentine, about 1540.147 
 
 Credenza. Florentine, first half of the XVI Century.149 
 
 Credenza. Sienese, first half of the XVI Century.150 
 
 Credenza. First half of the XVI Century.15 1 
 
 Credenza. Sienese, about the middle of the XVI Century.152 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Brescia, about the middle of the XVI Century . . 154 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Middle of the XVI Century.155 
 
 Carved Wood Doors. First half of the XVI Century.156 
 
 Writing Table. Florentine, first half of the XVI Century.157 
 
 Venetian Table. Early XVI Century.158 
 
 End of Fig. 139.158 
 
 Table with carved ends. Middle of the XVI Century.159 
 
 Florentine Table. First half of the XVI Century.159 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Roman, first half of the XVI Century.160 
 
 End of an Antique Stone Table.162 
 
 Tuscan Table. First half of the XVI Century.163 
 
 Paduan Table. Middle of the XVI Century.165 
 
 Carved Wood Table. First half of the XVI Century.166 
 
 Carved Wood Table. First half of the XVI Century.166 
 
 Early XVI Century Table.167 
 
 Tuscan Cabinet Table. First half of the XVI Century.167 
 
 Cast taken from the end of a Pompeian stone table.168 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Florentine, about the middle of the XVI Century . . 169 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Florentine, about the middle of the XVI Century . . 170 
 
 Side Table. Lombard or Venetian, middle of the XVI Century .... 171 
 
 Ligurian Side Table. About the middle of the XVI Century.171 
 
 Carved Wood Centre Table. Florentine, early XVI Century.172 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Sienese, early XVI Century.173 
 
 Carved Wood Pedestal Table. Sienese, about 1500.174 
 
 Carved Wood Centre Table. Florentine, first half of the XVI Century . . . 177 
 
 Carved Wood Stand. About the middle of the XVI Century.178 
 
 Centre Table. Roman, first half of the XVI Century.178 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Venetian, early XVI Century.179 
 
 Carved Wood Table. About the middle of the XVI Century.179 
 
 Octagonal Centre Table. Bolognese, early XVI Century.180 
 
 Inlaid Centre Table. Roman, about the middle of the XVI Century. . 180 
 
 xv 
 
166. 
 
 167. 
 
 168. 
 
 169. 
 
 170. 
 
 171. 
 
 172. 
 
 173- 
 
 174. 
 
 I 7 S- 
 
 176. 
 
 177. 
 
 178. 
 
 179. 
 
 180. 
 
 181. 
 
 182. 
 
 183. 
 
 184. 
 
 185. 
 
 186. 
 
 187. 
 
 188. 
 
 189. 
 
 190. 
 
 191. 
 
 192. 
 193 - 
 194. 
 
 X 9 S- 
 
 196. 
 
 197 - 
 
 198. 
 
 199. 
 
 200. 
 
 201. 
 
 202. 
 
 203. 
 
 204. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIO N S 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Table with intarsia decorations. First half of the XVI Century.181 
 
 Arm Chair. First half of the XVI Century.182 
 
 Dante Chair. First half of the XVI Century. 183 
 
 Dante Chair. First half of the XVI Century.183 
 
 Sedia Savonarola. First half of the XVI Century.184 
 
 Sedia Savonarola. First half of the XVI Century.185 
 
 Arm Chair. Umbrian, first half of the XVI Century.186 
 
 Chair with tooled leather. Tuscan, first half of the XVI Century.187 
 
 Arm Chair. Tuscan, first half of the XVI Century.188 
 
 Arm Chair. Venetian, first half of the XVI Century.189 
 
 Arm Chair. North Italian, first half of the XVI Century.190 
 
 Side Chair. North Italian, first half of the XVI Century.190 
 
 ArmChair. Lombard, about the middle of the XVI Century.191 
 
 Arm Chair. Venetian, first half of the XVI Century.191 
 
 Arm Chair. North Italian, middle of the XVI Century.191 
 
 Lombard Chairs. About the middle of the XVI Century.192 
 
 Stool Chair. First half of the XVI Century.193 
 
 Sgabello. Urbino, early XVI Century.194 
 
 Tuscan Sgabello. About the middle of the XVI Century.194 
 
 Stool. First half of the XVI Century.1 95 
 
 Throne Seat. Florentine, first half of the XVI Century.196 
 
 Carved Wood Bench. Sicilian, early XVI Century. 197 
 
 Late XV Century Bedroom.198 
 
 Sedia Savonarola. First half of the XVI Century. 199 
 
 Carved Wood Bed. Venetian, first half of the XVI Century.201 
 
 Walnut and Gold Bed. North Italian, middle of the XVI Century .... 203 
 
 Bronze Candlestick. Florentine, early XVI Century.204 
 
 Lower Part of a Carved Wood Candlestick. Florentine, early XVI Century . 204 
 
 Carved Wood Candlestick. Tuscan, early XVI Century.205 
 
 Carved Wood “Candelabro.” Sienese, early XVI Century.206 
 
 Carved Wood Candlesticks. Early XVI Century.207 
 
 Carved Wood Candlesticks. Tuscan, early XVI Century.208 
 
 Candlesticks, carved and gilded. First half of the XVI Century.209 
 
 Carved Wood Frame. Early XVI Century.210 
 
 Carved Wood Frame. Venetian, early XVI Century.213 
 
 Carved and Gilded Frame. Early XVI Century.214 
 
 Carved Wood Frame. Early XVI Century.215 
 
 Frames with painted decorations, h irst half of the XVI Century .... 216 
 
 Carved Wood Panel from a coffer. First half of the XVI Century .... 217 
 
 xv i 
 
I L LUSTRATIONS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bed. Walnut, gold and colour. Tuscan, late XVI Century.218 
 
 Ceiling of Bed shown in Fig. 205.220 
 
 Cushions of the XVI and XVII Centuries.221 
 
 Walnut Bed. Perugian, about 1600 .223 
 
 Ceiling of Bed shown in Fig. 208.224 
 
 Carved and Gilded Bed. North Italian, late XVI Century.225 
 
 Walnut and Gold Bed. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 227 
 
 Carved Wood Bed. Second half of the XVI Century.228 
 
 Carved Wood Bed. North Italian, second half of the XVI Century . . 229 
 
 Carved Wood Cradle. About the middle of the XVI Century.230 
 
 Carved Wood Cradle. Florentine, middle of the XVI Century.231 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 232 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 233 
 
 Credenza. Ligurian, second half of the XVI Century.234 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Florentine, middle of the XVI Century .... 235 
 
 Credenza, from the vicinity of Venice. Second half of the XVI Century . 236 
 
 Walnut Credenza, from the vicinity of Verona. Second half of the XVI Century. 236 
 
 Carved Wood Cabinet. Second half of the XVI Century.237 
 
 Carved Wood Cabinet. Second half of the XVI Century.238 
 
 Library Cabinet. Tuscan, about 1550-60.239 
 
 Cabinet. Second half of the XVI Century.241 
 
 Credenza. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.242 
 
 Carved Wood Cabinet. Second half of the XVI Century.243 
 
 Credenza. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.244 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 245 
 
 Armadio. Late XVI Century.246 
 
 Carved Wood Cabinet. Ligurian, second half of the XVI Century . . . 248 
 
 Cabinet. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.249 
 
 Carved Wood Cabinet. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 250 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Second half of the XVI Century.251 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Lombard, second half of the XVI Century ... 251 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza with intarsia. Second half of the XVI Century . 252 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Second half of the XVI Century.252 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Late XVI Century.253 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 254 
 
 Carved Wood Credenza. Second half of the XVI Century.255 
 
 Furniture Carving. Second half of the XVI Century.256 
 
 xvii 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 242. 
 
 243 - 
 
 244. 
 
 245 - 
 
 246. 
 
 247. 
 
 248. 
 
 249. 
 
 250. 
 
 251- 
 
 252. 
 
 253 - 
 
 254 - 
 
 255 - 
 256. 
 25 7 - 
 258. 
 259 - 
 
 260. 
 
 261. 
 
 262. 
 
 263. 
 
 264. 
 
 265. 
 
 266. 
 
 267. 
 
 268. 
 
 269. 
 
 270. 
 
 271. 
 
 272. 
 273 - 
 274. 
 275 - 
 
 276. 
 
 277. 
 
 278. 
 
 279. 
 
 280. 
 
 Carved Wood Cabinet. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 257 
 
 Carved Wood Writing Cabinet. Late XVI Century.258 
 
 Carved Wood Writing Cabinet. Tuscan, late XVI Century.259 
 
 Carved Wood Writing Cabinet. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century . . 260 
 
 Interior of late XVI Century Writing Cabinet.261 
 
 Writing Cabinet. Lombard, second half of the XVI Century.262 
 
 Writing Cabinet. Second half of the XVI Century.263 
 
 Upper body of a Writing Cabinet. Lombard, second half of the XVI Century . 264 
 
 Chest of Drawers. Late XVI Century.265 
 
 Chest of Drawers. Late XVI Century.266 
 
 Chest of Drawers. End of the XVI Century.267 
 
 Leggio. Second half of the XVI Century.268 
 
 Leggio. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.269 
 
 Leggio. Second half of the XVI Century.270 
 
 Cassone. Middle of the XVI Century.271 
 
 Cassone. Roman, second half of the XVI Century.271 
 
 Cassone. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.272 
 
 Cassone. Second half of the XVI Century.274 
 
 Cassone. Tuscan, about the middle of the XVI Century.274 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone. Second half of the XVI Century.275 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone. Venetian, about the middle of the XVI Century . . 276 
 
 Carved Wood Cassone. Venetian or Lombard, first half of the XVI Century . 276 
 
 Cassone. Venetian or Umbrian, second half of the XVI Century .... 277 
 
 Cassone. Venetian, second half of the XVI Century.277 
 
 Cassone with intarsia decorations. Lombard, second half of the XVI Century. 278 
 
 Cassone. Venetian, second half of the XVI Century.279 
 
 Cassapanca. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century.281 
 
 Cassapanca. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century.282 
 
 Cassapanca. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.283 
 
 Cassapanca. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.284 
 
 Cassapanca. Second half of the XVI Century.285 
 
 Pedestal. Late XVI Century.286 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Florentine, middle of the XVI Century.287 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Florentine, about the middle of the XVI Century . . 288 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Second half of the XVI Century.289 
 
 Carved Wood Table. North Italian, second half of the XVI Century . . . 290 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Tuscan or Umbrian, second half of the XVI Century . 291 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Florentine, late XVI Century.292 
 
 Carved Wood Table. Ligurian, second half of the XVI Century .... 293 
 
 xviii 
 
FIG • 
 
 I LLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 281. Table. Lombard or Venetian, middle of the XVI Century.295 
 
 282. Carved Wood Table. Umbrian, middle of the XVI Century.296 
 
 283. Table End. Tuscan, about the middle of the XVI Century.297 
 
 284. Carved Wood Table. About the middle of the XVI Century.298 
 
 285. Table. Second half of the XVI Century.299 
 
 286. Carved Wood Table. Second half of the XVI Century.300 
 
 287. Carved Wood Table. North Italian, second half of the XVI Century . . 301 
 
 288. Table. Bolognese, late XVI Century.302 
 
 289. Carved Wood Table. Umbrian, second half of the XVI Century .... 303 
 
 290. Carved Wood Table. Tuscan, second half of the XVI Century .... 304 
 
 291. Table. About the middle of the XVI Century.305 
 
 292. Table. Bolognese, end of the XVI Century .307 
 
 293. Pedestal Table. Lucca, end of the XVI Century.308 
 
 294. Pedestal Table. About 1600.309 
 
 295. Pedestal Table. Late XVI Century.310 
 
 296. Centre Table. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.311 
 
 297. Pedestal Table. Late XVI Century.312 
 
 298. Centre Table. Second half of the XVI Century.313 
 
 299. Table. Umbrian, second half of the XVI Century.314 
 
 300. Centre Table. Umbrian, second half of the XVI Century.315 
 
 301. Centre Table. Bolognese, late XVI Century.316 
 
 302. Centre Table. Late XVI Century.317 
 
 303. Carved Wood Centre Table. Late XVI Century.317 
 
 304. Trestle Table. Second half of the XVI Century.318 
 
 305. Trestle Table. Late XVI Century.318 
 
 306. Console Table. Second half of the XVI Century.320 
 
 307. Wall Table. Late XVI Century.321 
 
 308. Carved Wood Arm Chair. Late XVI Century.323 
 
 309. Arm Chair. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century.324 
 
 310. ArmChair. Latter part of the XVI Century.324 
 
 311. Arm Chair upholstered in velvet. Second half of the XVI Century .... 325 
 
 312. Arm Chair upholstered in velvet. North Italian, second half of the XVI Century 325 
 
 313. Arm Chairs with leather backs and seats. Second half of the XVI Century . 326 
 
 314. Arm Chair. Lombard, late XVI Century.327 
 
 315. Arm Chair. Umbrian, second half of the XVI Century.327 
 
 316. Arm Chair. Ligurian.328 
 
 317. Arm Chair. Ligurian, about 1600.328 
 
 318. Arm Chair. Ligurian, late XVI Century.329 
 
 319. Arm Chair. Ligurian, late XVI Century.329 
 
 xix 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FIG. 
 
 320. Arm Chair. Ligurian, late XVI Century .. 3 2 9 
 
 321. Carved Wood Side Chair. Brescian, second half of the XVI Century . . 330 
 
 322. Side Chair. Venetian, late XVI Century. 33 ° 
 
 323. Arm Chair. Late XVI Century. 33 1 
 
 324. Side Chair. Second half of the XVI Century. 33 2 
 
 325. Side Chair. Brescian, late XVI Century. 33 2 
 
 326. Side Chair. Late XVI Century. 333 
 
 327. Side Chair. Late XVI Century. 333 
 
 328. Sgabello. Middle of the XVI Century. 334 
 
 329. Sgabello. Middle of the XVI Century. 334 
 
 330. Sgabello. Middle of the XVI Century. 335 
 
 331. Sgabelli. Late XVI Century . 336 
 
 332. Stool. Late XVI Century. 337 
 
 333. Carved Wood Stool. Roman, about 1600. 337 
 
 334. Ecclesiastical Chair of iron and brass. End of the XVI Century.338 
 
 335. Wrought Iron and Brass Fold-stool. Dated 1604. 339 
 
 336. Sedia Dantesca. Second half of the XVI Century.34° 
 
 337. Folding Chairs. About 1600. 34 1 
 
 338. Carved Wood Frame. End of the XVI Century. 34 2 
 
 339. Carved Wood Frame. Second half of the XVI Century. 34 2 
 
 340. Carved and Gilded Frame. Venetian, second half of the XVI Century . . 343 
 
 341. Mirror Frame. Late XVI Century. 344 
 
 342. Carved Wood Frame. Venetian, second half of the XVI Century.345 
 
 343. Carved and Gilded Frame. Late XVI Century.346 
 
 344. Carved Wood Frame. Second half of the XVI Century.346 
 
 345. Mirror Frame, walnut and gold. Venetian, second half of the XVI Century . 347 
 
 346. Mirror Frame. Florentine, second half of the XVI Century. 347 
 
 347. Carved Wood Lantern. Venetian, about 2570. 34 s 
 
 348. Carved Wood Candlestick, gold and polychrome. Second half of the XVI 
 
 Century. 349 
 
 349. Carved Wood Candlestick. First half of the XVI Century. 35 ° 
 
 350. Carved Wood Candlesticks, gold and polychrome. Second half of the XVI 
 
 Century. 35 ° 
 
 351. Carved Wood and Gilded Candlesticks. 35 1 
 
 352. Carved and Gilded Candlesticks. Late XVI Century. 35 2 
 
 xx 
 
A HISTORY OF 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 

CHAPTER I 
 
 ITALIAN GOTHIC 
 
 THE FOURTEENTH AND EARLY FIFTEENTH 
 CENTURIES 
 
 EDIEVAL Italy, existing in the midst of many potent influ¬ 
 ences, and surrounded by the ruins of her past culture, adopted 
 Gothic art in the thirteenth century. With it she combined 
 her then-flourishing Lombard, Tuscan Romanesque, and By¬ 
 zantine styles into a fabric that, if falling far below the stand¬ 
 ard of the organic unity of northern work, excels in the beauty and charm 
 of its subordinate parts. Structural invention was not a gift of these other¬ 
 wise richly endowed people and the expression falls into a style balancing 
 
 FIG. I. IVORY COFANETTO. XII CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 the romantic and intellectual factors that may be termed pointed Romanesque 
 of refined character, rather than Gothic, in the sense of the north . 1 
 
 Northern Europe had given a well-formulated expression to Gothic art 
 before the Italians accepted it, but when the flamboyant style of the late 
 
 ■The Gothic style was introduced into Italy through the propaganda of the Cistercian monks. By the 
 close of the twelfth century this order was settling in various parts of the peninsula where it began to 
 erect churches evincing the influence of the pointed style of Burgundy whence the order came. 
 
 M 
 
 3 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 fifteenth century was revelling in its most intricate fancies, the Italians had 
 totally abandoned it in their enthusiastic desire for antique culture. During 
 the short period of its adoption it was always under that dominating influence, 
 inbred of classic tradition, that prevented the Italian genius from compre¬ 
 hending the organic structure of the true Northern style. Classic art is an 
 heritage of the Italians that has coloured all their artistic activities. The early 
 Christians employed architectural members and fragments from the classic 
 ruins of Rome in constructing their early Basilicas, and all through the 
 Romanesque and Byzantine styles this classic tradition is apparent. The 
 Gothic idea, that was so spontaneous and natural to the feudal people of the 
 North, was never a congenial or symbolic expression of the civic and intel¬ 
 lectual liberty of the Italian free town and commune. Yet a style clearly 
 showing the struggle of these two elements for mastery, perhaps best depicted 
 in the work of Pisano’s pulpit for the Baptistry at Pisa, a masterpiece of Gothic 
 form and Renaissance sculpture, was characteristic of the artistic expression of 
 the Italians during the greater part of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 At the height of the conflict between the native Italian and the Northern 
 styles, the great architect, Arnolfo Cambio (1232-1301), the designer of the 
 church of Santa Croce and the Palazzo Vecchio, as well as the author of the 
 first plans for the Cathedral at Florence, gave a more definite form to the 
 architecture of Tuscany, that may be termed Tuscan Gothic. 1 This style in 
 modified form was the prevailing mode of architecture in central Italy during 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, adapting itself to the local materials. 
 It not only found expression in ecclesiastical work, but developed a domestic 
 style in the beginning of the fourteenth century in the service of a society 
 rapidly becoming more luxurious and intellectual, that was generally more 
 palatial than it was in the northern countries. In Lombardy, Venice, and Sicily, 
 
 'The Bargello at Florence, begun about 1250, is a noble example of a castellated palace showing the local 
 Romanesque modified by Gothic detail. 
 
 2 In Sicily as early as the twelfth century, rose a school of decoration that contributed to the art of the thir¬ 
 teenth and fourteenth centuries. It is recorded that Roger of Sicily built a palace in the Saracen style having 
 interiors panelled in cream marble adorned with mosaics picturing green trees and blue peacocks. 1 hough the 
 influence of the antique was evident in the sculpture at an extraordinarily early date, the influence of the By¬ 
 zantine, Lombard, and Northern Gothic styles prevailed from the twelfth century up to the time of the Renais- 
 sance. The mosaics here are especially important. 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 a style embodying the same conceptions and showing the same misapprehen¬ 
 sion of the true Gothic character reached a state of highly interesting develop¬ 
 ment, marked in each section by its local colour. 
 
 The social and political life of the democratic commune and free town of 
 Italy enjoyed an intellectual liberty that encouraged individuality of expres¬ 
 sion. The northern aristocracies, shut up in their strong fortresses, knew little 
 of the domestic refinement and comfort of the Italian patrician, who as early 
 as the fourteenth century devoted time to artistic and intellectual pursuits. 
 The extensive trade of the Italians, a deadly foe of feudalism, brought wealth 
 which soon encouraged a leisure that naturally led to luxury. 
 
 The thirteenth century was an age of extreme simplicity. The houses, 
 dress, and manner of the people were generally crude and simple. A contem¬ 
 porary of Dante gives us a picture of the development of Italian social life from 
 the thirteenth to the fourteenth century: “In the thirteenth century,” he 
 writes, “the manners of Italians were rude. A man and his wife ate off the 
 same plate. There were no wooden-handled knives -nor more than one or two 
 drinking cups in a house. Candles of wax or tallow were unknown— a servant 
 held a torch during supper. The clothes of men were of leather, unlined; 
 scarcely any gold or silver was seen on their dress. The portions of women 
 were small, and their dress, even after marriage, was simple. The pride of man 
 was to be well provided with arms and horses; that of nobility to have lofty 
 towers, of which all the cities in Italy were full. But now (the early fourteenth 
 century) frugality has been changed for sumptuousness; everything exquisite 
 is sought after in dress,—gold, silver, pearls, silks, and rich furs. Even foreign 
 wines and rich meats are required.” 1 John de Mussis in his “Chronicon Pla- 
 centinum,” written about 1388, laments in the tone of the modern moralist the 
 increasing luxury of his day. He writes that “Now the old customs are 
 superseded by many indecorous usages, but especially for the destruction of 
 souls has parsimony been changed for luxury. Clothes are seen of exquisite 
 materials and workmanship, and ornamented to excess. We have silver and 
 gold and pearls in cunning devices; fringes of wonderful breadth, linings of 
 
 ■ Hallam’s “ State of Europe,” Vol. II, part II, chap. IX. 
 
 6 
 
FIG. 3. CASSONE WITH PAINTED DECORATIONS. FLORENTINE, ABOUT I4OO 
 
 FROM THE CASTELLO DI VINCIGLIATA, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 silk varied with foreign and costly furs. Our ladies wear long and large robes 
 of crimson silk velvet, or of cloth of silk brocaded with gold, and every lady 
 has trinkets of gold and precious stones to the value of from thirty to fifty 
 golden florins.” 
 
 It is claimed that furniture design is affected by contemporary costumes. 
 If this can be taken as an indication we may infer that the cassoni with 
 painted and gilded pastiglia decorations and other Gothic furnishings were 
 richer and more numerous than are accredited to that period to-day, and 
 perhaps the most beautiful examples have not survived from those times of 
 peril and strife. Vasari says: “At that time it was the custom of the people to 
 have in their chambers great wooden chests of various forms, and every one 
 used to have them painted with stories from the myths of Ovid and other 
 poets, or hunting scenes or jousts, or tales of love according to the taste of 
 each one. And in the same way were painted the beds and chairs and other 
 furniture of the rooms.” 
 
 The great plagues of the middle of the fourteenth century, which depleted 
 the population of many of the principal cities, the trials of the condottieri, to¬ 
 gether with the depressing rule of the despots, turned the people’s thoughts again 
 to the Church, and with the return of the popes from Avignon in 1377' anew 
 impetus was given to an ecclesiastical expression that was to vie with the 
 doctrines of the great humanist forerunners, then beginning to make their 
 impress on the Italian mind. In the arts, the humanist influence is evident 
 in sculpture and literature, but it was not until the fifteenth century that the 
 influence of the classic revival was apparent in architecture and in furniture 
 design. 
 
 Florence, even in medieval times, acclaimed her supremacy in the arts. 
 Her architecture, as early as the Romanesque period, has a character of 
 balanced reasonableness, and, as Vasari noticed, has none of the Lombard 
 savagery. The old Florentine historian, Villani, gives us a picturesque ac¬ 
 count of the prosperity, tranquillity, and refinement of Florentine life as early 
 
 1 After their return there was the “great schism” of forty years that divided Europe. At one time three 
 popes were claiming power until the Council at Constance, 1414, deposed all three and elected a Colonna, 
 —Martin V, 1417-31—who restored unity. 
 
 8 
 
BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
':<s?&ssy:-sy^^/ys\s ■?*.•-< •'• 
 
 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 as the year 1283 when, as he writes: “In June, at the feast of St. John, in 
 the quarter across the Arno, where the Rossi and their neighbours were 
 the principal people, the nobility and the rich organized themselves into a 
 company, and adopted a dress all white, and chose a master called the Lord 
 of Love. The object of the company was to have feasts, games, and dances 
 
 V ; ;X 
 
 FIG. 6. COFFER WITH PAINTED PANELS AND GILDED PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS 
 SIENESE, ABOUT 1380 
 FROM A SIENESE COLLECTION 
 
 for the ladies and gentlemen of the city and other people of quality. They 
 used to parade the town with trumpets and other musical instruments, and 
 had great dinners and suppers and all kinds of jollity. The festivities lasted 
 nearly two months, and were the finest and most celebrated that were ever 
 held in Florence or all Tuscany. Gentlemen and troubadours came from 
 far and near, and all were received and entertained with distinction. And 
 it is worth remembering that the city and its citizens were better off then 
 than they had ever been, and this prosperity continued till the division into 
 Burghers and Grandi. There were then in Florence three hundred knights, 
 
 IO 
 
FIG. 7. CASSONE WITH PAINTED PANEL AND PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. FLORENTINE, END OF THE 
 
 XIV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 8. CASSONE WITH PAINTED PANELS AND PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. FLORENTINE, 
 
 LATE XIV CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 and there were many companies of gentlemen and ladies, who morning and 
 evening kept open table richly spread, and had buffoons in attendance, 
 so, from Lombardy and all Italy, jesters, players, and jugglers came to 
 Florence, and all were welcome, and whenever a stranger of distinction 
 passed through the city there was rivalry between the companies to get 
 him as their guest.” 1 
 
 In the early fourteenth century, in spite of the devastating plagues and 
 the continuous struggle between the Grandi and the Borghesi, Florence was 
 still so rich and prosperous and her luxury reached such a degree of extrava¬ 
 gance as to necessitate the creation of laws regulating the dress of both 
 fashionable and simple people. It was during this period that Giotto reared 
 his beautiful tower of coloured marbles and many of her still-existing Gothic 
 palaces were built 5 as well as those villas which Villani informs us were, 
 at that early age, more beautiful than the town palaces. 
 
 Venice, a republic, ruled by an oligarchy of nobles, rose to the height of 
 her power in the first years of the fifteenth century. Throughout the four¬ 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries her governing classes were very wealthy and 
 lived magnificently in fanciful Gothic palaces, of which the Palazzi dell’ 
 Ambasciatore, Cavalli, and Ca’ d’Oro give some idea of their splendour. 
 After the Crusades a great change was wrought in primitive manners, 
 domestic life developed and the furnishing of the house was much improved. 
 The houses of the nobility prove that a certain refinement and elegance had 
 already come into vogue and the internal decoration of the chambers was no 
 less graceful than the design of the facade. 3 
 
 From the fragmentary remains of the decorative arts and the gossip of the 
 old chroniclers we can construct pictures of the early Venetian interior. 
 Lionardo di Nicolo Frescobaldi, a Florentine, writes that he was invited to 
 the house of Remigio Soranza to supper on an evening in August, 1384. He 
 remarks that the house “seemed all of gold; there were many chambers which 
 were simply one mass of gold and ultramarine.” It is also recorded that 
 
 1 A translation from Sedgwick’s “A Short History of Italy.” 
 
 2 The Pal. Salimbeni, Spini, and Davanzati are surviving examples of the period. 
 
 3 Molmenti. 
 
 12 
 
FIG. IO. PASTIGLIA PANEL FROM A FLORENTINE CASSONE. EARLY XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
FIG. II. CASSONE WITH PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. ABOUT I4OO 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 FIG. 12 . SIENESE CASSONE WITH GILDED PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. ABOUT I4OO 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 14 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Peter, son of the King of Portugal, while on a visit to Venice in 1425, said 
 that the houses of the nobles “were not private houses, but palaces of princes 
 and crowned heads.” Art was applied to the adornment of the life of pri¬ 
 vate citizens as well. “They gradually began to collect antiquities and 
 objects of artistic value and to turn their attention to the decoration of their 
 houses.” From an inventory compiled in 1335 we learn that the notary 
 Oliviero Forzetta was the possessor of a veritable museum. Goldsmiths’ 
 work, pictures on panels, drawings, fragments of antique sculpture, medals, 
 and books of philosophy and literature were recorded. Giovanni Villani tells 
 us that chimney pieces were both numerous and beautiful in pre-Renaissance 
 Venice, their hoods being adorned with painting and sculpture. As early 
 as 1355 an apartment in the Ducal Palace is spoken of as the “Sala Cammin- 
 osum”, implying that chimney pieces were then in use, while in the house of 
 Doge Faliero a room, in which his library and antiquities were arranged, 
 was designated as the “Camera Rossa”, evidently thus distinguished by the 
 colour of its decorations or hangings, giving us an indication of the thought 
 that was bestowed on the decorations of the important interiors of that early 
 age. 
 
 Although the Duchy of Milan, under the rule of Gian Galeazzo Visconti 
 (1378-1402), had conquered nearly all of northern Italy,' laid the foundation 
 of the Cathedral at Milan, begun the Certosa at Pavia, and completed the 
 great Castello at Pavia, the social and domestic life of this section was as 
 a whole far more primitive and less affected by artistic standards than that of 
 Florence and Venice. The Duchy of Milan, a despotic and tyrannical form 
 of government, like that of the feudalistic civilizations of the north, did not 
 encourage a diffusion of social and domestic refinement. Though the 
 pageantry of life was no doubt used as an asset of power by all medieval 
 as well as Renaissance despots, it was, by its concentration here brought 
 out in the greatest contrast. The Castello at Pavia, said to be the grandest 
 royal house of medieval Europe, was reared by successive generations of 
 
 1 Vicenza, Verona, Padua, Siena, Perugia, and Bologna had been conquered and annexed by him. He 
 aspired to a kingdom of Italy, but this plan was defeated by the Venetians and the Florentines. 
 
 15 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the Visconti, as is evinced by the long low Romanesque colonnades and 
 arches of the first Visconti age, and the Gothic windows of the banqueting 
 hall, as well as those of the upper stories with slender marble shafts and 
 terra cotta mouldings built by Gian Galeazzo. The vaulted halls are said 
 to have once been gay with ultramarine and gold, the arms of the Visconti 
 and Sforza, the red cross of Savoy, and the lilies of France. The vast 
 “Sala della Palla”, decorated with frescos picturing hunting and fishing 
 scenes, was where the courtiers indulged in “pall mall”, the classic game 
 of the Renaissance. 
 
 Next to Venice, Siena is perhaps the richest in palaces of this period, 
 from which come some of the finest existing examples of Gothic furniture. 1 
 Siena shows signs of a highly developed social life at an astonishingly early 
 age. In the thirteenth century, in spite of her civil strife and internal 
 jealousies, she reached the height of her prosperity. Her civic pride was 
 manifested in her paved and cleanly kept streets, her beautiful public build¬ 
 ings and her university. Her burgher class rose to power, generalizing the 
 advancement of domestic refinement, while her guilds of artists and artisans 
 were ornamenting the artistic expression of her social, as well as her reli¬ 
 gious and civic life. 
 
 Contemporaneous is the golden age of Perugia. Throughout Umbria 
 the Gothic style manifested itself more truly. The church of S. Francesco at 
 Assisi, begun in the year 1228, the most complete acceptance of the new 
 style, undoubtedly had its effect upon the contemporary building activities of 
 Umbria. There is also important work to be found at Mantua, Ferrara, and 
 Vicenza, 5 other centres of highly developed pre-Renaissance civilizations. 
 But Rome with the Papacy away at Avignon and the “great schism” of 
 forty years after its return, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily in a turbulent 
 state, Genoa a maritime oligarchy and pirate, and Savoy shut up in a feudal- 
 istic mode of living—could have taken but little part in the development of the 
 arts that encouraged a more graceful and artistic manner of living. 
 
 'In Siena the Pal. Tolomei, Saracini, Salimbem, Grottanelli, and Buonsignori are among those reared in 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 2 The Pal. Thiene and the Pal. Braschi of the fourteenth century. 
 
 16 
 
CASSONE WITH PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. SIENESE, END OF THE XIV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 

 ■a?$£&{■'. 11:!; 
 
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 F ]‘,;tP 
 
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 ymffe 
 
 
 
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 wPiii 
 
 
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 %*rw?-A<4'4&X 
 
 CARVED WOOD WALNUT CHEST. VAL d’aOSTA, FIRST HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE TOLENTINO GALLERIES OF ROME AND NEW YORK CITY 
 
 FIG. 17. END OF FIG. l6 
 
 19 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 An amazing number of Gothic palaces of the fourteenth and early fif¬ 
 teenth centuries still survive, but unfortunately no interiors remain with 
 their furnishings intact. A few examples of accurate restorations, such 
 as those in the Scala castle at Soave, are of great value to the student. Here 
 the guard room has been restored, with its crude tables and guards beds, 
 as in the days of Can Grande.' Reached by picturesque outer stairs are 
 several other apartments with restored decorations and furnishings, among 
 which is a bedroom with a canopied bed, tables, chairs, and decorative 
 wrought-iron stands. In the dining room the table has been set with 
 decorative majolica dishes, crude forks and spoons, earthenware pitchers 
 and a partly opaque glass of a lovely blue. The decorations of the walls 
 are restored in the Quattrocento style. Still, in many of the surviving 
 Gothic palaces scattered throughout the peninsula, are isolated examples of 
 original ceilings, both carved and painted, carved stone chimney pieces, and 
 doorways, an occasional intarsia door and a painted wall decoration. An 
 apartment in an old palace at Verona is fortunate in retaining its exquisite 
 carved wood ceiling and finely carved vertical wall beams, rare even in 
 those days, while Sig. Bardini has preserved in his villa near Florence 
 several painted ceilings, carved stone doorways and chimney pieces, painted 
 wall decorations and a stately old stairway of stone, all of which he has 
 skillfully removed from demolished Gothic structures. 
 
 The general interior of the fourteenth and early fifteenth century palace, 
 compared with that of the Renaissance and Baroque times, was, except in rare 
 instances, severely bare and ascetic. Furnishings were few and simple and 
 generally crude. The principal apartment-the living room, with its rough 
 plaster and stone walls, its beamed ceilings, sometimes painted with primitive 
 decorations, its tiled floors, and monumental hooded chimney pieces—contained 
 most of the articles of medieval furniture, which consisted of the cassone; a 
 few chairs, benches, and stools; sometimes a long table, and occasionally a 
 
 iCan Grande of Verona has been called one of the most attractive of Italian despots of this period. He 
 distinguished bv the splendours of his brilliant court, where at one time over twenty exiled Gh.bell.ne princes 
 ,ok refuge. Throngs of painters, sculptors, scholars, poets, and musicians-mcluding Dante, who gave him 
 place in the seventeenth canto of Paradiso-found there a generous hospitality. He died in 1329. Verona 
 ill to the Visconti in 1387. 
 
 20 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 cupboard. With the exception of a few beds, little is known about the fur¬ 
 nishings of the other apartments beyond what can be learned from a few con¬ 
 temporary pictures and woodcuts. 
 
 Though generally crude the interiors of this period are highly colourful. 
 Walls of the principal apartments were often entirely covered with tempera 
 frescos depicting hangings with all-over geometrical diaper patterns, or pat¬ 
 terned over with conventional flower and foliage, with rich borders at the top 
 and bottom. These were painted to appear as though they were hung straight 
 or else dropped pendant from regular points forming a festoon-like drapery. 1 
 It is claimed that in some houses of the wealthier class actual hangings were 
 used, woven in designs similar to these painted decorations.' 
 
 A painted wall decoration, removed from the Mercato Vecchio at 
 Florence to the Villa Bardini just outside that city, has a frieze formed of 
 the heads of a cusped arcade below which is suspended a diapered stuff in 
 broad folds. Through the arches of the frieze can be seen olive and orange 
 trees, giving the effect of a loggia enclosed with hangings. During the 
 restoration of the Palazzo Davanzati painted walls of this description were 
 found in several of the apartments under layers of modern plaster and wall 
 papers. As in nearly all instances, these decorations were crowned with 
 elaborate painted friezes, and were found associated with beamed and raftered 
 ceilings ornamented with gay pattern work of chevrons, chequers, bands 
 of quatrefoils, and other abstract motifs, in which reds, blues, and greens of 
 normal values and intensities were combined with an effective area of black 
 and white.' 1 Though the vaulted ceiling, embellished with frescos, is gener¬ 
 ally met with in ecclesiastical work, it was occasionally found in apartments 
 on the ground floor of the palace. In the houses of merchants these apart¬ 
 ments were generally used for trade, while those above were reserved for the 
 family. All important palaces had courtyards with arcades and stately stairs 
 and in the centre stood the sculptured wellhead. 
 
 'See Lethaby’s “Mediaeval Art,” p. 294. 
 
 Italian wall decorations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.” Victoria and Albert Museum Art 
 Hand Book. . . . 
 
 Original wall paintings of this character are to be found in the Bargello, Florence; Castello di Vincig- 
 liata, near Florence, and the Council Chamber at S. Marino. 
 
 22 
 
FIG. 20 . CHEST WITH CARVED AND INTARSIA DECORATIONS, WALNUT AND GOLD. SIENESE, EARLY XV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Of the furniture in the medieval interior, the cassone 1 was of the greatest 
 importance. The large number still surviving attest the popularity of this form 
 of furnishing which fulfilled so many functions. They were used principally 
 for storing wearing apparel and valuables, and not infrequently for transport¬ 
 ing these possessions on journeys,' while with the addition of soft cushions 
 
 FIG. 21. SACRISTY CUPBOARD WITH DOORS. INTARSIA DECORATIONS. LOMBARD OR 
 VENETIAN, EARLY XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 they were often used for seats and even at times for beds. It was not uncommon 
 to find ten or more belonging to a household and from some of the old in¬ 
 ventories we learn that fifty or more were included among the possessions of a 
 patrician family. At least one was found in every apartment, while in some of 
 the old pictures they are seen placed at the foot of the bed and occasionally 
 at the side as well. 
 
 'In many of the old inventories they are spoken of as “forziere. 
 
 2 Distinguished people travelled with at least ten, while as many as a hundred are known to have been 
 carried in the trains of the magnificent princes. 
 
 24 
 
FIG. 22 . SACRISTY CUPBOARD. PERUGIA, ABOUT I4OO 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 23 - 
 
 THE 
 
 FIG. 
 
 FROM 
 
 UMBRIAN CHEST. ABOUT I4OO 
 DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 The Italian cassone differs 
 widely from the northern Gothic 
 chest both in form and decora¬ 
 tion. Northern specimens are 
 more vertical and are invariably 
 richly carved with characteristic 
 Gothic tracery in a composition 
 of decidedly vertical character, 
 while the Italian examples gen¬ 
 erally have painted, inlaid, or 
 pastiglia enrichments of more 
 geometrical character that dis¬ 
 play a more horizontal composi¬ 
 tion. Most of those surviving 
 from the fourteenth and early 
 fifteenth centuries show a great 
 variety in decorative treatment. The earliest and finest examples were embel¬ 
 lished with pastiglia work, a kind of plaster composition in low relief that 
 was generally gilded and occasionally painted, or with painted panels inserted 
 in rich frames of the same composition. Except in Venice and in some of the 
 extreme northern provinces carved wood cassoni of the fourteenth and fif¬ 
 teenth centuries are very rare, inlay or intarsia being generally preferred to 
 enrich the surfaces of the finer examples. The fronts of all medieval chests 
 show the most important decorations, the ends and tops in most instances 
 being treated in a simple, decorative manner. 
 
 In form and ornamentation the ivory Byzantine cofanetto illustrated in 
 Figure i is a model for many of the cassoni of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries. The manner in which the decoration is enclosed in rectangular 
 forms framed with bands of running ornament became a favourite Gothic 
 composition of the Italians. 
 
 Figure 2, a late fourteenth century cassone with painted decoration of 
 beautiful Gothic design, is reinforced with ornamental metal bands in a char- 
 
 FIG. 24. PANELLING FROM THE GASTELLO DI TORCHI- 
 ARA, NEAR PARMA. FIRST HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE PERUZZI DE’ MEDICI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 26 
 
FIG. 26 
 
 acteristic manner. The sim¬ 
 plicity of its form and the 
 arrangement of its decoration 
 in successive rectangular 
 composition are illustrations 
 of the most excellent work of 
 that period. In the upper 
 tier of panels are decorations 
 representing ladies in flowing 
 robes mounted on horses and 
 holding falcons, alternating 
 with those composed of 
 knights, ladies, and conven¬ 
 tionalized trees. Bordering 
 the top and bottom of the 
 chest are bands of painted 
 ornament of more abstract de¬ 
 sign. Figure 3 which shows 
 the same arrangement of a very similar decoration appears to have been 
 much restored. This, with the foregoing, probably formed a pair of marriage 
 cassoni that held the trousseau of some patrician bride of the late fourteenth 
 century. Another fine specimen in Figure 4, which originally came from the 
 hospital of Santa Maria Nuova at Florence, is of about the same date. Its 
 general form and the arrangement of its metal trimmings are identical with 
 those of the preceding ones. The base member is outlined with Italian 
 Gothic forms while the surface is enriched with an all-over painted pattern of 
 the Florentine lily. 
 
 Of unusually fine preservation is the original state of the cassone from the 
 Bardini Collection illustrated in Figure 5. This distinguished Sienese piece 
 has a decoration of gilded pastiglia enhanced with colour. The decoration 
 of the centre panel, an arch supported on twisted columns of Byzantine origin, 
 the motifs on either side that enclose the heraldic shields, as well as those of 
 
 28 
 
 CARVED AND INLAID DOORS. LJ 
 XIV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE SACRISTY OF SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE 
 
 *S 
 

 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 2b>. MONASTERY LINEN CABINET. UMBRIAN, FIRST HALF 
 OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 similar form that 
 compose the en¬ 
 closing border,are 
 characteristic Ital¬ 
 ian motifs com¬ 
 posing a typical 
 Gothic design of 
 the late fourteenth 
 century. The top 
 shows a variation 
 of form that is a 
 prototype of many 
 Renaissance ex¬ 
 amples, while the 
 base member is de¬ 
 signed in a manner 
 similar to that of 
 
 Figure 4. 
 
 Noted painters of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were employed 
 to enrich the cassoni of the Grandi with panels of such artistic value that many 
 have been removed from their original setting and now hang in the galleries 
 of Europe. One of this variety, fortunately intact and now preserved in 
 the Museo Nazionale at Florence, is figured in No. 7. Its panel pictur¬ 
 ing the Baptistry and at the same time illustrating the love of pageantry of 
 that age, is placed in the front of a cassone of primitive form. Though the 
 ends of this panel have been shaped, many fine ones were of an undisturbed 
 rectangular form. The all-over pattern work of the lily with which its frame 
 is enriched, is a motif that proclaims its Florentine origin. It was also a 
 common practice to enclose a series of painted panels in a framework of 
 gilded pastiglia of elaborate form, as illustrated in the marriage cassone 
 shown in Figure 8. The base member is treated in a decorative manner sim¬ 
 ilar to Figures 4 and 5. 
 
 30 
 
FIG. 29. 
 
 XII CENTURY 
 AGNANO 
 
 SEDIA EPISCOPALE. 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL AT 
 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Another form of the smaller 
 chest of medieval times is illus¬ 
 trated in the Sienese coffer of 
 ecclesiastical origin (Figure 6). 
 The form of the top is one gener¬ 
 ally found on the smaller coffer 
 and cassetta, as well as, in a modi¬ 
 fied way, on the important bridal 
 cassoni and those finer specimens 
 that were not designed for seats. 
 The gilded pastiglia work, which 
 is in an excellent state of preser¬ 
 vation for this delicate medium, 
 exhibits a highly characteristic 
 pattern. 
 
 The entire fronts of marriage 
 chests (albi de ligno), of which 
 every patrician bride possessed at 
 least two, were often filled with pas¬ 
 tiglia panels of figures in low relief depicting romantic events such as are shown 
 in the beautiful panels, Figures 9 and 10, of the early fifteenth century from the 
 South Kensington Museum. Figure 10, which appears to have suffered little 
 from restoration, pictures a wedding scene, giving a valuable illustration of the 
 rich and graceful costumes of that period of which de Mussis so deploringly 
 writes. Though much of the beauty of form and colouring of Figure 9 
 has been impaired in the too-zealous restoration, yet it is a valuable docu¬ 
 ment of this rare and fragile work. Figure 11, of the same period, with con¬ 
 vex curved front, showing a variation of the primitive form that is sometimes 
 met with, is fortunate in retaining an original base. It is decorated with 
 pastiglia modelling that is much impaired and less graceful in design than 
 that of the two preceding ones. 
 
 In Figure 13 is shown a rare Sienese chest dating about 1500, embellished 
 
 32 
 
 FIG. 30. SEDIA DANTESCA WITH INTARSIA 
 DECORATIONS. LOMBARD OR VENE¬ 
 TIAN, ABOUT THE MIDDLE 
 OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
SEDIA DANTESCA WITH DECORATIONS. ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
FIG. 32. SUPPORTING END OF A CANOPY. 
 FIRST HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 with an elaborate pastiglia decoration 
 of more abstract character. The front 
 of the medieval form is spaced into three 
 panels, each outlined with inscribed 
 bands that frame geometrical forms en¬ 
 closing heraldic devices. The ends are 
 treated in a decorative manner similar 
 to that of the front, the base being out¬ 
 lined with winged forms, while the sur¬ 
 face of the whole is gilded and appears 
 to be in its original state. 
 
 The heavy chest of simple rect¬ 
 angular form, with its base member 
 carved with Gothic motifs of Umbrian 
 character, is raised on four moulded 
 feet. Intarsia decorations of early 
 fifteenth century design embellish the 
 
 square panels which fill its front and sides as well as the stiles that enclose 
 them. Figure 15 is a rare model from Urbino showing another primitive 
 form, as well as intarsia decoration of primitive style, the more geometric 
 conception of its crude carving and inlay again illustrating the Gothic work 
 of the Italians. 
 
 From the far north, in Savoy and Piedmonte and from the province of Ven- 
 etia, come many chests elaborately carved with Gothic tracery that resemble 
 so closely those from beyond the Alps as to be often confused with them. 
 Figures 16, 18, and 19 illustrate early fifteenth century Italian designs of this 
 character of which Figure 18 is more easily distinguished as a Venetian 
 product by the way its arched heads, its spandril decorations, as well as the 
 variety of shafts which support them, have been treated, bigure 19 is from 
 a far northern province of Italy and is almost identical with those of 
 France. It, like most surviving examples, shows too strongly its evidence of 
 restoration. 
 
 34 
 
The square panel, 
 whether enriched with in¬ 
 tarsia or carving, has a de¬ 
 cided preference in early 
 Italian work as is exempli¬ 
 fied in the Sienese chest of 
 much taller proportions 
 shown in Figure 20, which 
 may be called a prototype 
 of the credenza of the suc¬ 
 ceeding centuries. The 
 carved motifs of the upper 
 panels suggest the flam¬ 
 boyant style of the North, 
 while the intarsia work of 
 the lower panels, especially 
 the bands of geometrical 
 patterns, that enrich the 
 stiles are highly character¬ 
 istic of Italian design of 
 this period. This intricate 
 intarsia work of the four¬ 
 teenth and fifteenth cen¬ 
 turies undoubtedly has its 
 source in the work of those 
 “Cosmatesque” masters at 
 Rome who inlaid white 
 
 marble with small pieces of variously coloured stones and glass combined 
 with gold in geometrical patterns. On the ambo of the Church of S. 
 Cesareo and of the Araceli at Rome as well as entwining the twisted col¬ 
 umns of the facade of the cathedral at Orvieto, are bands of this inlay 
 almost identical in design with those embellishing numerous articles of 
 
 36 
 
 FIG. 34, 
 
 FOLDING BEECHWOOD MONASTERY CHAIR 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN 
 
 FURNITURE 
 
 furniture. Touches of colour, especially a yellow-red, were often introduced 
 into some of the intarsia work of this nature giving it an even closer resem¬ 
 blance to the “Cosmati” work. 1 
 
 Figure 21 is an early fifteenth century cupboard with two doors, again 
 
 showing the favourite 
 arrangement of in¬ 
 tarsia panels. The 
 cornice depicting 
 dentals in perspective 
 marked the first 
 attempts at that won¬ 
 derful art of perspec¬ 
 tive intarsia that 
 reached its climax in 
 the work of Fra Gio¬ 
 vanni da Verona in 
 the first years of the 
 sixteenth century 
 (Fig. 90). Figure 22 
 is a cupboard of 
 ecclesiastical origin. 
 It has a moulded 
 base and cornice and 
 its body is divided 
 into two vertical 
 parts, with doors 
 
 FIG. 36. ECCLESIASTICAL CHAIR. NORTHERN ITALY, 
 
 early xv century panelled in oblong 
 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 rectangles contain¬ 
 ing lozenge forms. This beautiful Umbrian work again illustrates the 
 popularity of the carved tracery in that province, while at the same time it 
 
 'The “Cosmati” workers flourished between the years noo and 1300 in Rome during the period of her 
 greatest depression. The name is taken from the family of Cosmati, who were famed for this work which is 
 undoubtedly of Byzantine inspiration. Glass mosaic was not used in profusion until the thirteenth century. 
 
 38 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 shows how, in all characteristic Italian design, tracery has been subordinated 
 to the rectangular form. This is also true of Figure 24 where carved panels 
 of the most elaborate Italian character have been inserted in panelling 
 formed of a succession of squares. Heraldic devices often appear associ¬ 
 ated with these more geometrical carved decorations in the manner illus- 
 
 FIG. 37. SECTION OK PANELLING WITH CANOPY, PROBABLY PART OF AN EARLY 
 XV CENTURY THRONE SEAT 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 trated. The stiles of the panels are simply but richly inlaid with bands of 
 intarsia.' 
 
 The long vertical panels of foreign origin that were so much used by 
 the craftsmen of northern Italy and Venetia were also adopted by eclectic 
 Umbria in the first half of the fifteenth century when she was under the 
 artistic influence of Venetia. These she modified and simplified as is illus- 
 
 ‘This is the famous piece of furniture from the Castello di Torchiera where, according to legend, Bianca 
 Pellegrini, the mistress of Count Piermaria Rossi, hid herself to listen to prayers when she retired to Torch- 
 iara to escape persecution after the murder of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. It is in a remarkable state of pres¬ 
 ervation. The coat of arms and figures are gilded and decorated with polychrome. 
 
 39 
 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 trated in the early fifteenth century Umbrian chest with doors, pictured in 
 Figure 23. Though this piece has the appearance of having been altered, 
 still all its parts are original and valuable documents. 
 
 The many cupboards, both with and without doors, that were let into 
 the thick walls of the different apartments, together with the cassoni, ful- 
 
 FIG. 38. TUSCAN TABLE. ABOUT I54O-50 
 
 FROM THE DAVANZAT1 PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 filled the domestic requirements before the development of the credenza, and 
 account for the scarcity of the portable cupboard. Wall cupboards were gen¬ 
 erally of rectangular form, sometimes with arched tops and were placed at a 
 convenient height from the floor, so that the crude majolica, glass, and metal 
 plate adorning their shelves, could be of easy access. The only important 
 portable cupboards dating before the Renaissance, are those magnificent 
 examples of ecclesiastical origin similar to the Tuscan sacristy example illus¬ 
 trated in Figure 25. This early fifteenth century design, which has the sim¬ 
 plicity and dignity of the best Tuscan work of this period, has, like most 
 
 40 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 41. TABLE ON WROUGHT-IRON TRIPOD. SIENESE, ABOUT I4OO 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 contemporary pieces, two bodies, each with numerous doors. The square 
 panels of the upper section are again enriched with lozenge forms of intarsia 
 and are enclosed with stiles decorated with the running bands of inlay that 
 were so popular in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. A 
 similar cupboard of much shorter proportions, in the sacristy of Santa 
 Maria Primerana at Fiesole, with a cornice of more classic type and with 
 little intarsia figures of Early Renaissance character laid in the panels of 
 the upper body, is a later development of the preceding form. The 
 finest work of the mid-century often retains the square panel so character- 
 
 42 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 istic of earlier work, but with decorations of Early Renaissance design 
 instead of the geometric forms of the preceding style. 
 
 The Umbrian Monastery linen closet of the early fifteenth century, in 
 Figure 28, has decided marks of the Renaissance, with its cornice of noticeably 
 classic feeling and its fluted pilasters crowned with original caps. The 
 fluted pilasters, as well as the large vertical panels that fill its ends, appear 
 to be work of later date than the doors, which are panelled in successive 
 rectangular forms with intarsia of early character. Transition pieces some 
 times have these features combined but generally they are more successfully 
 blended, as in Figure 27. 
 
 There are few records of the chairs of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries and from all accounts they were rarely found in the interiors of 
 that age, stools, rough benches, and the cassoni being generally used for seats 
 instead. In many of the old decorative documents can be seen well-designed 
 wall benches with panelled backs, decorative throne seats, as well as a few 
 crude chairs of rectangular structure, without arms and with rush seats, 
 resembling the Italian peasant chair of to-day. The folding chair of X form 
 is, from all accounts, the first important arm chair of domestic origin, 
 though practically none of authentic origin exists dating before the Renais¬ 
 sance. They were of two forms, as illustrated in Figures 33 and 96. The 
 earliest examples of these were crude and severe, as it was not until the close 
 of the fifteenth century that the arm chair received the same decorative con¬ 
 sideration as the cassone. 
 
 The greater number of the earliest extant arm chairs are of ecclesiastical 
 origin. The bishop’s throne or chair, like the choir stalls, received the great¬ 
 est artistic attention in medieval times. Of these, the rare Byzantine relic, illus¬ 
 trated in Figure 29, dates, perhaps, from the twelfth century. The lower 
 stretchers are evidently missing and these may have formed the base of the 
 little turned members that supported the arches of the seat rail. No doubt the 
 same material that covered the seat cushion was stretched between the up¬ 
 rights of the back, forming the back of the chair. The arm chair of X form, 
 popularly known as the “Dante chair”, shown in Figure 31, was found at the 
 
 43 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Villa Machiavelli. Though dating from the Early Renaissance, its intar¬ 
 sia ornamentation has a Byzantine character that resembles the “Cosmati” 
 inlay, patterns of which are repeated in much of the intarsia design of the first 
 part of the fifteenth century. This chair is evidently from the workshops of 
 the famous Embracchi family or from a design derived from that source. 
 The form of the lower supports and the runners on which they rest, are 
 characteristic of those of the earliest extant chairs of this structure. 
 
 Figure 30 is a chair of similar character and contemporary date with the 
 same type of inlay composed in geometrical forms and placed at regular in¬ 
 tervals instead of forming an all-over surface decoration. The velvet seat 
 and back are doubtless a restoration, leather being the material most used 
 in the earliest chairs of this type. The leather was, however, sometimes em¬ 
 bossed with a simple design as is seen in the back of Figure 35. 
 
 Figure 33 shows one of the finest specimens in existence, every detail of 
 which is in its original state, even to its leather seat-pad and back. The 
 carved rosettes on the arm terminals and the claw feet of the runners, show¬ 
 ing the influence of the antique, would indicate an Early Renaissance model 
 dating about 1460. Figure 33 also shows similar claw feet terminals to the 
 base runners and Renaissance rosettes on the arms, indicating its Early Ren¬ 
 aissance origin. Another early form of the folding chair without arms is 
 illustrated in the little beechwood monastery chair that comes from the col¬ 
 lection in the Palazzo Davanzati (Figure 34). This is a sixteenth century ex¬ 
 ample, but the structure is met with in chairs of earlier date. 
 
 Tables were rare in the fourteenth century and few of these have sur¬ 
 vived the ravages of time. Some, constructed of long boards laid on trestles, 
 are seen in the early frescos and illustrations, and were undoubtedly the form 
 in common use. The earliest existing tables are generally constructed in the 
 manner of the primitive Umbrian example in Figure 39. The end supports 
 which rest on base runners of curved outline are strengthened with a crude 
 stretcher secured at each end with wooden pins. The flamboyant lines of the 
 Gothic tracery recall both northern and Venetian decoration of the early 
 fifteenth century with which period this piece is contemporary. Figure 38 is 
 
 +4- 
 
FIG. 42. BED WITH PAINTED DECORATIONS. ABOUT I4CO 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 a variation of similar form. An enclosed body with drawers in the shaped 
 ends occupies the place of the crude stretcher in the preceding example. 
 The surface decoration of the ends which is of doubtful origin and the square 
 panel forms are in the style of the Italian Gothic, while the scrolls that 
 partly outline the ends suggest Renaissance brackets of later design. 
 
 Example 40 has a structure very similar to that illustrated in Figure 38. 
 Its simple moulds and its lack of ornamentation give to it an appearance 
 of a more primitive period than can be claimed for it. The brackets indicate 
 an Early Renaissance design, but because of its northern origin a much later 
 date must be attributed to it. 
 
 Few small centre tables, like the little Sienese model from the Bardini Col¬ 
 lection, are to be found dating from this period and evidently they were not fre¬ 
 quently used. The design of the wrought-iron tripod stand which supports 
 the circular wooden top marks it as a product of the early fifteenth century. 
 
 Italian paintings and illustrations of the fifteenth century are especially 
 valuable documents of early furniture design. “The Birth of the Virgin”, a 
 favourite theme of the fifteenth century painters, pictures in a naive way the fur¬ 
 nishing of the interiors of that age in which a bed similar to that in Figure 42 
 is often depicted. This is perhaps one of the earliest Italian beds in existence, 
 and dating from the colourful fourteenth century, it proves that beds as well as 
 cassoni of this period were often decorated with paintings. Practically all 
 documents show beds of Pre-Renaissance and Early Renaissance design en¬ 
 closed to the base and raised on a dais with hinged tops, revealing compartments 
 that were probably used for the storage of clothing or linen. The example 
 given was, without doubt, originally set up in this way, as it was not until the 
 sixteenth century that the bed of modern structure came into general use. 
 
 Another favourite design for the early fifteenth century bed is the one 
 illustrated in Figure 43, with a square-panelled head and foot board deco¬ 
 rated with simple bands of inlay and raised on a dais. Many beds similar to 
 this one can be seen in the old pictures and illustrations. One of almost 
 identical design is portrayed in Giovanni da Milano’s fresco “The Birth of 
 the Virgin”, in the church of Santa Croce at Florence. 
 
 46 
 
FIG. 43. PANELLED BED WITH INTARSIA DECORATIONS. TUSCAN, EARLY XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE, NOW IN THE POSSESSION OF CARL W. HAMILTON, ESQ., NEW YORK 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE EARLY RENAISSANCE 
 
 THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH 
 CENTURY 
 
 HE ARTISTIC attainments of the fifteenth century were so 
 stupendous and so lofty of ideal that the many other achieve¬ 
 ments which this age contributed to our Western civilization 
 seem to the student of art history to be totally eclipsed. 
 Literature, sculpture, painting, and architecture, as well as 
 furniture, in the order named, contributed their development to the new 
 culture. Dante’s medieval theology, appealing to the authority of Virgil and 
 Aristotle, Pisano carving pagan figures on Gothic baptismal fonts, Giotto pictur¬ 
 ing medieval emotions in the manner of the moderns, and Brunelleschi 
 crowning a Tuscan Gothic Cathedral with the first architectural masterpiece 
 of the Renaissance, all mark the transition of these arts from medieval to 
 Renaissance expression, establishing at the same time an intense desire for 
 the new culture which developed with such amazing rapidity during the 
 fifteenth century. 
 
 The Early Renaissance owes a great debt to medieval fancy and romance 
 for the spirit of adventure and of inventiveness that pervades most of its finest 
 expression. It was an intellectual age of preparation and experiment rather 
 than of perfection. “The details borrowed from the antique undergo fantastic 
 transmutation in the hands of men accustomed to the vehement emotions of 
 the romantic ages. Whatever the Renaissance took from antique art, it was 
 at first unable to assimilate either the moderation of the Greeks or the practi¬ 
 cal sobriety of the Romans. Christianity had deepened and intensified the 
 source of imaginative life, and just as reminiscences of classic style impaired 
 Italian Gothic, so now a trace of Gothic is perceptible in the would-be classic 
 work of the revival.” 1 
 
 ’Symonds’s “Renaissance in Italy—The Fine Arts.” 
 
 49 
 
FROM THE BARDTNI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 During this age of enthusiasm and prodigious attainment the entire 
 Italian nation seemed to be endowed with an innate sense of beauty, and to be 
 stirred by a widely diffused aesthetic impulse for creative manifestation. As 
 Symonds says: “The speech of the Italians at that epoch, their social 
 habits, their ideals of manners, their standard of morality, the estimate they 
 formed of men, were alike conditioned and qualified by art. It was an age 
 of splendid ceremonies and magnificent parade, when the furniture of houses, 
 the armour of soldiers, the dress of citizens, the pomp of war, and the pa¬ 
 geantry of festival were invariably and inevitably beautiful. On the meanest 
 articles of domestic utility, cups and platters, door panels and chimney pieces, 
 coverlets for beds and lids of linen chests, a wealth of artistic invention was 
 lavished by innumerable craftsmen, no less skilled in technical details than 
 distinguished by rare taste.” 
 
 Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, led all the arts in the fifteenth 
 century, and even during the later Renaissance, after she had lost her position 
 as centre of the arts, she maintained a high standard that her rivals sought 
 to emulate. 
 
 The wise and prudent Cosimo de’ Medici (Pater Patriae), who had laid 
 a foundation for the ease, prosperity, and culture of Early Renaissance Flor¬ 
 ence, was succeeded in 1469 by the magnificent Lorenzo, the greatest prince of 
 the fifteenth century, who fostered in the atmosphere of the Platonic Academy, 
 founded by Cosimo, that group of Florentine masters who have given to the 
 world the loveliest and most graceful masterpieces in the domain of art. Dona¬ 
 tello, the first of these early masters, blending the gentle Christian emotions 
 with Greek culture, strikes the first note in the period of unaffected grace and 
 purity that reveals its full spiritual loveliness in the work of Rosselino, Settignano, 
 and Luca della Robbia. This refinement permeates the work of Florence 
 of this period. Orcagna’s angels, that have been likened to gardens of lilies; 
 Benozzo Gozzoli’s paradise with its rose trellises, peacocks, and pleasant 
 groves; and the sensitive charm of Botticelli’s Aphrodite and Madonnas dis¬ 
 play an unexcelled aesthetic quality that not only manifested itself in the finer 
 arts but ennobled the meaner details of social and domestic life as well. 
 
 Si 
 

 FLORENTINE, ABOUT 
 
 7 IG. 47. FLORENTINE CASSONE. ABOUT 1550-60 
 fr flM THF BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 46. CASSONE FRONT, OF GILDED PASTIGLIA WITH PAINTED PANEL DECORATIONS. 
 
 THE MIDDLE OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF SAMUEL UNTERMYER, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 About 1450 practically all the Latin classics now extant had been brought 
 to light by the arduous search of the biblomaniacs, and the energies of the 
 most noted Florentine scholars had become influenced by Latin and Greek 
 scholarship. Architecture was the last of the arts to assume classic 
 forms, though sculpture and painting had evolved from medievalism in the 
 preceding century, yet from the time of Brunelleschi’s visit to Rome with 
 Donatello, in 1403, architecture developed with such amazing rapidity that by 
 the end of the fifteenth century Florence had reared a succession of noble 
 churches and stately palaces 1 that are her greatest achievements in Renaissance 
 architecture. 
 
 Nor was the new domestic architectural style confined to the town 
 palaces, for the Florentines, to whom we are indebted for the first 
 country houses in the modern sense of the word, are said to have built un¬ 
 rivalled Quattrocento villas, of which the greater number were destroyed in 
 the siege of 1529. Referring to these, a contemporary writes: “Round about 
 Florence lie many villas in a transparent atmosphere, amid cheerful scenery 
 and with a splendid view; there is little fog, and no injurious winds, all is good, 
 and the water pure and healthful. Of the numerous buildings many are like 
 palaces, many like castles, costly and beautiful.”' 2 Among these we have 
 some account of the Medici villas, which by the close of the fifteenth century 
 were numerous. “Seldom have comfort and splendour, richness and simplic¬ 
 ity, the beauties of art and nature, been more happily combined than in 
 these villas where Lorenzo, himself the most perfect of hosts, entertained the 
 foremost scholars of the age.” A few years before Michelozzo began the 
 Riccardi palace he designed the house and gardens of Careggi. In this villa, 
 which Vasari claims to be “a thing truly rich and magnificent”, Cosimo spent his 
 happiest hours in the study of Plato and the discussion of philosophy with Marsilo 
 Fincino. F'or three generations it was the favourite villa of the Medici, who 
 added to its improvements and embellishments until its fame spread far and 
 wide. Gian Galeazzo, on that memorable visit to Florence, writes of this villa 
 
 l The Pallazzi Riccardi, Guartesi, Rucellai, Antinori, Strozzi, Gondi, Guadagni, and many other less 
 notable were built in this period for the free and worldly splendour of those times. 
 
 2 “Trattato del Governo della Famiglia.” Torino. 
 
 S3 
 
FIG. 48. PANEL FROM A CASSONE. ABOUT 1450-60 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 that he “was no less delighted with the gardens, which are altogether enchant¬ 
 ing, than with the noble building, which is certainly one of the finest houses, 
 when you consider the halls, bedrooms, kitchens, and furniture.” 1 
 
 Another villa built by Michelozzo for Cosimo, is Cafaggiuolo in the Val 
 Mugello, some eighteen miles from Florence. Though built with moat and 
 drawbridge, it had “fair halls and saloons for music and books” and as Vasari 
 writes, “was with gardens, fountains, aviaries, and all that makes the villa fair 
 and pleasant.” Verocchio’s famous fountain with the boy strangling the dol¬ 
 phin, now in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, as well as the bronze David 
 by the same master, once graced this villa. Here Lorenzo made many im¬ 
 provements, especially in the gardens, where he added a collection of rare 
 plants. 
 
 These villas did not, however, satisfy the princely ambition of the magnif¬ 
 icent Lorenzo, so he had Giuliano di Sangallo build the country house at 
 Poggio a Caiano, on the banks of the Ombrone, about half way between 
 Florence and Pistoia. The double flight of stairs leading to the upper loggia 
 and the vaulted hall, which Vasari claims to have been the loftiest he had ever 
 seen, are still standing. It was here that Andrea del Sarto and his pupils 
 painted the delightful frescos commemorating the Sultan of Babylon’s gift to 
 

 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Lorenzo of exotic birds and strange animals, while at Lo Spedaletto, another 
 house built by Sangallo, masters no less renowned than Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, 
 and Filippino decorated the hall with Lorenzo’s favourite myths. Those frag¬ 
 ments of Botticelli frescos, of unrivalled loveliness, now hanging on the stairs of 
 the Louvre, once adorned a country house of the Tornabuoni between Careggi 
 and Fiesole. The old house, with its square tower, pillared loggia and door¬ 
 way carved with the Tornabuoni arms, hid in a tangle of roses and jessamine, 
 still remains, but of the furnishings and decorations naught but the priceless 
 fragments of frescos can be accounted for. 
 
 The Florentines were conscious of their intellectual and artistic superiority 
 and realized that their Quattrocento masters had given the basic models for 
 the new forms of the coveted art. In recording the pompous and spectacu¬ 
 lar visit of Gian Galeazzo of Milan to Lorenzo de’ Medici the old Floren¬ 
 tine historian Ammirato gives his criticism of the superiority of Florentine 
 art to that of Lombardy. He writes that even Gian Galeazzo, “young and 
 proud, and the minion of fortune, as he was, found himself obliged to admit 
 that all his splendour was outdone by the magnificence of Lorenzo, inasmuch 
 as the precious treasures of the Medici were far more admirable from the artis¬ 
 tic excellence of the workmanship than from the mere value of the material. 
 He could not but confess that art had a higher value than mere costliness, as 
 being attainable only by more arduous labour, and with greater difficulty; 
 while he declared that in all Italy he had not seen so great a number of 
 paintings by the first masters, of gems, beautiful vases, statues, ancient and 
 modern, bronzes, medals, and rare books, as he now saw collected in the 
 palace of the Medici.”' Even a nobler prince, like Duke Federigo of Urbino, 
 is said to have exclaimed when he saw the innumerable treasures of Lorenzo: 
 “ How much can love and perseverance accomplish ! I behold, here, a royal 
 treasure house; yet one such as no king is able to gather together, either by 
 money, or power, or rapine.” 
 
 In that famous letter so full of worldly wisdom and the requirements of a 
 high standard of living, that Lorenzo wrote to his son Giovanni at Rome, we 
 
 •Istorie, Florentine, lib XXIII, Gonf. 1079. 
 
 55 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 learn more of the professed ideals and sincerity of fifteenth century Florentine 
 life and art. He writes: “Let there be no affectation of an excess of austerity and 
 seriousness foreign to your real character, for the imputation of hypocrisy is as 
 much to be avoided as Scylla and Charybdis. In your household and manner of 
 life you should tune your behaviour by the note of moderation. A good stable 
 and a well ordered and refined household are to be preferred before pomp 
 and display. Much more desirable is the distinction which comes from pos¬ 
 sessing a few rare antiques and fine books.” While there is a diversity of opin¬ 
 ion concerning this sincerity and artistic appreciation, Lorenzo’s brilliant and 
 princely philosophy, as well as his keen recognition of genius, is undisputed.' 
 In his time all branches of the arts and crafts were encouraged and their pro¬ 
 ductions were raised to a high standard of perfection. In Florence, before 
 his death, there were eighty-five silk factories making gold brocade, velvet, 
 satin, damask, and taffeta; eighty-four workshops for cabinet making and in¬ 
 tarsia, and forty-four goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ shops." 
 
 Great wealth accumulated through banking houses and extensive trade 
 soon encouraged many of the more powerful Florentine families to indulge in 
 a finer display corresponding to their means and in accord with the magnificent 
 architecture of their houses. The severe classicism and the spiritual and 
 philosophical atmosphere of Cosimo’s day were gradually tempered by the 
 splendour of a less cautiously democratic society, verging on the ostentatious in 
 the later years of Lorenzo’s time. Their stately palaces were not only rich in 
 masterpieces of painting and sculpture, but were dignified with the most classic 
 furniture of the Renaissance, as well as the rarest of stuffs, the finest of linens, 
 gold and silver plate and exquisite crystal from Venice. Festivals, banquets, and 
 other forms of social display grew more frequent and elaborate in the later years 
 of the century when luxury and extravagance grew bolder, often exceeding the 
 means of the wealthy. Luca Pitti’s noble passion for building is said to have 
 
 l It is claimed that after decreeing the confiscation of some citizen’s property or perhaps causing his death, 
 he would take himself to the Platonic Academy, where he would dispute with arduous interest on “Virtue” 
 or “The Immortality of the Soul,” or go from the company of abandoned profligates to engage in the criticism 
 of poetry with Poliziano and Pulici. 
 
 2 From the Cronaca di Benedetto Dei, 1470-1492: MS. in the Magliabechianae, printed in Pagnim, I. c. li. 
 295 et seq. 
 
 $6 
 

 FIG. 51. PAINTED PANELS FROM A PAIR OF CASSONI ATTRIBUTED TO PISANELLO 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 been his ruin, while others courted financial disaster in less noble ways. 
 Benedetto Salutati was an especially splendid and artistic spendthrift as we learn 
 from old records. At the time of the feast given to the sons of the King of 
 Naples in the year of 1476, his house was hung with tapestries and wreaths of 
 yew. The floors of the great halls were covered with richly worked carpets, 
 while from the ceilings hung great carved and gilded chandeliers with many wax 
 candles. In the dining hall, the long table raised on a dais was spread with 
 the finest lace, while a magnificent credenza, on which was arranged many pieces 
 of gold and silver plate, occupied nearly the whole of one wall. Other rooms 
 are spoken of, with verdure hangings and rich carpets. 
 
 Venice, the most powerful state in Italy during the fifteenth century, be¬ 
 cause of her isolation and her good government, enjoyed a security that was 
 little affected by the foreign invasions, which accounts for the light and airy 
 Gothic palaces lining her canals as earlyas the fourteenth century when the other 
 lords of Italy were shut up in their medieval battlemented palaces and towers. 
 This fanciful Gothic style, which seemed to reflect the spirit of Venice so ade¬ 
 quately, very reluctantly yielded to the inevitable Renaissance, and this fact 
 places Venice some twenty to fifty years behind the other art centres in her 
 development of Renaissance Art. After the Palazzo Riccardi had been built 
 she was still indulging in Gothic structures like the Porta della Carta, 1439, 
 and it was not until 1480 that any palace had been reared approaching in 
 Renaissance purity the Riccardi Palace of Florence. 1 
 
 Molmenti tells us that a noble refinement was in the atmosphere, a 
 sumptuous yet versatile taste enveloped every detail of domestic life. Nor 
 was luxury in furnishing the palace confined to the reception room. It 
 spread to the ordinary dwelling room and especially to the bedroom. Cas- 
 ola on entering a bed-chamber in a Venetian palace toward the close of the 
 fifteenth century is amazed, and cannot express his feelings. In his enthus¬ 
 iasm he writes: “The ornamentation of the room where we were might have 
 cost 11,000 ducats or more and it had a chimney piece all of Carrara marble 
 
 'Pal. Carnaro Spinelli (1480), Pal. Vendramini (14814 Pal. Trevisano (1485). These are followed by 
 others of equal renown. 
 
 60 
 
FIG. 53. 
 
 GILDED CASSONE WITH PAINTED PANELS. FLORENTINE, ABOUT I460-7O 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 
 HHI 
 
 FIG. 53A. CARVED WOOD CASSONE WITH AN INTARSIA PANEL. 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 FLORENTINE, ABOUT 1485 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 shining like gold. It was worked so subtly in figures and foliage that neither 
 Praxiteles nor Phidias could have added anything to them. The ceiling of the 
 room was well executed in ultramarine blue and the walls were so well done 
 that I cannot describe them. The lectern alone represents five hundred 
 ducats and the furniture of the room was in the Venetian style with beautiful 
 and natural figures and a great deal of gold over all.” 
 
 While Florence claimed the scholarship of the Renaissance and Venice 
 the power and luxury, the aristocratic Houses of Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino 
 excelled in the graces and refinements of social life. 
 
 Ferrara at this period was the most important of these towns. During the 
 rule of her accomplished Quattrocento dukes she had become a renowned 
 centre of art and learning, where Isabella d’Este, that illustrious connoisseur 
 of the following epoch, was from childhood surrounded by the finest works of 
 art. The princes of this famous house showed their taste for art and literature 
 as early as the preceding century, when they entertained as their guests Giotto 
 and Petrarch in the old battlemented palace, “the Castello”, reared by the 
 architect Bartolino da Novara in the fourteenth century. Like the Florentines, 
 the nobles of Ferrara and Mantua at an early date had sumptuous villas as well 
 as palaces adorned with enchanting frescos by such masters as Pisanello and 
 Piero della Francesca, with tapestries that were the pride of their collections, 
 furniture painted or designed by renowned artists, and the rarest majolica from 
 Faenza and Urbino. The Schifanonia, where Isabella spent many years of her 
 childhood, was embellished by the Ferrarese master, Francesco Cossa, and his 
 followers, with a renowned series of pastoral and hunting scenes, while the 
 beautiful Villa Belriguardo, on the banks of the Po, whose rooms are said to 
 have equalled the number of the days of the year, had its new halls decorated 
 by Ercole Roberti in 1487, and a chapel painted with frescos by Cosimo Tura. 
 This villa, the admiration of artists and the envy of princes, was evidently the 
 most beautiful of those of the Early Renaissance. Lodovico Sforza, while on 
 a visit here after his marriage to Beatrice, writes to that fascinating d Este 
 princess: “I would not for all the world have missed seeing this place. For in 
 truth I have never seen so large and fine a house and gardens, or one that is so 
 
 62 
 
rjrar,Lr.> 
 
 FIG. 54. CARVED AND GILDED CASSONE. VERONA OR MANTUA, END OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE GALLERIA POLDI PEZZOLI, MILAN 
 
 FIG. 54A. CARVED WOOD AND GILDED CASSONE. NORTHERN ITALY, END OF THE XV CENTURY 
 
 63 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 well laid out and adorned with such excellent painting. I do not believe there 
 is such another villa in the whole world, at once so noble and spacious, and at 
 the same time so thoroughly well planned and comfortable. To say the truth, 
 if I were asked to decide whether Vigevano, the Castello at Pavia, or this house 
 were the finest palace in the world, the Castello must forgive me, for I would 
 certainly choose Belriguardo.” 1 
 
 Though Mantua was less splendid and luxurious than Ferrara, the dukes 
 of this illustrious house were great connoisseurs in matters pertaining to art. 
 The Castello with its four massive corner towers had been built by Bartolino 
 da Novara during the rule of Gianfrancesco I (1382-1407). Lodovico (1444- 
 1478) was the great patron of Early Renaissance art. He repeatedly invited 
 Alberti to Mantua where, besides designing the chapel of the Incoronata in the 
 Duomo, he designed the church of S. Andrea, which is one of the earliest and 
 most successful pieces of ecclesiastical architecture in the new classic style. It 
 was he who enticed Mantegna to this court where he remained for fifty years, 
 he who had Pisanello decorate a hall in the Castello with fresco and for him 
 Donatello secured antiques. Distinguished painters and sculptors were em¬ 
 ployed by Lodovico to decorate the various ducal villas at Goito, Gonzaga, 
 Cavriana, and Revere that had been built or improved by the Tuscan architect, 
 Luca Fancelli, whom he had engaged for his service in 1430. 
 
 The palace of Urbino, that perfect setting for the ideal Renaissance 
 court of the Quattrocento, is the “just embodiment in architecture of Italian 
 romance, the perfect analogue of the ‘Orlando Innamorato’.” Duke Federico, 
 trained in the famous school of Vittorino da Feltre, where the first sons and 
 daughters of the Italian nobility received that perfect training of the body and 
 mind, is famed among Italian despots for his humanity and virtue. For him, 
 the Dalmatian architect, Luziano, began the vast white limestone palace in 
 1454, which still retains traces of its former splendour. In its succession of 
 well-proportioned halls, chambers, and cabinets -where Emilia Pia held debate 
 on love with Bembo and Castiglione, where illustrious men of art and letters 
 met in the society of princes,popes,and tyrants—still exist an occasional chimney 
 
 *E. Motta, Giornale st. d. lett. ital., vii, 387. 
 
 65 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 piece of stone, some fine carved and painted ceilings with equally splendid cor¬ 
 nices and doors rivalling in beauty those of S. Pietro at Perugia. In the “Sala 
 degli Angeli” a stone chimney piece still remains, having a frieze of putti with 
 gilded wings and hair, dancing on an ultramarine ground. Above on the reced¬ 
 ing hood more putti bear the arms of the house, while the whole is supported on 
 pilasters carved with children holding vases of flowers. There is also a little 
 chapel, belonging to the private apartments of the duke and duchess, en¬ 
 crusted with exquisite work in marble and stucco, while directly above this a 
 small cabinet is still embellished with intarsia of the highest order. But the 
 library of Duke Federico, the walls and ceiling of which were once adorned 
 with the finest intarsia, the numerous tapestried chambers, the frescoed halls, 
 the unrivalled furniture, books, and plate, are sought for in vain in this palace 
 that Castiglione claims was once the fairest in all Italy. 
 
 This courtier, giving a description of the same palace, writes that Duke 
 Federico “so well furnished the palace with everything suitable that it seemed 
 not a palace but a city in the form of a palace; and not merely with what is 
 ordinarily used, such as silver vases, hangings of richest cloth-of-gold and silk 
 and other similar things, but for ornament he added countless antique statues 
 in marble and bronze, pictures most choice, and musical instruments of every 
 sort, nor would he admit anything there that was not very rare and excellent.” 1 2 3 
 Later, in a letter of Isabella d’Este (1494), we gather some idea of the 
 same famous palace at the close of the Early Renaissance. She writes to her 
 husband : “ This palace is far finer than I ever expected. Besides the natural 
 beauty of the place, it is very richly furnished with tapestries, hangings, and 
 silver plate ; and I must tell you that in all the different rooms which I have 
 occupied in this Duke’s different homes, the hangings have never been moved 
 from one place to another, 1 and from the first day I arrived at Gubbio until 
 now I have been entertained more and more sumptuously every day. 
 
 1 Castiglione, “The Book of the Courtier.” 
 
 2 It was evidently a habit in Italy, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as in Northern Europe, to 
 move most of the furnishings from place to place. 
 
 3 Cartwright, “Isabella d’Este.” 
 
 66 
 
FIG. 57. GILDED CASSONE WITH PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. MANTUA OR VENETIA, ABOUT I5OO 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Though the Treaty of Lodi had brought more time for peaceful pursuits, 
 it was not until the opening years of the High Renaissance that the Ducal 
 House of Milan rivalled in any way the graceful and princely manner of living 
 indulged in by the Houses of Mantua, Ferrara, and Urbino. The old ducal 
 line of the Visconti had died out with Filippo Maria, while Francesco Sforza, 
 who succeeded to the duchy (1450) was too much occupied making secure his 
 title to indulge in art to an extensive degree, although he employed humanists, 
 gave his sons a princely education, and maintained an extravagant court. He, 
 like his sons, an indefatigable builder, continued the work on the cathedral 
 and the Certosa di Pavia, while he began that vast edifice, the “Castello”, at 
 Milan that became the centre of the arts during the brilliant rule of Lodovico. 
 In nearly all the cities of the north, except in Piedmonte, where feudalism still 
 prevailed, princes and private citizens alike gave great impetus to the new 
 movement in art. In a palace in the old Lombard town of Castiglione the 
 furnishings of Cardinal Branda Castiglione, a devoted patron of the arts and 
 a favourite of Filippo Maria Visconti, remain almost intact from his day. His 
 bed-chamber, on the piano nobile reached by a stately flight of stairs, con¬ 
 tains his great canopied bed, silk-cushioned arm chair and other furniture 
 enriched with exquisite marquetry work. The walls of this chamber are painted 
 with black fruit trees against a red ground with white putti at intervals, and 
 the pavement is of mosaic. On the same floor is his library with its heavy 
 beamed ceiling and its walls frescoed with strange landscapes of town and 
 country. The great hall still retains its beautiful carved Gothic doorways and 
 a splendid Quattrocento chimney piece . 1 
 
 Rome was dominated by the Papacy, on which her Early Renaissance 
 artistic activities were concentrated. Only a few historical documents refer 
 to the domestic or social life of her people or princes. 
 
 Pope Nicholas V (1447-55), the great scholar who before his elevation to 
 
 ‘Egerton Williams, “Lombard Towns of Italy.” 
 
 2 We have an account of a magnificent reception accorded Eleanor of Aragon, daughter of the King of 
 Naples, when passing through Rome on the way to her nuptials at Ferrara. She was conducted to a palace 
 erected by the young Riaro spoken of with walls of precious woods, the interiors brilliant with gilding and 
 lustrous silks, as well as plate of gold and silver. Muratori. “Antichita Estensi” in “The Life of Duke 
 Ercole I.” 
 
 68 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the Papacy collected the library for Cosimo de’ Medici, was one of the greatest 
 humanists of the fifteenth century with whom began that period of the Papacy, 
 as a secular power devoted to art and culture, which culminated with Leo X. 
 
 FIG. 59. CARVED AND GILDED CANDLESTICK FIG. 60. CARVED AND GILDED CANDLESTICK 
 FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 Nicholas V attracted scholars, painters, and architects to Rome, encourag¬ 
 ing and fostering art and learning. He founded the Vatican Library, for 
 which he collected five thousand volumes, and laid idealistic plans for Rome 
 as the centre of art and learning and “the admired head of Christendom”. 
 Of his successors who continued this “policy of culture” Sextus IV, son of a 
 
 7° 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 peasant, and a distinguished scholar, openly elevated his princely importance 
 above the pontifical. Succeeding pontiffs frankly acknowledged their illegiti¬ 
 mate children whom they established, together with their relatives, at the heads 
 of princely houses. This practice naturally encouraged the erection of mag¬ 
 nificently furnished palaces, though not until the High Renaissance and the 
 Baroque century, when Rome began to vie with the older aristocratic centres in 
 social display, aggrandizing her newly established and powerful aristocracy. 
 
 Naples and Sicily, with a population lawless, ignorant, and poor, could 
 have contributed but little to the development of the Renaissance, yet the court 
 of Alfonzo and Ferranti, called a medley of luxury and vice, refinement and 
 cruelty, attracted many renowned Latin and Greek scholars during the period, 
 establishing there a certain culture. This was no doubt encouraged by the 
 learned Duchess Ippolita, of the Sforza family, with whom Lorenzo de’ Medici 
 found most agreeable intercourse on his frequent visits to the court. 
 
 The general interior of the Early Renaissance palace shows a marked 
 development in unity of decorative work. The classic architectural schemes 
 of the exterior invaded the principal apartments of the interior as well. 
 Toward the end of the century walls were sometimes broken with pilasters 
 supporting magnificent classic cornices that were often gilded and further 
 enriched with polychrome decorations, while others were broken with panelled 
 wainscotings of intarsia, above which were frescos or tapestries. Wainscot- 
 ings and walls were also panelled with marbles, often, as in the Venetian 
 interior, of many colours. Later in the period the coffered and panelled 
 ceiling began to supplant the crudely beamed and raftered ceiling of earlier 
 style. The beamed ceiling appears all through the work of the Renaissance, 
 but when it was used in important apartments it was generally of more refined 
 proportions and was decorated with designs of gold and colour. The 
 chimney pieces, which were important decorative features of formal apart¬ 
 ments, were generally of stone, though occasionally of marble. Many were 
 constructed with receding hoods springing from classic cornices with friezes 
 carved with coats of arms and classic motifs; these were in turn supported on 
 pilasters and corbels of classic design. 
 
 7i 
 
6l. CARVED AND GILDED CANDLESTICK 
 FLORENTINE, ABOUT 1500 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 62. BRONZE CANDLESTICK. FLORENTINE 
 ABOUT I480-9O 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 63. CAST TAKEN FROM THE ANTIQUE 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 72 
 
1 
 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 The mastery of perspective and foreshortening encouraged the Early 
 Renaissance painters to cover vast wall surfaces with enchanting frescos of 
 landscapes showing villas or vistas with palaces and towers, while in many 
 pastoral and hunting scenes, decorative birds and gardens appear. Many 
 masters like Gentile da Fabriano and Piero di Cosimo delighted in flowers, 
 animals, and pleasing curious things. 1 
 
 The numerous tapestries recorded in the Early Renaissance inventories 
 evidently played an important part in the decoration of the princely houses. 
 The first known Italian manufactory of arras was established at Mantua in 
 1419, while at Venice the same industry was started by John of Bruges and Val¬ 
 entine of Arras in 1422. 3 As early as 1436, Niccolo III brought Flemish 
 weavers to Ferrara, where under Leonello and especially under Ercole I their 
 industry reached a highly developed state that was sustained until the middle 
 of the sixteenth century, when it began to wane. Though woven by Flem¬ 
 ings and Frenchmen, many of these tapestries were produced from cartoons 
 drawn by such artists as Cosimo Tura and I)osso Dossi, which naturally 
 gives them a strong Italian character. Venetian looms were evidently busy 
 throughout the sixteenth century, for in 1597 Alfonzo II of Ferrara ordered 
 tapestries for his palace from a Venetian maker after the decline of the 
 Ferrara industry. 
 
 At the time of Isabella d’Este’s marriage to the Gonzaga prince (1490) the 
 walls of the Sala Grande of the old Castello at Ferrara were hung with the cele¬ 
 brated arras that had been brought from Naples by Isabella’s mother, the 
 Duchess Leonora. They included, besides the magnificent “Visit of the 
 Queen of Sheba to Solomon”, six famous pieces known as “La Pastourelle”, 
 woven with gold and silver and coloured silks. These coveted Flemish treas¬ 
 ures, said to have been over a hundred years in the process of weaving, greatly 
 excited the admiration of the Emperor Charles V when he visited the Reggio. 
 
 The intarsia work of the Early Renaissance deserves the study and ad¬ 
 miration that it attracts, while that of the last years of the fifteenth and the 
 
 1 Paolo Uccelli painted whole menageries and aviaries. 
 
 2 “Degli Arras in Venetia,” Urbani de Gheltof. 
 
 73 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 early years of the sixteenth centuries 
 ranks among Italy’s greatest artistic 
 achievements. 
 
 Siena was the cradle of intarsia 
 and carving, where the record of a 
 long list of masters has been pre¬ 
 served. As early as the year 1259 
 Manuello and his son Parti are 
 mentioned as being employed on the 
 ancient choir of the Cathedral and in 
 the year 1400 that renowned master 
 of intarsia, Domenico di Nicolo, 
 who worked for twelve years in the 
 beautiful chapel of the Palazzo Pub- 
 blico at Siena, is recorded as the head 
 of the Opera del Duomo. Much early 
 work was done at Orvieto, but the 
 craftsmen were all Sienese. Although 
 there were famous masters from other sections, those of Siena were constantly 
 being sent to other great towns to execute important work. Taddeo Gaddi, 
 the celebrated painter, is known to have worked in intarsia and many other 
 well known masters were engaged in the same occupation at Florence during 
 the last half of the fifteenth century. The most notable of these was Giuliano 
 di Nardi (1432 to 1490), who executed the seats and presses for the sacristy 
 of Santa Maria Novella, as well as the figure work for the sacristy of the 
 Duomo of Florence, in 1465. With Domenico del Tasso, he completed the 
 famous work for the choir of the Cathedral at Perugia in 1491. Giuliano’s 
 brother, Benedetto, born in 1442, a worker of considerable fame, assisted 
 Giuliano between the years 1475 and 1480 with the execution of those well- 
 known doors of the “Flail of the Audience” in the Palazzo Vecchio at 
 Florence, in which Dante and Petrarch are depicted. Many Venetian masters 
 are renowned for their excellent work. Of the earlier workers preceding the 
 
 FIG. 64. BRONZE CANDELABRUM. SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE CAPITOLO DELLA CATTEDRALE, PISTOIA 
 
 74 
 
FIG. 65. SACRISTY CUPBOARD WITH INTARSIA DECORATIONS. TUSCAN, ABOUT I45O-60 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 sixteenth century, Moranzone, 
 Canozii, Cozzi, and Scalamanzo 
 are perhaps the best known. 
 Among those of the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury are Paolo Savin, who also 
 designed the admirable bronzes 
 in the Cappella Zeno (1507), Gi¬ 
 orgio Veneziano to whom is 
 attributed the work of the choir 
 at Messina (1540), as well as 
 Bernardino of Venice, frequently 
 employed by the Estensi at Fer¬ 
 rara. 1 
 
 The most celebrated of all 
 intarsia workers, Fra Giovanni 
 da Verona (1457 to 1525), and Fra 
 Damiano (1490 to 1549), are the 
 authors of the most remarkable existing work. Pope Julius II called Fra 
 Giovanni to Rome in the early years of the sixteenth century to execute the 
 work in the Camera della Segnatura in the Vatican, the designs for which 
 have been attributed to Raphael. Both F"ra Giovanni and Fra Damiano 
 were assisted by numerous brother monks. 
 
 The period of the finest Italian intarsia dates from 1475 to 1S 2 5 ■ It 
 reaches its climax in the perspective designs of Fra Giovanni da Verona and 
 some of his contemporaries who laid designs composed of landscapes, vistas 
 of cities, architecture, the human figure, naturalistic objects, and fanciful 
 arabesques into the panels of wainscotings, choir stalls, and other furnishings 
 in the most marvellous manner. The naturalistic effect was often heightened 
 with colour obtained through treating the woods with dyes and chemicals. In 
 the second half of the sixteenth century intarsia became less popular than 
 carving, yet we have records of much work being done up to the year 1600. 
 
 ‘Molmenti’s “Venice—Arts Applied to Industry.” 
 
 76 
 
FIG. 67. SACRISTY CUPBOARD. TUSCAN, ABOUT 1460-75 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 In the seventeenth century it was confined almost exclusively to the embellish¬ 
 ment of furniture. 
 
 As the design of the house precedes that of the furnishings, so the furniture 
 design of the Early Renaissance naturally follows that of the architecture, to 
 which it conforms. Although the Riccardi Palace at Florence was begun by 
 Brunelleschi as early as 1430 and by 1430 a number of Early Renaissance 
 palaces were under way, yet it was not until after the middle of the century 
 that furniture designed in the new manner became general, and the earliest of 
 these specimens were more often of ecclesiastical than domestic origin. By 
 the middle of the century, especially in Tuscany and Umbria, the choir stalls, 
 the Bishops’ thrones, the pulpit, as well as the cupboards, table desks, and other 
 furniture found in the sacristies, bore the imprint of the new classical style 
 while the design for the furniture of the libraries, hospitals, and other public 
 buildings of this period followed in like manner. 
 
 Though under the domination of ecclesiastical influence, the decided 
 advancement in household comfort and luxury gave great impetus to the de¬ 
 velopment of domestic furniture in the new style that was, in this period, con¬ 
 fined almost exclusively to the princely palaces. The few domestic specimens 
 produced during the middle of the century show a close resemblance to con¬ 
 temporary ecclesiastical design in their severe classic forms, enriched with a 
 sparing but effective use of carving, sometimes combined with inlay of ex¬ 
 quisite design, when they were not enhanced with gilding and colour. In 
 much work done during the second half of the century there were still linger¬ 
 ing traces of the Gothic in the interlacing patterns of inlay that occasionally 
 appear associated with the most highly developed classic structure and carving 
 of Renaissance design, as illustrated in the sacristy cupboards of Santa Croce 
 shown in Figure 91. 
 
 With Tuscan furniture the study of Renaissance styles begins. As in 
 architecture and the allied arts, it is in Tuscany that the furniture of the Early 
 Renaissance palace finds its earliest and highest expression, for as her archi¬ 
 tectural masterpieces had become models for the architecture of that period 
 so had her furniture design an equally wide range of influence. The cassone 
 
 78 
 
FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK. CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 was still the most important article of household furniture, but with the 
 development of the credenza or side-board, its popularity began to wane. As 
 early as the year 1466, in an old document giving an account of the Medici- 
 Rucellai wedding feast, a credenza is mentioned placed against a background 
 of tapestry on which shone gold and silver plate wrought by the best gold- 
 
 FIG. 69. SACRISTY CUPBOARD. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF BERNHARD BERENSON, ESQ., FLORENCE 
 
 smiths and silversmiths of Florence. It had evidently not come into general 
 use as there are no examples of domestic origin existing from the Early 
 Renaissance. 
 
 The Tuscan chest of the fifteenth century, the greatest treasure of all 
 Italian furniture of this period, is of very simple form, having straight regular 
 sides and a flat top. It rests on a simple and strongly moulded base that 
 later in the century was sometimes raised on lion feet. The preference for 
 inlay work in the first decades of the period encouraged this simple and 
 beautifully proportioned form that occasionally had, added to its embellish- 
 
 80 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 ments, moulds carved with simple classic ornament such as the egg and dart, the 
 bead and the leaf. A few chests of this description were of higher form and, 
 as we see in some contemporary paintings and wood-cuts, were occasionally 
 used for tables. Of these practically none is known to exist. The most 
 distinguished architects and painters of the day had flourishing shops where 
 
 FIG. 70. WRITING DESK. VENETIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF MADAME ED. ANDRE, PARIS 
 
 many chests of this type, as well as those with fronts enriched with beautifully 
 painted panels, were produced. 
 
 Many of the small coffers, known as cassette, that appeared in the mid¬ 
 fifteenth century, had forms resembling those of the important cassoni. They 
 were decorated with pastiglia, gold, and painting and were receptacles for 
 jewels, fine laces, and other delicate luxuries. 
 
 The cassapanca, a combination seat and chest evolved from the chest 
 and wall bench, made its appearance about the middle of the fifteenth century. 
 It seems to have originated in Florence and to have been used exclusively 
 
 81 
 
FIG. 71. 
 
 CABINET WITH INLAY CERTOSINA WORK. ABOUT I5OO 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 there, where it was in fashion for over a century. It was raised on a dais with 
 one or two steps and exhibited the same monumental character and serious 
 craftsmanship that distinguished all Florentine furniture of this period. In all 
 houses of the upper classes it occupied a prominent position in the living apart¬ 
 ment, where, after being made more comfortable with soft cushions, it became 
 the seat of ceremony for the master of the house. A similar piece known as 
 the “panca di guardia,” which occupied the place in the entrance hall that 
 had been filled by the wall bench in earlier times, formed a seat for the 
 attendants by day as well as a bed for the guards at night. The mattress 
 when not in use was kept within the chest that formed the seat. 
 
 The stately throne seat with a high panelled back enriched with intarsia 
 and carving, raised on two steps and placed under a canopy of velvet or other 
 fine stuffs, was found in all the princely houses of Florence, where it was 
 used for audiences or on other formal occasions by the rich patrician. A 
 throne seat of this description is seen in Andrea del Sarto’s “Birth of St. 
 John” in the Church of the Annunziata at Florence. 
 
 Because of the scarcity of all chairs dating before the sixteenth century, 
 it is necessary to resort to the old paintings, embroideries, and wood-cuts for 
 facts regarding the construction and decoration of the Tuscan chair of this 
 period. The sgabello, or stool chair, was much in evidence. It was con¬ 
 structed with three or four legs and a high narrow back that was usually orna¬ 
 mented in a simple manner with carving and intarsia. Stools constructed in the 
 same manner were evidently numerous. 
 
 The only Tuscan arm chair seems to be that of the X form, popularly 
 known as the “Sedia Dantesca” and the “Sedia Savonarola”. It was used by 
 the Florentines for a resting, dining, and writing chair. 1 Though none from this 
 period exists, constructed of metal, yet a delicate one of this type that seems 
 to be of bronze is seen in an old cassone panel painted as early as 1480. Late 
 in the century wooden chairs of this structure seem to have been numerous 
 
 1 The Italian, who lived a great deal out of doors, found these folding chairs convenient to be carried 
 in and out of the house or on to the “altana” or roof terrace. It has been said that in the sixteenth century 
 the “ Ponte Trinita ” was reserved on summer evenings for the patricians, when these chairs were brought for 
 them to enjoy the cool of the evening. 
 
 83 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 and were upholstered in fine velvets and ornamental leathers. The arm chair 
 of rectangular structure with high straight back and arms, arranged 
 against the wall in formal Florentine rooms of the sixteenth century, may have 
 been found in the last decades of the fifteenth century, but it was not in general 
 
 The trestle table was commonly used throughout the fifteenth century, but 
 with the development of the Renaissance, one of monumental form with its top 
 supported by two shaped ends resembling those of antique models, became an 
 important adjunct to the decorative furniture of the Florentine palace. A few 
 were of stone, but the majority were constructed of wood with a long stretcher 
 braced between the end supports. 
 
 This large table, which is described and illustrated later, was never used 
 for writing, a table of smaller form being used instead. In some of the old ec¬ 
 clesiastical illustrations writing tables are seen constructed with drawers on 
 either side and with slanting tops resembling those of much later design. At 
 the close of the century a small and delicately proportioned writing desk of 
 very similar form was designed, that could be carried from room to room and 
 might be placed on the tops of larger tables like the one shown in Figure 70. 
 These were often inlaid with delicate designs, while at times they were covered 
 with tooled leather and fine stuffs as they were in the first decades of the six¬ 
 teenth century. 
 
 The still-existing smaller tables and centre tables dating from this period 
 seem to be of Florentine design. They were generally made with round, hexa¬ 
 gonal, and octagonal tops supported on a central shaft of vase forms, sometimes 
 surrounded by other fanciful supports. 
 
 Hand mirrors had been used in the Middle Ages, but the wall mirror and 
 the standing one (Figure 66) seem to have begun their development when the 
 Gothic style gave way to the Rennaisance. Tuscan wall mirrors, like all others 
 at this time, were made of sheets of highly polished metal generally about 
 twenty-five centimeters high and slightly less in width. The frames of rec¬ 
 tangular form were richly and delicately carved and often heightened with 
 gold. The harsh and unpleasant surface of the mirrors was usually concealed 
 
 84 
 
FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 behind sliding doors that were often decorated with painted designs. Their 
 decorative value was obtained through the richly ornamented frame. 
 
 The Tuscan bed of the Early Renaissance was still raised on a predella 
 or dais. It was of simple rectangular form decorated with a sparing use of 
 intarsia and carving. The head and foot boards, which were more often com¬ 
 posed of one large panel instead of the numerous smaller ones of the earlier 
 style, were often crowned with classic cornices and flanked by pilasters. There 
 are practically no beds of this style in existence, but in the old pictures a 
 number are represented. In Figure 188 an especially fine one, with the bal- 
 dachino, is portrayed in Ghirlandaio’s fresco “The Birth of the Virgin” in the 
 choir of Santa Maria Novella at Florence. 1 
 
 Venice, living in unrivalled splendour during the fifteenth century, did 
 not begin building her palaces and designing her furniture in the new Renais¬ 
 sance style until late in the century. Much beautiful Gothic furniture was 
 produced for her Gothic palaces up to the last three or four decades of the fif¬ 
 teenth century. Though her period of Early Renaissance activities was shorter 
 than that of Florence and practically no articles of household furniture exist, 
 still the luxury and highly developed domestic life of this period put her with 
 Mantua, Ferrara, and Urbino in the second important place in the development 
 of domestic styles. 
 
 As Venice escaped the devastating invasions that affected Lombardy so 
 grievously, perhaps it was the great wealth of the Venetians, permitting 
 them to indulge in the change of fashions, that accounts for the scarcity of her 
 Early Renaissance furniture. “Omitting the ancients, no nation ever showed 
 itself so insatiable in the matter of fashions as the Venetians at the epoch of their 
 greatest splendour. France alone, and then only in the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries, could rival Venice who had already so long preceded 
 her in multiform and varying refinement of luxury.”" 
 
 Because of the peculiar situation and the security of Venice, the Venetian 
 housedeveloped a distinctively different arrangement from that of the rest of Italy. 
 
 iThe keyhole in the dais is clearly visible proving that the tops were hinged and that it was used as 
 a chest. 
 
 2 Molmenti. 
 
FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Simplicity and spaciousness mark the plan. On the first floor a long hall ran 
 through the centre of the house, its main entrance being on a canal, while 
 another of less importance opened on a street. Rooms opened from this hall 
 on both sides while from one side the stairs ascended. Over the main entrance 
 hall was the stately salon with high ceiling and pleasant windows opening 
 on to the Grand Canal. On the same floor were the banqueting hall and 
 other reception rooms, while the floor above was reserved for sleeping rooms. 
 The furniture of the main salon, with its walls painted or hung with tapestries 
 and ceilings both panelled and beamed, was rich with gold and colours. Its 
 furniture consisted of panelled benches and cassoni ranged against the walls, 
 occasionally including, toward the end of the century, a long table and 
 a few chairs. 
 
 The cassone is the most important piece of decorative furniture found in 
 the Venetian palace of the Early Renaissance. Though practically none is in 
 existence to-day, we learn that they were often of a higher form, and served for 
 tables on which were arranged objets d’art, books, and small caskets, or else 
 they were of a lower form and were used for seats. The credenza that was 
 found in the late fifteenth century Florentine interior was rarely used by the 
 Venetian in this period. The cassone is recorded among the valued posses¬ 
 sions of the patrician, where, in the numerous and careful inventories of the late 
 fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, we often find ten or more described, while 
 chairs and tables are rarely mentioned, evidently because of their unimportant 
 artistic value. The finer existing specimens from this province show a rich, 
 delicate and evenly scaled rhythmic decoration of pastiglia work in the style of 
 Antonio and Tullio Lombardi, with a surface entirely gilded. At the close of 
 the century some were decorated with paintings and figures in low relief. 
 Many of the higher forms that served as tables were, like the similar Floren¬ 
 tine examples, embellished with intarsia. Though many of the Gothic period 
 were elaborately carved it was not until after Sansovino’s arrival that the carved 
 wood examples of the Renaissance came into general fashion. 
 
 As chairs were rarely mentioned in the inventories and as practically none 
 exists, at the present time, we may infer that they were neither numerous nor 
 
 89 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 important until the sixteenth century. As early as the middle of the fifteenth 
 century, when the Gothic style began to give way to the Renaissance, stools and 
 seats found around the Venetian chimney pieces were made richer and more 
 comfortable with cushions, both round and square, covered with fine fabrics. 
 They were as numerous'as they were unimportant. The bench was the ordi- 
 
 FIG. 76. SECTION OF PANELLING. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE 
 XV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 nary seat of the Venetian in the fifteenth century. It often ran along the entire 
 sides of entrance halls, while the same arrangement is pictured in the living 
 apartment by the Early Renaissance painters, as in the illustration of Carpaccio’s 
 “The Dream of Saint Ursula” in Figure 103. 
 
 Venetian tables were of the trestle type and when in use were covered with 
 table cloths of fine stuffs. A long narrow one of this description was used in 
 the dining apartment. The long bench on which the diners sat ran along the 
 wall and the table was placed in front of it, the other side being left free so 
 that the food could be more easily served. It was not until the early six- 
 
 91 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 teenth century that the long table of the Florentine type resembling antique 
 models came into use. 
 
 The Venetian beds of the Early Renaissance, like the Tuscan example, were 
 designed with panelled head and foot board and were invariably constructed 
 on a predella. They were decorated with intarsia, painted designs, and gilding. 
 By the middle of the fifteenth century beds in the Venetian palaces had feather 
 mattresses, linen sheets, and counterpanes of silk and other fine stuffs. 1 About 
 the same time we hear of “ canopies of fantastic form, some with curtains of 
 foliated embossed velvet and a starry firmament above ending in a kind of 
 dome, others with columns and carved capitals.” Near the bed stood the prie- 
 dieu over which hung the carved wood shrine (ancona) with elaborate pinna¬ 
 cles and tracery, holding the Byzantine Madonna painted on a gold ground, 
 or else a Venetian primitive. The imprint of the Middle Ages is still visible in 
 all the furnishings of the room, where until the last two decades of the century 
 there was a diffusion of Gothic and Renaissance detail. 
 
 There are no traces of a Venetian cupboard in the fifteenth century. Those 
 let into the walls, with and without doors, as in medieval times, were evidently 
 used as receptacles for books and household utensils, but toward the close of 
 the Quattrocento the wall mirror, then a rare luxury, was in great demand by 
 the Venetians. Like those of Florence they were made of small sheets of 
 polished metal before which hung a little curtain of fine silk, in preference to 
 the sliding door used by the Florentines. Though the Florentine mirror was 
 invariably square, that of Venice was generally round with gilded frames 
 elaborately decorated with arabesques of plant forms, both carved and in 
 pastiglia work. 
 
 Of the numerous tapestries mentioned, the greater number were imported 
 from Flanders, or perhaps from the flourishing looms of Ferrara, notwith¬ 
 standing the fact that tapestries were woven at Venice during this period. 
 The prevailing designs were a sort of Gothic Verdure with a coat of arms or 
 some heraldic device. Many Asiatic carpets were to be found in the interiors 
 and they were often depicted by the Early Renaissance painters, while in the 
 
 'As early as the Dandolo inventory (1341) feather mattresses ( phimacii ) are mentioned. 
 
 92 
 
FIG. 77. CARVED WOOD TABLE. FLORENTINE, LATE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 78. TRESTLE TABLE. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 93 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 late fifteenth century leather carpets, “cuoio d’oro”, with gold and blue tones 
 predominating were known to have been used. 
 
 It is claimed that the furniture of Mantua and Ferrara retained an indi¬ 
 vidual character during the greater part of the fifteenth century, but we have 
 much proof that as the century advanced the influence of Venice was more 
 and more felt. We are wholly indebted to the numerous and detailed records 
 of the ducal houses, especially that of Ferrara, for the information we have re¬ 
 garding the magnificent furnishings of these palaces and villas. From the 
 archives we learn how orders were constantly being executed in Venice, how 
 a dinner service used at Isabella d’Este’s wedding feast was made at Venice 
 by the renowned goldsmith, Giorgio da Ragusa, after designs by Cosimo Tura; 
 how in 1489 Ercole Roberti was sent to Venice to buy gold leaf and ultramarine 
 to decorate a magnificent bed and thirteen marriage cassoni for the same distin¬ 
 guished lady, while quantities of fine stuffs used in the palaces and villas 
 were ordered from Venetian looms. 
 
 So, too, the furniture of Lombardy showed the influence of the lagoon city, 
 but because of the frightful invasions at the close of the fifteenth century 
 scarcely a thing remains of the period, testifying to this fact. The few exist¬ 
 ing pieces preserved in the Museo del Castello and the Poldi Museum at Milan 
 consist of chests belonging to the late fifteenth century and the first de¬ 
 cades of the following century. In the neighbourhood of Pavia a distinctive 
 type of furniture inlaid with ivory, bone, and light tones of wood was produced, 
 similar to that made in Venice by the famous family of cabinet makers known as 
 the Embracchi. Because of its manufacture in the neighbourhood of the Certosa 
 di Pavia it became known as Certosina work. Whether or not it had its origin in 
 Lombardy is still unsolved, though the strong eastern flavour of the work in¬ 
 clines one to credit it to Venice. The earliest Lombard examples dating from 
 the late fifteenth century consist of a few chests and Savonarola chairs. Mirrors 
 and small caskets are also to be found designed in this style. 
 
 Only rarely can the furniture of Liguria be traced back to the fifteenth 
 century, while in Piedmonte and Savoy the Gothic traditions which lasted into 
 the sixteenth century naturally retarded the development of a Renaissance 
 
 94 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 80 . CARVED WOOD TABLE. ABOUT I5OO 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 style. As nothing remains of Roman furniture, from which a faint idea can 
 be gained, the work of this section, like that of Bologna and the adjacent 
 Marches, falls into the period of the High Renaissance. 
 
 The great strides made in classic study soon influenced and modified the 
 design of the Early Renaissance cassone. The base and the crowning mem¬ 
 bers often take on the appearance of contemporary architectural features while 
 figure modelling shows a strong feeling of the antique. In certain northern 
 provinces, however, and in the vicinity of Venice, the designer, seeming loath 
 to depart from his Gothic traditions, often combined Renaissance and Gothic 
 features in the manner illustrated in Figure 44. Though the general appear¬ 
 ance of this chest is pre-Renaissance, the contour of the base mould and its 
 ornamentation manifests a recognition of the classic revival. The square panels 
 and the interlacing pattern of intarsia embellishing their stiles, are of Late Gothic 
 character. Like all finer Venetian pieces of this period, the surface is richly 
 covered with an evenly scaled decoration of intricate carving and inlay. Often 
 
 96 
 

 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 they were further enriched with touches of gold and colours, the example illus¬ 
 trated showing traces of colour on the background of the carved parts. 
 
 Figure 45 illustrates a highly characteristic design of the Early Renais¬ 
 sance. It is undoubtedly one of those chests that were produced in the 
 numerous architects’ shops flourishing in Florence about that time. The 
 front curves inward toward a moulded base resting on a sub-base with an 
 inlay pattern of the classic fret. The spacing of the front into two horizontal 
 panels, separated and flanked by narrow vertical ones, marks the next step in 
 the evolution of the panel from those arranged in successive squares. The 
 inlay pattern of the vertical panels, as well as the simple border, are remi¬ 
 niscent of those persistent pre-Renaissance motifs. 
 
 The chest of low rectangular form common to Lombardy and parts of 
 Venetia continued in these provinces long after the sarcophagus form had been 
 made popular in Tuscany and Rome. Those of the early years of the Renais¬ 
 sance often retain the square panels of intarsia framed with stiles ornamented 
 
 FIG. Si. CARVED WOOD TABLE. LOMBARDY OR VENETIA, ABOUT I50O 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANTONIO SALVADORI, VENICE 
 
 97 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 82 . CARVED WOOD TABLE. LATE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF PAYNE WHITNEY, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 with bands of the same; as in former work, however, they sometimes show the 
 classic influence in moulds which are, at times, carved with classic motifs as 
 well as in the lion feet on which they are occasionally raised. One of this 
 character preserved in the Museo Civico at Milan has a succession of panels 
 filled with intarsia showing, in perspective, castellated palaces that are in a 
 style contemporary with them. This mode of architecture, as well as the 
 medieval styles in furniture, persisted longer in Lombardy. It must be recalled 
 that the famous “Castello” at Milan, built in this style, was not begun until 
 1450 by Francesco Sforza and was not completed until long after the famous 
 palaces of Florence, Bologna, and Siena had been erected in the classic manner. 
 Figure 47 is a Tuscan chest contemporary with the northern type just de¬ 
 scribed and shows how much farther advanced the Florentine designer was in 
 
 98 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 classical rendering. It exhibits simplicity of form enhanced with decoration, 
 every detail of which has received the most careful architectural consideration, 
 evincing the scholarship of that classic city. 
 
 Figure 48 is one of the early attempts at rendering classical subjects in 
 pastiglia. It undoubtedly comes from a cassone of simple rectangular form 
 that had its inception in Tuscany. Following, in Figures 49 and 50, is a pair 
 of gilded marriage cassoni of magnificent form, over three feet high, depict¬ 
 ing classical subjects through the medium of the finest pastiglia work in ex¬ 
 ceptionally high relief. The drawing and rendering of the modelling which 
 has been attributed to Pallajuolo (1429-1496), besides being a credit to that 
 master, is worthy of a more permanent substance than this plaster composition. 
 Allegorical subjects are portrayed on both; in Figure 49 are “Bacchus and 
 Ariadne” in a triumphal car drawn by winged gryphons in a procession 
 with Bacchante, Satyrs, and Fauns headed by Pan; in a similar manner is re¬ 
 presented “ The Rape of Proserpine ” in Figure 50. In each the panels are 
 flanked by winged sphinxes holding small red shields on which are gold cross 
 bars, while at the top and bottom are borders formed of a band of raised ros¬ 
 ettes and leaf ornaments in gold on a blue ground. Both of these cassoni were 
 included in the sale of the Palazzo Davanzati collection. 
 
 Distinguished painters were employed to decorate the cassoni of fine 
 quality throughout the Renaissance. Two panels attributed to Pisanello 
 (1380-1456), originally designed for a pair of marriage cassoni, are shown in 
 Figure 51. They portray a delightful confusion of pageantry and classical 
 subjects, medieval and Renaissance architecture, in a manner that suggests 
 the environment of Ferrara during the rule of Niccolo III and his son Leonello 
 d’Este, for whom Pisanello did much work. Panels of this character were 
 inserted in the fronts of cassoni in much the same manner as in the fourteenth 
 and early fifteenth centuries, but in architectural settings of more classical de¬ 
 sign. One of the finest of this description, fortunately in its original condition 
 and well preserved, is illustrated in Figure 52. Coming originally from the 
 Strozzi Palace at Florence, it reflects the stateliness of its native environment. 
 The characteristic Early Renaissance form is embellished with moulds and 
 
 99 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 brackets profusely but simply carved with recognized classic motifs, the 
 whole being gilded. In the last decade of the fifteenth century the preference 
 for carving over inlay and pastiglia modelling becomes increasingly noticeable. 
 
 Painted panels were inserted in various ways as illustrated in Figures 54, 
 54 A, and 55, all of which are representative of designs that prevailed in Lombardy 
 and Venetia and especially in Mantua, Ferrara, and Verona during the last 
 years of the fifteenth and the early years of the sixteenth centuries. They 
 illustrate the popularity of the low rectangular form with richly ornamented 
 moulds and fronts spaced into three rectangular panels, separated by ornamental 
 shafts inspired by antique forms, or divided by narrow vertical panels composed 
 of plant forms. The practice of inserting painted panels and decorating 
 moulds, panels, and frames with delicately modelled pastiglia, continued in 
 these sections long after it had been abandoned in Tuscany and Rome. Small 
 circular panels like those attributed to B. Mantegna, in Figure S 4 and those of 
 rectangular form, as well as an occasional combination of both, appear in the 
 few examples we have of these chests. When tops were raised on concave 
 moulds, in the manner of those seen on high Tuscan chests, they were less 
 prominent, as in Figure 54 ^- Figures 57 and 58A, are practically the only 
 variations of the rectangular form, the last named being ornamented in the style 
 that prevailed in the vicinity of Venetia between the years 1495 and 1510. 
 
 Late in the fifteenth century the elaborately carved wood cassoni, with a 
 form and decoration inspired by the antique sarcophagi, made their appear¬ 
 ance and in the sixteenth century soon supplanted the rectangular example 
 with its delicate pastiglia and painted decorations. One of the earliest of 
 this type, showing a design of considerable classic purity, is shown in Figure 
 58. This High Renaissance example belonging to the last years of the fif¬ 
 teenth century precedes the bold and coarser type, with mythical figures and 
 grotesques, that was so popular in Rome during the first thirty years of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 The arched top coffer dating about 1500, covered with green velvet 
 patterned in red, illustrated in Figure 56, undoubtedly fulfilled the function of 
 transporting some patrician’s gorgeous array and when strapped to the back 
 
 100 
 
FIG. 84. FLORENTINE CENTRE TABLE. SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF OTTO H. KAHN, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 of a mule covered with cloth of gold or damask, formed part of a pageant-like 
 procession bound on a festive journey. 
 
 Most of the candlesticks and candelabra dating from this period are of 
 ecclesiastical origin, though they and the lantern of metal and carved wood, as 
 well as the torch, were used to illuminate the domestic interior of the Renais¬ 
 sance. The finest ones of this period show an originality in the adaptation of 
 the antique, as illustrated in Figures 59 and 60. Of the two, Figure 59 is of 
 slightly earlier date and exhibits a more original combination of forms, while 
 the latter follows closely an antique model. Figure 62 is a bronze model of 
 the school of Verrocchio, which, when compared with the cast taken from a 
 Roman antique, figured in 63, gives some idea of its close resemblance to the 
 classic design. The general forms of the bases are almost identical, while the 
 
winged figures ending in lion feet, placed at the angles of the base and those 
 of the ram heads at the angles above, convince one how freely the designer 
 copied parts of ancient models. The shaft is composed of vase forms in the 
 antique manner. Figure 61, from the same source, is of carved and gilded 
 wood. Its base has a form resembling those of some metal specimens designed 
 in the transition style about the middle of the century. The bronze candelabrum 
 from the capitolo della Cattedrale at Pistoia, dating about 1+75, is of the highest 
 expression. It is a graceful composition, the parts of which, especially the 
 triangular base and the vase form of the shaft, are taken directly from classic 
 forms (Figure 64). 
 
 The sacristy cupboard of the Early Renaissance is the forerunner of the 
 credenza. Though all furniture design of this era is strongly influenced by 
 
 103 
 
ecclesiastical furnishings that of the credenza or domestic cupboard, especially 
 the Tuscan, though less important in scale and design, bears the closest re¬ 
 semblance to its ecclesiastical contemporary. Two sacristy cupboards of the 
 
 FIG. 86. FLORENTINE CENTRE TABLE. SECOND HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 highest order, one with canted corners and the other with concave corners, 
 illustrated in Figures 65 and 67, are of very similar character, while both are 
 enriched with intarsia of almost identical design. The finer cupboards, like 
 the chests decorated in this style, are of simple but well-proportioned forms 
 with few and unobtrusive moulds and have large planes of undisturbed surface 
 
 104 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 that force the decorative value of the delicate and intricate inlay. The arrange¬ 
 ment of large vertical panels separated by narrower vertical ones begins with 
 the Renaissance and is generally found in panelling designs in Tuscany, 
 
 FIG. 87. CENTRE TABLE. EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 Emilia, parts of Umbria and the Marches after 1450 and in provinces more 
 remote from Tuscany after 1475. The inlay pattern, used to decorate the 
 narrow vertical panels in both of these examples, was evidently a favourite one 
 as it appears repeatedly between the years 1450 and 1475. 
 
 A repetition of the form illustrated in 67 appears in Figure 69, the doors 
 
 JOS 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 of which are panelled in the characteristic manner, without the moulds. 
 The design is exceptionally free of moulds, they being employed only 
 to emphasize the base and cornice and the two narrow vertical panels to 
 which the doors are hinged. In similar compositions of later work the 
 pilaster, fluted, panelled, and decorated with arabesque, is substituted for the 
 narrow vertical panel, giving a more architectural appearance to the design. 
 This is illustrated in the sacristy cupboard dating from the last decade of the 
 fifteenth century shown in Figure 68. Moulds grew more prominent with the 
 introduction of the fluted pilaster and carved decorations. This cabinet is 
 finished on all sides in the same manner. 
 
 Figures 71 and 72 are illustrations of the so-called “Certosina work”. 
 Writing cabinets built in two bodies, as in Figure 71, appear to have been 
 popular, decorated in this style. Figure 72 was without doubt raised on a 
 similar form. As it is difficult to distinguish the work done near Pavia from 
 that of the Embracchi these examples may easily be accredited to either, yet 
 the older Venetian pieces antedate the earliest Lombard pieces about a century. 
 The examples illustrated have the appearance of work dating from the last 
 decade of the fifteenth century when the industry was flourishing near Pavia, 
 for which reason one is inclined to credit them to Lombardy. Though all 
 specimens ornamented in this manner have a very similar appearance the 
 designs differ considerably. The furniture forms are always simple, with 
 large smooth surfaces for the distribution of the ornament, while the moulds 
 are few and modest. On some of the larger pieces, especially the chests, large 
 naturalistic motifs composed of vases of flowers in fine line decoration are seen. 
 
 The wall bench raised on a dais, evolved from the cassone, so often found 
 in the Tuscan interior of the Early Renaissance, is illustrated in Figure 73. 
 The chest which forms the seat has two hinged tops and a front divided into 
 oblong panels outlined with bands of inlay, while the whole is raised on a 
 projecting moulded base in the form of a dais. The back with its square 
 moulded panels and geometrical forms of inlay, framed with stiles ornamented 
 with bands of the same, is characteristic of early work and indicates a date 
 in the early years of the first period of the Renaissance. The back is 
 
 06 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 crowned with a cornice the parts 
 and arrangement of which evince 
 classic recognition, while the de¬ 
 sign of the intarsia frieze recalls 
 that of the Cosmastesque school. 
 Figure 74 is perhaps of a few years 
 later, as its oblong panels sep¬ 
 arated by intarsia-decorated pi¬ 
 lasters with modified Corinthian 
 capitals, would suggest. Inlay 
 patterns with vase forms, ara¬ 
 besques composed of leaf and 
 flower motifs and grotesques, as 
 shown in the two end panels of 
 this illustration, soon succeeded 
 in the second half of the fifteenth 
 century the abstract motifs of 
 earlier work. The moulded base 
 still retains an early pattern of inlay, while the centre panel of the back, with its 
 monastic scene depicting figures against an architectural background in per¬ 
 spective, marks its source as well as its date. 
 
 Trestle tables are extremely rare, yet from the frequency of their appearance 
 in the old pictures we may infer that they were numerous. They consisted of 
 a long board laid on trestles and being thus detachable, they have been more 
 easily destroyed Figure 78, one of the few in existence, designed to be placed 
 against a wall, has carved on the trestles the arms of the Strozzi family from 
 whose Florentine palace it originally came. F igure 77 is a modification of the 
 preceding, of more permanent structure with a richer decorative treatment. 
 Though found in Florence and claimed to be of Florentine origin, it has the 
 appearance of the much-used Venetian table of that type of which no examples 
 are known to survive from this period. 
 
 The monumental Tuscan table illustrated in Figure 79, with a top supported 
 
 FIG. 92. SECTION OF CHOIR SEATS. SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 I IO 
 
on ends inspired by antique 
 models, is a type that was 
 used in the important Flo¬ 
 rentine rooms from about 
 1475 on through the first 
 part of the High Renais¬ 
 sance. The two lion feet 
 of each of its ends terminate 
 in the leaf from which 
 spring scrolls, the simple 
 lines of which contrast 
 strangely with the disturbed 
 curves of the ornamental 
 stretcher designed in the 
 Baroque style of about 
 thirty-five years later, when 
 it was probably substituted 
 for the original one. Tables of this style made their appearance much later at 
 Venice and in the northern provinces. The first of these usually exhibit less of 
 the antique influence, as illustrated in Figures 81 and 143. In the former the 
 stretcher seems of later date, the original probably being in the form of the fore¬ 
 going and constructed in the same manner. The projecting moulds that frame 
 the panels bearing the arms, let into each end, are of later character and these 
 may have been inserted when the present stretcher was substituted. Figure 82 
 has ends resembling designs adapted from the antique by the school of Verroc¬ 
 chio and when compared with Figure 63 its source is easily discerned. The 
 crude stretcher secured with wooden pins, in marked contrast with the elabor¬ 
 ate carving, was generally used in the construction of tables of this style. 
 
 Pedestal and centre tables, though they began their development late in 
 the fifteenth century, are seldom found dating from this period. Figure 84, 
 of finely proportioned rectangular form, with simple panelling and a top inlaid 
 with a geometrical pattern, is one of the rarest and most authentic of the 
 
 113 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 earlier type and comes from the Florentine palace of the Martelli family. 1 It 
 precedes by some twenty years the following circular table displaying the 
 vogue of the antique in the carved acanthus leaf decoration of the pedestal and 
 the lion feet of the bases. Next to the trestle type, the smaller centre table is 
 perhaps the most rare of this period. That these tables received their share of 
 
 FIG. IOO. TWO SGABELLI. ABOUT I5OO 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF MRS. JOHN INNES KANE, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 artistic attention is evinced by the Florentine example designed about 1475, 
 shown in Figure 86. The octagonal top, supported by a centre shaft turned 
 in the manner of the late fifteenth century, is surrounded by four other shafts 
 in the form of Early Renaissance dolphins, resting on bases that terminate in 
 
 carved leaf decorations. 
 
 Though numerous, there are few authentic tables of the design illustrated 
 in Figures 87, 88, and 89. Many have been incorrectly constructed from parts 
 of old choir stalls and other fragments, while others are modified or direct 
 
 i()n this table for at least a generation stood the famous Donatello bust now in the Widener collection, 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 116 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 copies of the few originals. The design is typical of the Marches, where 
 practically all of those that have come into the Florentine market originated. 
 With the exception of the round top which was more rarely used, these three 
 examples show nearly all of the varieties of this type. The hexagonal top is 
 occasionally seen, but the octagonal form is more commonly found. They 
 
 FIG. IOI. SGABELLO. TUSCAN, SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XV CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 102. STOOL CHAIR. LOMBARDY, 
 LATE XV CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BAGATTI VALSECCHI COLLECTION, MILAN 
 
 vary only slightly in size, being generally one metre wide and one metre high. 
 F'igure 89 is evidently a Florentine model, as its fine classic forms and serious 
 craftsmanship suggest. Figure 88 is supported on three of the same radiating 
 consoles ending in lion feet and undoubtedly comes from the Ancona Marches 
 that were, especially in the northern part, under the direct influence of Floren¬ 
 tine art from the beginning of the Renaissance. 
 
 Figure 93 is a late fifteenth century example of the popular “Dante 
 chair”, which came from the Davanzati Palace collection. It is decorated 
 
 117 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 with simple bands of light-toned inlay following its structural lines, while the 
 terminals of the arms are carved with rosettes. Though not the original cov¬ 
 ering, the contemporary red velvet of the back and seat illustrates the growing 
 tendency for richer upholstering and more elaborate trimmings. Its contem¬ 
 porary of more complicated structure, the Savonarola chair, is illustrated in 
 Figures 94, 95, and 96; of these the design of the last appears to be of the 
 earliest date. Because it is said to have been used by Savonarola, the chair of 
 
 this structure receives its roman¬ 
 tic name. 
 
 The stool chairs, or sga- 
 belli, pictured in Figures 98, 
 99, and 100, varying only 
 slightly in their decorations, 
 are typical of a form found in 
 the vicinity of Urbino and are 
 probably some of the numerous 
 ones designed for the Ducal 
 Palace which attained its high¬ 
 est state of artistic perfection at 
 the same time that intarsia work 
 reached its finest expression. 
 Besides the beautiful wainscot- 
 ings and doors, we know that this palace at one time contained furniture 
 embellished with intarsia of the highest order. The sgabello shown in Figure 
 101 is of an earlier date than those just preceding it. Backs designed in this 
 manner are of slightly earlier origin than the more common fan-shaped ones. 
 The construction of Figure 102, with a cruder type of northern decoration, is 
 derived from the three-legged Gothic stool. A few earlier Tuscan models also 
 are found constructed in this way. 
 
 As there are practically no beds in existence dating from this period it is 
 necessary to resort to contemporary pictures and inventories for study. Through¬ 
 out the century all Italian beds were raised on a dais in a manner similar to 
 
 FIG. IO3. I.ATE XV CENTURY VENETIAN BEDROOM. 
 CARPACCIO 
 
 Il8 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 that illustrated in Figure 43 of the preceding chapter. The later and more 
 important examples are always pictured with canopies. A Venetian bed of 
 this description is seen in Carpaccio’s “Dream of Saint Ursula”, painted about 
 1490 and illustrated in Figure 103. The bed-chamber is evidently that of a 
 patrician. The bed has a canopy supported on four slender, gracefully 
 turned shafts, while the head board with its pediment and cornice exhibits a 
 highly developed Renaissance design. The dais seems to be ornamented with 
 intarsia. That the accessories of the 
 Venetian bed at that early date received 
 careful attention is evinced by the rich 
 coverlid and decorative details of the 
 neat sheets and pillow covers. Carpaccio 
 depicts another bed-chamber of a more 
 modest household in his “Nativity of 
 the Virgin”. The bed, which is placed 
 in an alcove with hangings, is raised on 
 a predella or dais and shows a fine cover¬ 
 lid with neat linen. The floor of the 
 room is tiled with squares of alternating 
 values, the walls are panelled, while the 
 part leading into the alcove where the 
 bed is placed appears to have a wain¬ 
 scoting of intarsia. There is a well ordered artistic sense about the whole 
 of this interior of the well-to-do borghese. 
 
 In Figure 104 a contemporary Tuscan bed with voluminous hangings, 
 raised on a predella, can be seen in an interior painted by Lorenzo di Credi 
 about 1510. Beds of this character were hung with various materials; besides 
 those of silk and velvet recorded in Venetian inventories we learn from the 
 archives that in the early years of the Renaissance the Duchess of Ferrara, wife 
 of Niccolo III, had a grand bed hung with arras, undoubtedly supplied by 
 the then flourishing looms of that city. 
 
 FIG. 104. INTERIOR, SHOWING LATE XV 
 CENTURY BED. LORENZO DI CREDI 
 
 119 
 
FIG. IO5. CASSONE WITH GILDED PASTIGLIA DECORATIONS. LOMBARDY OR VENETIA, EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE HIGH RENAISSANCE 
 
 THE FIRST HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH 
 CENTURY 
 
 HE High Renaissance reached its zenith in the first thirty 
 years of the sixteenth century and was turbulent with artistic 
 and historic activities. The art of this period is the culmina¬ 
 tion of that movement begun by the giant forerunners of the 
 preceding century who had bent their energies to mastering 
 the big principles of their art, preparing the way for the refining and enrich¬ 
 ing work of the more gentle masters of the early sixteenth century. 
 
 In the first forty years of this century, the most perfect buildings of the 
 Renaissance were reared. It was the age of Bramante, Giulio Romano, and 
 Peruzzi; Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Architecture per¬ 
 fected; and painting, sculpture, and the lesser decorative arts raised to their su¬ 
 preme effort, were combined in the most splendid monuments of art, in which 
 the grand manner dominated, a delicate charm determining subordinate parts. 
 Domes were noble, fagades imposing, loggias elegant, and the decoration of 
 the interiors splendid, while the furniture was as dignified and rich as the archi¬ 
 tectural background to which it was so closely allied. Yet with all the deli¬ 
 cacy of detail and finished craftsmanship there were still a vigour of handling, 
 a facility of composition, a richness of modelling and, above all, an artistic 
 reserve in the architecture and furniture design of this period. 
 
 The peace and prosperity of the last decades of the fifteenth century, 
 augmented by the impelling enthusiasm of the age, had given such force to 
 the development of Renaissance art that the frightful invasions could not im¬ 
 pede its progress until it had spent its energies in the endeavour for perfection. 
 The famous Florentine historian Guicciardini (1482-1540), in writing of this 
 
 121 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 age, tells us that “since the fall of the Roman Empire Italy had never known 
 such great prosperity nor had experienced so desirable a condition as in 
 the year 1490 and the years just before and after. The country had been 
 brought to profound peace and tranquillity; agriculture had spread over the 
 roughest and most sterile hills no less than over the most fertile plains; and 
 Italy, subject to no dominion but her own, abounded in men, merchandise, and 
 
 FIG. 106. CASSONE WITH PAINTED DECORATIONS. VENETIAN OR LOMBARD 
 EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 wealth. She was embellished to the utmost by the magnificence of many 
 princes, by the splendour of many most noble and beautiful cities, by the seat 
 and majesty of religion; she was rich in men most apt in public affairs, and in 
 minds most noble for all sorts of knowledge. She was industrious and excellent 
 in every art, and, according to the standards of these days, not without military 
 glory.” 
 
 In this period of prosperity, luxury, and pleasure, followed by moral and 
 military degeneration, the philosophy of Plato was still emotionally exalted by the 
 few idealists, but the claims of antiquity as well as the pursuit of wealth dominated 
 the decorative materialism of the age. The Church embraced the culture and 
 
 122 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 ideals of the age, her court at Rome becoming as much absorbed in the satisfying 
 of human ambition, the desire for culture, and the gratification of the senses as 
 were its worldly flocks. Religion offered her highest in decoration and ritual, 
 which was accepted because it added to the splendour and interest of life. 
 “The general level of existence was easy, and life was debonair, even for the 
 poorest. Italy whirled on, joyous, beautiful, enamoured of herself, of life and 
 
 FIG. IO7. CARVED WOOD CASSONE. ABOUT I50O 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 all its pleasures; her politicians schemed their petty victories; her soldiers fought 
 their mimic wars; her scholars crowned her with the glories of her marvellous 
 renascence; and no voice warned her of approaching ruin until the despoilers 
 were actually within her gates.” 1 
 
 The art of this era, decidedly more social than that of the Early Re¬ 
 naissance, contributed even more of its riches to the aggrandizement of the 
 “Magnificent Ones” as well as to the strengthening of the “policy of cul¬ 
 ture” of the Papacy. In the former period social expression was under the 
 influence of the ecclesiastical, but with the Cinquecento, secular expression 
 dominated and by the end of the century, even in ecclesiastical work, beauty 
 
 ‘Cambridge Historical Series. “Italy, 1494-1790.” Vernon, p. 17. 
 
 123 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 of line, form, and colour were considered a sufficient symbol of holiness. 
 Art ennobled the luxury of life. The social functions of the patrician as well 
 as the ritual and festivals of the Church were embellished by the greatest masters, 
 while the dwellings of the princes fall within the domain of the history of art, 
 their palaces and country houses embodying the triumphs of architecture and 
 the allied arts. 
 
 Florence- with her ease and luxury, her cultivated society, with its high 
 aesthetic and literary development since Dante’s time—still manifested her in¬ 
 nate classic taste. After the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici, however, and during 
 the rule of the weak, vain, and idle Piero—which was followed by unrest and 
 a lack of security culminating in the suppression of Florentine liberty by 
 Cosimo I the best of her artistic energies were contributed first to the 
 brilliant court of Milan, and afterward to the Papacy. 
 
 The art of Milan and Lombardy during the reign of the intellectual and 
 unmoral Ludovico Sforza, reached its highest state of development a few years 
 after the death of the magnificent Lorenzo when Lombardy became the most ac¬ 
 tive centre of the arts of that period. Ludovico, artist and social reformer, 
 man of science and letters, greatly increased the wealth and prosperity of his 
 duchy by experiments with vast irrigation schemes and new methods of culti¬ 
 vation, also widening streets and improving the condition of houses in all the 
 cities of his provinces. His great wealth and love of magnificent display, 
 together with the cultivated taste of his patrician duchess, Beatrice d’Este, did 
 much to attract to their court artists of great renown who decorated their 
 apartments with painting, sculpture, rare tapestries, and magnificent furniture. 
 Leonardo and Bramante were at the command of Beatrice to paint amorini 
 on her chimney piece, to design mythological friezes for her chamber, and 
 to lay out lovely gardens and build pavilions for her. Every detail of the 
 social life of this court was invested with splendour and it seemed to Baldassare 
 Castiglione that around the Castello at Milan was centred “the flower of the 
 human race”. Never was Milan so prosperous and glorious as when, a few 
 years after Beatrice’s death (1497), the French invasions brought to a sudden end 
 the extravagant and splendid court of Ludovico. The impetus of Lombard 
 
 124 
 

FIG. IO9. CARVED WOOD CASSONE PARTLY GILDED. ROMAN, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF DUVEEN BROTHERS, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 CARVED WOOD CASSONE PARTLY GILDED. ROMAN, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF PHILIP LEHMAN, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 126 
 
 FIG. IIO. 
 

 FIG. III. CARVED WOOD CASSONE. ROMAN, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
CARVED WOOD CASSONE. ROMAN, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
115 
 
 FIG. Il6. SIENESE CASSONE. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 CARVED WOOD CASSONE. FLORENTINE, FIRST 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW 
 
 HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 art being naturally arrested, the artistic and literary refugees of the second 
 great art centre of the Renaissance found their way to the courts of Mantua 
 and Ferrara and afterward to Rome, the magnet for the ambitious. During 
 the reign of Ludovico’s heirs, up to the annexation of the Duchy by the Span¬ 
 ish crown, Milan was tossed between Francis I and Charles V. 
 
 At the court of Mantua the art of the High Renaissance found its most 
 sympathetic and enthusiastic patron in Isabella d’Este, the Duchess of Man¬ 
 tua. Rarified by Renaissance legend, materialized by d’Annunzio, and called 
 by Niccolo da Correggio the first lady of the world, Leonardo and Titian 
 painted her portrait, Mantegna decorated her rooms, Aldo Manuzio sent 
 her his new editions of the classics as soon as they were printed, and Ariosto 
 read her the first draft of his “Orlando Furioso.” Mantua had long been ranked 
 high among the seats of culture and aristocratic social life, but with the 
 coming of Isabella it became not only the centre of the greatest taste and 
 refinement of this period, “the envy of the civilized world”, but the criterion 
 of fashion as well. 
 
 Toward the end of the century Isabella abandoned the medieval fortress, 
 the Castello Vecchio, after she had done much to dispel the ancient gloom 
 by remodelling and adding to its furnishings fine works of art. She then 
 took up her residence in the old Palazzo Bonaccolsi, 1 where—with the 
 assistance and advice of artists no less famous than Mantegna, Lorenzo 
 Costa, Perugino, and Cristoforo Romano—she transformed the old structure 
 into one of the most famous palaces of the High Renaissance, second only 
 to that of the court at Urbino. It was here that she arranged the famous 
 “Grotto”, that suite of apartments with a cortile where fountains played, where 
 Renaissance princes, artists, and connoisseurs came to admire and testify to the 
 rarity and beauty of the treasures that adorned it. We learn from her letters, 
 preserved in the Archivio Gonzaga, that from 1495 to 1539 this lady of the 
 High Renaissance never ceased to search with diligent ardour for every¬ 
 thing that would satisfy her dilettantism. Besides the furniture she ordered 
 for the Palace she collected rare tapestries, pictures by the greatest masters, 
 
 'This palace, known as the Corto Vecchio. became the nucleus of the vast Reggia. 
 
 131 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 precious crystals, antique marbles, enamels, musical instruments, and 
 manuscripts. 
 
 After the death of Duke Francesco I (1519) Giulio Romano was ordered 
 to alter for her a wing in the castle, to be arranged for living apartments, in ad¬ 
 dition to those most perfect and famous interiors of the Renaissance, the “ Ap- 
 partamento Paradiso”. These were three small jewel-like rooms, the symphonic 
 work of painter, wood carver, and intarsia worker of the early sixteenth century. 
 The exquisite, carved-wood ceilings are still intact, while the music room re¬ 
 tains even more of its original beauty. Its well-preserved ceiling is diagon- 
 alled with carved bands with pendant-like rosettes placed at the intersections, 
 forming panels that enclose delicate foliage and emblems on a blue ground. 
 Less fortunate is the wainscoting, retaining only parts of its intarsia ex¬ 
 ecuted by Antonio and Paolo della Molo, above which were once inserted, 
 in exquisite rectangular panels, masterpieces by Mantegna, Perugino, and 
 Lorenzo Costa, treasures now hanging in the “Italian Gallery” of the 
 Louvre. But of the furniture, tapestries, and other objets d’art of these 
 apartments, not a piece is known to exist. As Professor Bode says, this 
 is the more regrettable because from the records we know that during 
 the prosperity of these ruling houses a great deal of their furnishing 
 was produced with the assistance of the best artists, who were more 
 occupied with furniture, art handicrafts, and even the wardrobes of the 
 lords and ladies and their suites, than they were in producing paintings 
 and sculpture. Even artists like Cosirno Tura and Dosso Dossi at one time 
 painted beds, designed decorative trappings for the mounts, and arranged 
 the decorations for the festas of this princely house. 
 
 Piero Saranzo, who visited Mantua (1515), in the company of the Vene¬ 
 tian Ambassador, has left an adequate picture of a Gonzaga prince in his 
 sumptuous environment. He relates how, after being conducted through 
 endless apartments filled with artistic treasures, they were ushered into the 
 private suite of the duke. Here they found him “reclining on a couch by the 
 hearth of a richly adorned room, with his pet dwarf clad in gold brocade, 
 and three greyhounds lying at his feet, three pages stood by waving large 
 
 132 
 
133 
 
FIG. 121. GILDED ARMOIRE. NORTHERN EMILIAN MARCHES, ABOUT 1500-20 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF Mme. ED. ANDRE, PARIS 
 
 136 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 fans, lest even a hair should fall upon him ; a quantity of falcons and hawks 
 in leash were in the room, and the walls were hung with pictures of his fa¬ 
 vourite dogs and horses. Francesco received the envoys graciously, and 
 gave orders that they should be shown the other halls of the palace, contain¬ 
 ing Costa’s recently painted frescos, etc. The beauty and extent of the 
 gardens and the magnificent view from the loggia greatly impressed the visit¬ 
 ors, as well as the gorgeous dinner service of wrought silver.” 1 
 
 The fall of Constantinople (1453), which had the effect of bringing 
 Greek scholars with coveted manuscripts into Italy, was to be as fatal to 
 the prosperity of Venice as it was profitable to the advance of classical learn¬ 
 ing in Italy. In spite of this blow, Venice seemed more magnificent, sensu¬ 
 ous and pleasure-loving than ever in the first half of the sixteenth century when 
 she was in the most brilliant period of her Renaissance art. At the close of 
 the Middle Ages the sumptuousness of domestic and social life had been 
 marked, but with the Renaissance, ostentation was supreme, luxury and splen¬ 
 dour investing every phase of the patrician’s life. 
 
 The Venetians were magnificent by nature. Luxury became them like 
 their garments of brocades with heavy folds. It has been said that they had 
 the gift of being gorgeous without being barbaric, magnificent without being 
 pompous, and dignified without being stiff; and these are the qualities that 
 express themselves during the High Renaissance in a magnificent pageant. 
 The prismatic colouring of Venice’s natural elements and her communication 
 with the East made it imperative that her artists should illuminate their 
 designs with colour. In Beatrice Sforza’s Venetian letters (1493) to Lodo- 
 vico, she speaks of the tapestried and frescoed walls and the interiors of 
 variegated marbles and gold, with their painted cassoni and chairs. 3 In 
 another letter to her lord, dated May 27, 1493, on her arrival at Venice, she 
 writes: “All the palaces were richly adorned, and certainly it was a magni¬ 
 ficent sight”. She was conducted to her father’s palace of which she writes : 
 
 'Cartwright’s “ Isabella d’Este—a Study of the Renaissance.” 
 
 2 In the illustration of Piero Maria Pennacchi’s Annunciation (Fig. 97), painted about 1500, an interior 
 with walls panelled in marble of a yellowish tone framed with stripes of yellow red, is pictured. The floor 
 is also of red and black tiles (evidently marble) intersected by bands of white. 
 
 137 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 “We found all the palace hung with tapestries, and the beds covered with 
 satin draperies adorned with the ducal arms and those of Your Excellency. 
 And the rooms and hall are hung with Sforzesca colours, so you see that in 
 point of good entertainment, good company, and good living we could desire 
 nothing better.” As Italy grew more disturbed with intrigue, foreign invasion, 
 and the Catholic revival, it became the fashion for the rich and idle to resort 
 to Venice, much as the fashionable Europeans did in the eighteenth century. 
 The Venetian fetes were splendid, while life was comfortable and luxurious 
 in this city “with her pavement of liquid chrysoprase, with her palaces of 
 porphyry and marble, her frescoed facades, her quays and squares aglow with 
 the costumes of the Levant”, and her lagoons crowded with the galleys of 
 all nations. 
 
 Ferrara enjoyed much of Venice’s good fortune while she maintained 
 the splendid life of the Este. Carrying on the tradition of her high 
 standard of chivalric civilization, she was still famed for her artists and poets, 
 among whom were the renowned Bembo, and Lodovico Ariosto who published 
 his “Orlando Furioso” while in the service of Duke Alfonzo The alliance 
 of the Houses of Borgia and Este, through the marriage of Lucrezia to 
 Alfonzo, 1 Isabella’s younger brother, also did much to sustain as an art centre 
 the ancient and aristocratic court of the Este, for Lucrezia, who had been 
 reared in the profligate luxury of the court of her infamous father, Pope Alex¬ 
 ander VI, showed great enthusiasm for the arts and letters and incurred not 
 only the envy of Isabella, the most aristocratic and illustrious lady of the 
 Renaissance, but the praise of poets and the admiration of artists as well. 
 
 Numerous villas with interiors and gardens of unrivalled beauty had been 
 reared by preceding Este dukes, yet it is said that Alfonzo I eclipsed all 
 previous efforts when he reared the Palace of the Belvedere on an island in 
 the River Po. Though demolished by Pope Clement VIII, the fame of this 
 enchanting pleasure house still lives in the “Orlando Furioso”. In Alfonzo’s 
 and Lucrezia’s day “A flight of marble stairs led from the water’s edge to a 
 
 l For the transport of the wedding outfit that Lucrezia Borgia received from her father more than a hun¬ 
 dred mule teams were required. 
 
 I 3 8 
 
FIG. 122. ARMOIRE WITH PAINTED DECORATIONS. SIENESE, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 court turfed with the finest grass, surrounded by cut box hedges, with a superb 
 fountain in the centre. Facing the grassy court stood the villa, an imposing 
 building with porticos and colonnades flanked by lofty towers. Within, a 
 marble atrium, painted by Dossi with cupids and nymphs, opened into salons 
 decorated with frescos or hung with tapestries. On the other side of the 
 house, between the Duke’s private rooms and the Chapel, was the ‘Giardino 
 Segreto,’ a sunk parterre, with the usual low box hedges, where rare flowers 
 and fruits were cultivated and the water of countless jets d’eau splashed into 
 marble basins supported by putti and dolphins. Beyond this was a menagerie 
 filled with elephants, ostriches, and other rare animals, and orchards and ilex 
 woods growing down to the riverside.” 1 
 
 The golden days of Urbino were too soon over. When the ambitions 
 of Leo X found partial satisfaction in establishing his nephew on the ducal 
 throne (1516), the rightful rulers went into exile and with them that polished 
 school for manners and aesthetics so pleasantly pictured by Castiglione in his 
 “Book of the Courtier.” Guidobaldo and his gracious duchess Elizabetta 
 had been forced to flee in 1502 before that greatest of Renaissance tyrants, 
 Caesar Borgia, but after his fall they returned from their exile and in 1504 
 we hear of Castiglione coming to this court, where he remained for six years, 
 during which time the House of Urbino reached the climax of Renaissance 
 culture." 
 
 At Rome culminated the art of the High Renaissance; here, after the de¬ 
 cline at Florence and Milan, the new centre of the arts was gradually estab¬ 
 lished. During the pontificate of that great patron of the arts, Julius II (1503- 
 iSi3)> preceding the two Medici Popes—Leo X and Clement VII, with all 
 their artistic inheritance and love of patronage—Rome became the Mecca for 
 the most illustrious artists of the Cinquecento who established her as the last 
 great art centre of the High Renaissance. As Rome became more artistic 
 and intellectual she grew more worldly, frankly pursuing her “policy of 
 
 Cartwright’s ‘‘Italian Gardens of the Renaissance,” p. 40. 
 
 2 When Caesar Borgia conquered Urbino he is said to have carried off treasures estimated at 150,000 
 ducats. The famous library of the palace alone was valued by Vespasiano, the Florentine bookseller, at 
 30,000 ducats. 
 
 141 
 
FIG. I24. LEATHER-COVERED CABINET. VENETIAN, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 142 
 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 125. INTERIOR OF FIG. I24 
 
 culture.” In the preceding century Pius II, a Piccolomini, had been acknowl¬ 
 edged the most eminent man of letters of his age, Paul II being distinguished 
 as a connoisseur in matters pertaining to art, while Sixtus IV brought Perugino, 
 Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Roselli to elevate the Papacy with artistic fame. 
 But it is through the fiery genius of lulius II (1503-1513), the rightful successor 
 of Lorenzo de’ Medici, that the Papacy was crowned with the supreme works 
 of the High Renaissance. Rome, as little artistic as she was spiritual, with 
 all her riches, could import and command the artists that she could not breed; 
 Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Peruzzi, and a score equally renowned, 
 being invited to her court from Tuscany, Lombardy, and other provinces. 
 
 143 
 
The Roman Barons of the Fifteenth Century had not the cleverness or 
 ingenuity “to cover their moral nudity with the dazzling purple of the Renais¬ 
 sance”, as did the Sforza, Malatesta, and the Bentivoglio. While the Medici 
 and Soderini of Florence, the Barbo and Grimani of Venice, the Piccolomini 
 and Chigi of Siena, besides others too numerous to mention, were building 
 palaces adorned with beautiful furnishings and forming museums, the Roman 
 tyrants pursued their more violent ways of living. However, by the end of the 
 century, with the High Renaissance, when Rome had regained some of her 
 former prosperity, a great change took place in her social life, as the large 
 number of imposing palaces built before and after the sack of Rome attest. 
 
 The cardinals were especially ambitious builders. We learn from a con¬ 
 temporary publication of Francesco Albertini 1 how cardinals, high dignitaries, 
 
 1 Francesco Albertini, a pupil of Ghirlandaio and a lover of the arts, published the first edition of his 
 “Opusculum de mirabilibus novae et veteris urbis Romae” in 1510. It is dedicated to Pope Julius II. In 
 it he mentions, by the names they were distinguished by in his day, the Palazzi Colonna, Doria, Pamfili, 
 Sforza-Cesarini, Giraud, Cancellaria, and Farnesina, besides others that have long since disappeared. 
 
FIG. I27. 
 
 CREDENZA. TUSCAN, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 and “Apostolic bankers” began to build vast 
 palaces adorned with art treasures of the highest 
 order. At first the cardinal’s residences were 
 more modest, adjacent to, or a part of the archi¬ 
 tecture of the church, but as worldly ambitions 
 and extravagance increased they became inde¬ 
 pendent edifices, frankly the palaces of princes. 
 The first of these magnificent structures, the 
 Palazzo Cancellaria, was begun by Cardinal Raf- 
 faello Riario in 1495. Others soon followed, such 
 as the Palazzo Giraud-Torlonia, built for Adriano 
 da Corneto (1503-6); the Palazzo Sora, begun by 
 the Cardinal Niccolo Fieschi in 1505; the Palazzo 
 Farnese, begun by Allesandro Farnese in 1527, and the Villa Medici, built for 
 Ricci da Montepulciano in 1540, all among the notable examples of ecclesias¬ 
 tical palaces of the High Renaissance. Besides these were the sumptuous 
 dwellings of the patricians and those of the wealthy merchants. In these struc¬ 
 tures—with their magnificent apartments having vaulted and coffered ceilings, 
 with walls embellished with fresco and stucco decoration—popes, cardinals, and 
 princes, and many old aristocratic families who now began to migrate to Rome, 
 vied with each other in the accumulation of works of art and luxuries. 
 Their palaces and villas were storehouses of paintings, tapestries, antique 
 sculpture, and magnificent furniture, every great house having its library and 
 collection of antique art. We have historic accounts of the astonishing ex¬ 
 penditure of the rich banker, Agostino Chigi, for whom Peruzzi built the 
 Villa Farnesina and Raphael executed the decorations of the interior. About 
 the same time Raphael began for Giulio de’ Medici, a cousin of Leo X, the 
 “Villa Madama”, the most princely of all Italian country houses. 
 
 At the height of this artistic brilliance and immoral luxury the second great 
 art tragedy of the Renaissance was enacted when, in 1527, Rome was entered 
 by the Imperial army—a horde of barbarous Germans and Spaniards clamouring 
 for plunder while they massacred- -and her every sanctity defiled. For eight 
 
 FIG. 129 . CABINET. MIDDLE 
 OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION 
 FLORENCE 
 
 I46 
 

ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 days their infernal work was sustained, reducing her population by two thirds, 
 depleting her coffers of the oblation and tribute money of Christendom, and 
 despoiling her treasure-houses of art. Humbled and impoverished, the art of 
 the last great centre of the High Renaissance was disseminated. 
 
 Whether we agree with the moralists or not, after the cruel sacking of 
 Rome, the general foreign invasions, the crushing of Florentine liberty by 
 Cosimo, and the religious inquisitions, all following closely upon each other 
 after 1527, there is a decided lowering of artistic as well as moral standards 
 as seen in the too frequent use of vigorous and coarser ornament and a general 
 straining after effects of display. The ethics of the brilliant statesman, his¬ 
 torian, and scholar, Machiavelli (1469-1532); the cynical moral views of the 
 clever and witty writer Pietro Aretino (1492-1557), and the bombastic egotism 
 of the famous sculptor Cellini (1500-71), are in striking contrast to the pro¬ 
 fessed standards of the Platonic Academy of Cosimo and Lorenzo and the 
 ideals of the geniuses of their time. 
 
 Of the great masters at Rome in the first years of the sixteenth century 
 Michelangelo stands out for his inauguration of a new school that was to 
 mark the beginning of the Baroque. Raphael epitomized the refinement and 
 elegance of High Renaissance decoration, summed up in the “Raffaello 
 Loggia” in the Vatican and was a contemporary of this restless demigod 
 whose lofty conceptions were lost sight of by the later masters of this school 
 in their desire to affect his mannerism in heroic contorted form and agita¬ 
 tion, an exaggeration which reached its climax in the works of Bandinelli and 
 Ammanati in the second half of the century. Michelangelo’s influence on 
 architecture and decoration was in striking evidence by the middle of the 
 century and the work of the Medici Tombs (1524-37), a bold departure from 
 the designs of Bramanti and Raphael, is decorative sculpture pushed to 
 its limits. In painting, the germ of the Baroque is detected as early as 
 1508-12 in Michelangelo’s heroic conception, the ceiling frescos in the 
 Sistine Chapel. As the sculptors sought to imitate his heroic forms, so 
 the ambition of the painter, later in the century, was to cover vast wall spaces 
 with frescos peopled with bold and active forms. 
 
 148 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Architecture, the most stable of the arts, retaining its high standard all 
 through the first half of the sixteenth century, was the last of all to come 
 under the sway of the baroque, though there were instances such as that of 
 Baccio d’Agnolo’s Palazzo Bartolini at Florence (1520), the novelty of whose 
 windows and doors of pedimented form so excited the laughter of passers-by 
 
 FIG. 132. CREDENZA. SIENESE, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 that they stopped to make a genuflexion in derision. 1 The practice of pedi¬ 
 mented openings later played a strong part in the architectural designs of 
 Michelangelo and his baroque successors. 
 
 Unfortunately the interiors of the High Renaissance palace have suffered 
 so severely from devastating internal wars and invasions and the alterations of 
 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that few have survived intact to our 
 day. From the remaining few, and the fine members of others—such as 
 ceilings, chimney pieces, and doorways, frescos, pavements, and a few less 
 
 x “Andrea Palladio: His Life and Works,” Banister Fletcher. 
 
 150 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 permanent features—a faint idea may be gained of the quality and unity of 
 the decorations. Coffered, panelled, and beamed ceilings were important 
 features of the interior of the period. They were elaborately carved and 
 beautifully decorated with gold and colours, their cornices being equally 
 splendid. Vaulted ceilings were richly decorated with frescos and fanci- 
 
 
 FIG. I 33 . CREDENZA. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF MRS. JOHN INNESS KANE, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 ful stucco designs. Chimney pieces of stone and marble, often with receding 
 hoods, were composed of classic cornices supported on decorative pilasters, 
 shafts, or antique corbels, often a fine quality of delicate ornament enhancing 
 the whole design. 
 
 Walls were more richly treated in various ways. In the last years of the 
 fifteenth century and in the first decades of the sixteenth the most exquisite 
 wainscotings of intarsia were designed. Besides the lingering traces, such as 
 those of the Reggia at Mantua and other scattered places, and the vanished work 
 that we learn of from old documents, there are a few fine examples surviving in- 
 
FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 tact. In a small apartment on the piano nobile in the Corte at Urbino a 
 wainscoting of intarsia of the finest description 1 still remains, which was un¬ 
 doubtedly ordered by Duke Guidobaldo, depicting in the upper panels in 
 perspective, cupboards with doors partly open showing “all sorts of things 
 within in the usual fashion”, similar to the beautiful work of Fra Gio¬ 
 vanni da Verona done for the Coro di Monte Oliveto, Siena, about 1505. 
 Dennistoun claims that this apartment once “contained arm chairs encir¬ 
 cling a table all mosaicked with tarsia and carved by Maestro Giacomo of 
 Florence.” Another little apartment ordered by Duke Guidobaldo for the 
 Casa Gubbio, is described by Sig. Luigi Bonfatti as being panelled half way 
 up with intarsia work, with the upper half covered with tapestries. Intarsia, 
 which reached a high degree of excellence in the early years of the sixteenth 
 century, plays an important part in the scheme of the decorations of domestic 
 and ecclesiastical palaces. 
 
 We often hear of walls hung with fine stuffs. In the Palazzo Carnara, 
 at Venice, an apartment known as the “Camera d’Oro” was hung with cloth- 
 of-gold and had a magnificent gold cornice the value of which was estimated 
 at 18,000 ducats. The chimney piece supported on gilded caryatides would 
 suggest that these decorations were executed about the middle of the century. 
 
 When the walls of important apartments were not panelled with wood or 
 marble, or hung with tapestries and fine stuffs such as velvets and damasks, 
 they were often covered with frescos as in the preceding epoch. Frescoed 
 walls were the crowning glory of the palace and villa but, unfortunately, few of 
 domestic origin have been preserved; most of those surviving adorn ecclesiasti¬ 
 cal and civic structures. The Borgia apartments in the Vatican, painted 
 by Pinturicchio in the opening years of the High Renaissance, and the 
 Loggia of Raphael in the same palace are among the finest surviving examples 
 of well-preserved fresco wall decoration of this period. Painted wall decora¬ 
 tions were sometimes placed above panelled dadoes and arranged in large 
 panels flanked by decorative pilasters. In a little chamber of Isabella d’Este at 
 
 ‘Appearing in the Ducal accounts is the name of the famous intarsia worker, Bencivegni da Mercatello, 
 who worked in the Sala del Cambio, at Perugia. 
 
 153 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Mantua there was a beautiful intarsia wainscoting, above which were painted 
 canvases inserted in panels framed in the most delicate carved and gilded 
 stucco work. 
 
 Special mention should be made of the Venetian interiors which, growing 
 more and more sumptuous since the Middle Ages, were by the middle of the 
 sixteenth century the richest in all Italy. The interiors, in accord with the mag¬ 
 nificent architectural display of the exterior, were designed for lavish entertain¬ 
 ment rather than family life, while the furniture aimed at decorative effect rather 
 than usefulness. The walls of patrician houses, hung with damask, velvet, tapes¬ 
 tries or tooled and painted leather, were crowned with magnificent cornices 
 supporting ceilings panelled, coffered, and beamed, rich in gold and colours. 
 The ceiling with carved and painted beams resting on corbels modelled with 
 
 FIG. I3S. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. BRESCIA, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 i54 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 heads “alia Sansovino” were also used in many of the stately apartments. 
 On the walls hung paintings by the great Venetian masters. Architraves were 
 of marbles, doors of the richest intarsia, floors of mosaic, while at the windows 
 were hangings of rare silk. Every detail of the furnishing, including the fire 
 irons in the marble and stone chimney pieces, received the greatest artistic 
 attention. “The desires, needs, and caprices of the rich stimulated the fancy 
 of the artificer to invent new forms for furniture, beds, cupboards, settles, cof¬ 
 fers, prie-dieux, stools, arm chairs, high-backed chairs with elaborate carving, 
 seats covered in tapestry or in stamped leather or velvet fastened with nails of 
 gilded bronze.” 1 The houses of merchants, as well, were carefully and at times 
 richly furnished. Aretino, the poet, informs us of the house of Andrea Odoni, 
 that not a prince living had handsomer beds, rarer pictures or more regal 
 hangings. The greatest care was bestowed on the furniture and the house 
 contained a rare collection of sculpture, both antique and modern. 
 
 •Molmenti. 
 
 FIG. I36. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE VILLA REALE DI POGGIO A CAIANO, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. I38. WRITING TABLE. FLORENTINE, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 We are greatly indebted to the archives and the literature of the period 
 for illuminating descriptions of interiors. During the summer and autumn 
 of 1490, preceding the marriage of Ludovico Sforza to Beatrice, we learn that 
 a whole army of painters, goldsmiths, embroiderers, and tapestry weavers 
 began their work on the new furnishings of the Castello at Milan for the re¬ 
 ception of the bride. To the great master Leonardo da Vinci was entrusted 
 the design of the ceiling decorations in the great ball room “painted in azure 
 and gold to imitate the starry sky”. The walls below were hung with painted 
 canvases depicting events in the life of the Sforza. In the letters of the 
 Duchess of Ferrara’s maid of honour, written to Isabella Gonzaga on the occa¬ 
 sion of the birth of Beatrice’s first son (1493), she describes a room adorned 
 with gilded columns (evidently pilasters) hung with white damask curtains 
 richly embroidered with Sforzesque devices, of which she says: “It is calcu¬ 
 lated that the tapestries and hangings here are worth 70,000 ducats.” She 
 writes of the chamber of Beatrice, that her bed was hung with drapery of 
 
 iS7 
 
mulberry and crimson enriched with gold, “which alone cost 8,000 ducats”. 
 But her enthusiasm finds no bounds in the expression of her admiration for 
 the “Camera del Puttino,” the walls of which were hung with brocades of 
 the Sforza colours and tapestries embroidered with all manner of birds, beasts, 
 and fanciful designs. The golden cradle with its four slender columns and 
 pale blue silk canopy is “truly rich and elegant beyond anything that I have 
 ever seen”, writes the ecstatic maid of honour, whose eyes were fairly dazzled 
 by the sight of all these splendours and who, as she told Isabella, “was lost 
 in wonder and admiration at the magnificence of the Milanese Court”. 1 
 
 Outward life of the Italians in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries 
 was polished and ennobled as among no other people in the world. 1 A count¬ 
 less number of those small and great things which combine to make up what 
 we call comfort, we know to have first appeared in Italy. 5 From the novelists 
 we learn of stately beds, rare carpets, and other bedroom furniture of which 
 
 ‘Cartwright, “Beatrice d’Este. A Study of the Renaissance.” 
 
 2 In the first half of the 16th century appears Giovanni della Casa’s “II Galateo,” a manual of polite¬ 
 ness. Cleanliness, in the strict sense of the word, is prescribed and its dissertations on good manners, tact, and 
 delicacy are in accord with our highest sense of these refinements of life to-day. 
 
 3 Burkhardt, “The Renaissance in Italy,” p. 376. 
 
 160 
 
 FIG. I43. CARVED WOOD TABLE. ROMAN, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 we hear nothing in other countries, while we often read of the abundance 
 and beauty of the linen. This is confirmed by numerous old inventories and 
 documents, one listing the wedding gifts of Donna Bona Sforza (1517) record¬ 
 ing : eighteen counterpanes of silk, one of which was wrought “alia moresca”; 
 twenty pairs of sheets all embroidered with different coloured silks, seven 
 pairs made of Dutch linen and fringed with gold, thirty-six hangings of silk 
 tapestry, in addition to forty-eight sets of stamped leather, and eight large pieces 
 of Flemish arras “con seta assai” representing the seven works of mercy that 
 were valued at one thousand gold ducats. Of the plate: “a silver waiter, two 
 large pitchers wrought in relief, three basins, an ewer, and six large cups; 
 twelve large plates, twelve ditto of second size and twenty-four soup plates 
 made ‘alia francesi’, a massive salt cellar, a box of napkins, spoons, and jugs, 
 four large candlesticks, two large flasks, a silver pail, and a cup of gold worth 
 200 ducats”. 1 Even the more modest houses in many provinces had an atmos¬ 
 phere of individual charm. Apartments with polished floors of scagliola 
 and simple walls were furnished with chests, cupboards, bedsteads of walnut, 
 curtains, carpets, silver spoons and forks. 
 
 Boulting gives us, however, another side: “We read of parrot cages 
 and mirrors and ivory combs, of perfumes and tooth powders, of how the 
 knights and ladies of Ferrara arrayed themselves in silk and cloth-of-gold 
 and of the magnificent uniform of the pages, yet these resplendent youths 
 were provided with but one copper basin for their washing, but one brush 
 for their fine clothes, and but one wooden comb for the long flowing locks 
 of all of them.” 
 
 In summing up the furniture design of the early sixteenth century it may 
 be said that it has the simplicity and ecclesiastical dignity of that of the Early 
 Renaissance, with greater care given to the refinement of its detail. Proportion 
 was perfected; moulds, pilasters, and caps were of more classic purity, and 
 decorations of carving, intarsia, and painting were of exquisite design and 
 execution. Just before the middle of the century the influence of Michel¬ 
 angelo is evident in the tendency toward boldly modelled and sometimes 
 
 •Adolphus Trollope, “A Decade of Italian Women.” 
 
 l6l 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 exaggerated scale in moulds, a use of baroque architectural features, a promi¬ 
 nence of the human figure displaying a more sculpturesque quality, a frequent 
 use of a less pleasing grotesque, while the use of caryatides largely supplanted 
 the orders. With the human figure and the grotesque, developed a more vigor¬ 
 ous type of ornament in which is displayed a greater complexity of curved forms. 
 
 The different sections, however, show strong individual characteristics. 
 Florence, or Tuscany, which is often unjustly accused of coldness, always shows 
 
 FIG. I44. END OF AN ANTIQUE STONE TABLE 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 purity of taste and firmness of judgment, manifesting dignity, restraint, and 
 correctness of design in her furniture. Good proportion, and a less frequent 
 use of ornament, including the human figure, caryatides, and grotesques are 
 noticeable. Even in the first period of her Renaissance architecture—just pre¬ 
 ceding that era when exuberant inventiveness led to such fanciful and beauti¬ 
 ful structures as the Certosa di Pavia- Brunelleschi had reared the columnar 
 edifice, the church of San Lorenzo, a masterpiece of Renaissance adaptation in 
 which not a form or detail is at variance with Roman precedent. 
 
 Venetian furniture of the first part of the High Renaissance is dignified in 
 form, with a preference for rich surface decorations of gold and colours in low 
 
 162 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 relief; though perhaps less serious and classic than that of Florence, it is richer 
 and more graceful. The great change in the Venetian style took place in the 
 third and fourth decades of the sixteenth century when, after the sack of Rome, 
 Sansovino came. He brought the influence of Michelangelo as it developed in 
 furniture design at Florence, which in a modified form ruled Venetian design. 
 Painted and gilded furniture with fanciful designs gave way to natural wood 
 elaborately carved and sparingly touched with gold. The forms were rich, 
 while the decorations, carved in high relief, were composed of antique orna¬ 
 ment, grotesque masks, scroll work, and small figures. Yet, during the period 
 of Sansovino’s influence, w'hen the Baroque was manifesting itself, Venice pre¬ 
 ferred a more pleasing and playful grotesque and a more evenly scaled surface 
 ornament. Venetian culture is stamped with a character of rich and powerful 
 state-craft. In her art we see manifested the splendour and dignity of her 
 sensuous life and, as has been said, a self-satisfaction without a trace of the 
 spiritual striving which troubled Florence. 
 
 The furniture and decorative arts of Mantua and Ferrara came so com¬ 
 pletely under the influence of Venice in the first half of the sixteenth century 
 that they may be placed in the category of Venetian art. It is said that the 
 Ducal Houses of Mantua and Ferrara brought their craftsmen from Venice, 
 which no doubt accounts for the domination of Venetian influence, yet we 
 learn from old records that the houses of the wealthiest Venetian patrician 
 could not compare in splendour with the palaces of the Este and the Gonzaga. 
 Decorative pilasters and panels with rhythmic arabesques composed of plant 
 forms, and pleasing grotesques expressed in painting, gilding, and intarsia, 
 dominate design in the first two or three decades of the sixteenth century. It 
 was not until the middle of the century that the influence of .Michelangelo 
 and Sansovino was felt and was here assimilated with more elegance and grace. 
 The art of this section, the most social of the Renaissance, found its highest 
 expression in the furnishing of the palace. Like that of the preceding epoch, 
 Lombard furniture of the High Renaissance is so rare that it is difficult to 
 judge of its exact design. Of the less important work done after the fall of 
 the Duchy we may infer that, in spite of more crudeness and the growing 
 
 164 
 
FIG. I47. 
 
 FIG. I48. 
 
 CARVED WOOD TABLE. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 CARVED WOOD TABLE. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 l66 
 
FIG. 150. TUSCAN CABINET TABLE. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 149. EARLY XVI CENTURY TABLE 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 167 
 
FIG. 151. CAST TAKEN FROM THE END OF A POMPEIAN 
 
 STONE TABLE 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 vogue for a more vigor¬ 
 ous type of decoration, 
 the same tendencies to¬ 
 ward a lighter and more 
 fanciful interpretation 
 like that of Mantua, 
 Verona, and Brescia 
 were still evident. 
 
 From Verona come 
 many fine cassoni of 
 the first part of the High 
 Renaissance similar to 
 those of Venice and 
 Lombardy. They are 
 of simple rectangular 
 form with exquisite 
 decorations of inserted 
 painted panels and 
 gilded pastiglia work. In villas in the neighbourhood of Brescia, Verona, 
 and Lake Garda have been found many examples of furniture from the six¬ 
 teenth century—most of them from the second half. They are distinguished 
 from Venetian pieces by a more sober character of decoration and more 
 temperate architectural forms, the style of Michelangelo and Sansovino seem¬ 
 ing to have little influence here. 
 
 Furniture from the vicinity of Bologna, though not so sumptuous yet 
 decidedly heavier, has in the High Renaissance period, a character similar to 
 that of Mantua and Ferrara. In the designs of the late fifteenth and early six¬ 
 teenth centuries the influence of Florence and Venice is evident, yet with these 
 combined influences, Bologna always retained an individual style of heavier 
 character that grows especially noticeable as the sixteenth century advances, and 
 those pieces surviving from the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth centu¬ 
 ries, though often simple and of good proportions, have that ponderosity that 
 
 168 
 
CARVED WOOD TABLE. FLORENTINE, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 pervades the atmosphere of Bologna. Formigine, the celebrated wood carver of 
 Bologna, to whom all the finest woodwork of the first decades of the sixteenth 
 century have been so freely attributed, developed a style, especially in cassoni, 
 that displays the rhythmic plant forms of the Venetian school, interpreted in a 
 higher relief and larger scale, of Roman character. 
 
 FIG. 153. CARVED WOOD TABLE. FLORENTINE, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 In the Marches we find a diffusion of influences. Those of northern 
 Ancona can be claimed as a domain of Tuscan art, while in the upper part 
 of the Emilian section Venetian characteristics are evident. The work of 
 Umbria always shows an eclectic taste. In the fourteenth century the in 
 fluence of Siena is apparent, while in the fifteenth century that of Venetia and 
 Tuscany is most noticeable, the Tuscan character becoming especially evident 
 later in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 During the first years of the High Renaissance Rome showed the 
 influence of Raphael and workers from Tuscany, but she soon established an 
 
 170 
 
SIDE TABLE. LOMBARD OR VENETIAN, MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 FIG. 154. 
 
FIG I57. CARVED WOOD TABLE. SIENESE, EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 173 
 
CARVED WOOD PEDESTAL TABLE. SIENESE, ABOUT I5OO 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 expression that was affected by her classic ruins and the antique master¬ 
 pieces then being brought to light out of her soil by the early archaeologists. 
 Although her craftsmen and designers are said to have been Tuscans, they 
 could not throw off the spell of Rome. Even the saintly Fra Angelico 
 could not paint his holy visions here. Rome is the baroque city. She was 
 ponderous and dogmatic. In the early years of the sixteenth century she 
 was coarser in the enjoyment of her luxury and in the following century she 
 found her affinity in the Bernini. Her furniture is heavier and her cassoni 
 resemble ancient sarcophagi. The human figure, the grotesque, and the 
 caryatides are prominent in the designs of credenza and table; all ornament 
 is more vigorous, and after the invasion these characteristics become more 
 pronounced and debased. 
 
 Investigation proves that the luxury-loving courtiers of the Aragon rulers 
 at Naples and Sicily furnished their palaces very richly. We are informed 
 that the princes kept their art treasures in finely constructed chests, yet, in 
 general, Neapolitan furniture of Renaissance design was not produced until 
 after the middle of the century and it is very similar to that of Rome. Exces¬ 
 sive ornamentation in bold relief, vigorous moulds and dark-toned wood with 
 a fine patina are its distinguishing characteristics. 
 
 In Piedmonte, Savoy, and Liguria the furniture of the Cinquecento shows a 
 close relationship to that of France, especially in remote Piedmonte, Val d’Aosta, 
 and Savoy, where the Gothic traditions were retained as late as the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury. Though much furniture designed in the Renaissance styles comes from 
 Genoa and the Riviera, yet very rarely is it found dating before the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury. It is so similar to that of Lyons that it has been classed in many collec¬ 
 tions as French, yet a recent authority claims the furniture of Liguria to be a 
 model for that of Lyons. The cassone was not the most important form of 
 furnishing here; instead, a cupboard in two bodies, of almost equal propor¬ 
 tions, each with two doors, was in general use. Its construction is simple and 
 architectural, while its decoration is usually elaborate. Some of the tables from 
 
 Enthusiasm for the antique was at its highest pitch. The Nike had been found in a Roman garden, 
 while the discovery of other ancient masterpieces such as the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon, now in the 
 Vatican, stimulated intense interest in classic art. 
 
 175 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 these sections are also so closely related to those of contemporary French designs 
 that it is quite difficult to distinguish between them. 
 
 Early in the sixteenth century the carved wood cassone with a form re¬ 
 sembling the Roman sarcophagus supplanted the rectangular form of more 
 architectural design enriched with pastiglia and painted decorations. Yet 
 from the northern provinces chests of the early part of the century retain 
 much of the delicate ornamentation of the late Cinquecento and show in 
 their forms less influence of the ancient sarcophagi than the Tuscan, Roman, 
 and Umbrian examples. Although pilasters are employed and the general 
 design of Figure 105 is quite architectural, the base member and the claw feet 
 suggest the sarcophagus, and when compared with Figures 54 and 55 of Chap¬ 
 ter II, the slightly later character of this example, from the vicinity of Mantua, 
 is more readily detected. The Venetian cassone, illustrated in Figure 106, is the 
 last of those of the High Renaissance with pastiglia decorations and is the 
 type just preceding the carved wood chest that Sansovino introduced. The 
 body slants inward toward the base, which rests on shaped brackets painted with 
 sea horses ending in scrolls. The panels of the front as well as the band above 
 them are modelled with a gilded pattern of arabesques composed of leaf forms 
 in the style of the Lombardi. Bands of painted decorations also frame the 
 panels of the front. 
 
 One of the earliest sarcophagus forms is illustrated in the succeeding figure. 
 Those dating from the first decade of the sixteenth century follow more closely 
 the ancient models and antique Roman ornament seems preferred to composi¬ 
 tions with numerous figures and grotesques in this period, before Michelangel- 
 esque sculpture had established its vogue. Models of this form are invariably 
 raised on lion feet. Figure 108, also following closely the antique model from 
 which it is derived, is one of the finest classic examples of the early sixteenth 
 century. The panel at the top is raised considerably with a mould in the 
 manner of nearly all contemporary chests, while the design of the carved panel 
 of the front is taken directly from the antique and nicely combined with the 
 coat of arms and grotesque. The base mould resting on lion feet is boldly 
 carved with a decoration that is rarely met with in earlier examples, as it did not 
 
 176 
 
FIG. I59. CARVED WOOD CENTRE TABLE. FLORENTINE, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
CENTRE TABLE. ROMAN, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 178 
 
 CARVED WOOD STAND. ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 become popular until 
 about 1500, gradually 
 growing more pro¬ 
 nounced in those 
 chests designed about 
 the middle of the cen¬ 
 tury. 
 
 Two excellent ex¬ 
 amples of the Roman 
 cassone of the High 
 Renaissance derived 
 from the same source 
 are illustrated in 
 Figures 109 and no. 
 
 Nearly all important 
 Roman specimens of 
 this period are of this 
 form. They display 
 a coat of arms flanked by putti or sibyls, placed in the centre of panels filled 
 with figures modelled in high relief, depicting subjects borrowed from Roman 
 history or mythology, many of these figures as well as whole groups being 
 taken directly from antique statues and has reliefs then being discovered in Rome. 
 The end panels are filled with similar figures, while at the corners of the front 
 stand warriors and female subjects. Base members, invariably resting on lion 
 feet, are often heavily carved, as in Figure 112, with swags and the human 
 figure. The practice of carving all moulds with leaf and abstract motifs derived 
 from classic source is pronounced in the cassoni of this type dating after 1520. 
 
 Figures 111 and 112 are both later developments of the preceding design. 
 Although Figure in is without the heavily moulded and carved base, yet the 
 grotesque figures of coarser conception placed at the corners, as well as those 
 flanking the motifs placed on either side, and the central cartouche motif, are prom¬ 
 inent in designs of the third, fourth, and fifth decades of the sixteenth century. 
 
 181 
 
 FIG l66. TABLE WITH INTARSIA DECORATIONS. FIRST HALF 
 OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 In the following fig¬ 
 ure, displaying the arms 
 of the Alberti family of 
 Florence, these features 
 are more pronounced, 
 while the outline of the 
 base member placed be¬ 
 tween the lion feet, as 
 well as the design of the 
 arms, shows a decided 
 baroque feeling in its 
 disturbed line. A chest 
 of almost identical de¬ 
 sign, with the arms of 
 the same family, is in the 
 fig. 167. arm chair, first half of the xvi century Mme. Edouard Andre 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF JAMES W. ELLSWORTH, EvSQ., NEW YORK CITY 11 • n • 
 
 collection at raris. Cas- 
 
 soni being often designed in pairs, this is undoubtedly the companion piece 
 to the foregoing. 
 
 A pair of Roman cassoni, one of which is shown in Figure 113, illustrate 
 another important variation of these chests. The front is divided into three rect¬ 
 angular panels, the centre one containing the heraldic motif supported by beau¬ 
 tifully modelled figures. Flanking the centre panel are other panels filled with 
 figures in high relief depicting classical subjects, rivalling in modelling and draw¬ 
 ing the finer bronzes of the period. Carved figures are placed at the corners 
 besides filling the panels of the ends, while the heavy base is carved in the 
 characteristic style, and the mouldings of the top are left undecorated, in 
 the manner of the earlier chests. It is doubtful whether the ornamental base 
 placed between the lion feet is a design of contemporary date, as its 
 forms suggest later character. Differing but slightly, the companion piece 
 shows, in the two panels placed on either side of the central motif, the death 
 of Niobe’s children from the arrows of Apollo and Diana. In addition 
 
 182 
 

 FIG. 170. SEDIA SAVONAROLA. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF CARL W. HAMILTON, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 

FIG. 176. ARM CHAIR. NORTH ITALIAN, FIRST HALF OF THE FIG. 177. SIDE CHAIR. NORTH ITALIAN, FIRST HALF OF THE 
 
 XVI CENTURY XVI CENTURY 
 
 COURTESY OF W. & J. SLOANE, NEW YORK CITY COURTESY OF W. & J. SLOANE, NEW YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 to the notable sculpturesque 
 quality of their decorations, 
 these chests are further dis¬ 
 tinguished by their surfaces 
 of fine bronze-like patina 
 which are often combined 
 with antique gilding of har¬ 
 monious tone. 
 
 Figure 114, a Tuscan or 
 Umbrian example dating 
 about the middle of the 
 century, shows a vigorous 
 gadrooned base resting on 
 lion feet. Its front and sides 
 are spaced with rectangular 
 panels framed in projecting moulds of more delicate scale. These moulds, 
 rarely seen in fifteenth century designs, did not become general until after the 
 second decade of the sixteenth century. Stiles as well as moulds carved with 
 the guilloche appear in the finest work throughout the first half of the century. 
 
 Though the sarcophagus form dominated cassone design of this period, 
 the rectangular form frequently appears in certain sections, especially those 
 of Venetia, Lombardy, and parts of Tuscany. Siena never came fully under 
 the domination of the antique; she was more temperate and austere, while she 
 retained older traditions. The cassone from that city, illustrated in Figure 116, 
 proves a respect for earlier traditions in the use of pastiglia medium and a more 
 romantic type of decoration, yet the convex panel and the full and richly 
 ornamented moulds evince an appreciation of prevailing tendencies in cassone 
 design. In the long, low chest just preceding is shown a Tuscan interpretation 
 of the rectangular form, with well-spaced panels framed with carved projecting 
 moulds and a gadrooned base that is less prominent than that of many of its 
 more ornate contemporaries. 
 
 The development of the cabinet in two bodies with the upper half con- 
 
 FIG. 1 8 1 . LOMBARD CHAIRS. ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF 
 THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 192 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 taining drawers, together with the credenza and armoire, made the cassone a less 
 important article of household furniture. The high cabinets are undoubtedly 
 of north Italian origin, as the earliest existing examples show the tendencies 
 of northern design. They also mark the beginning of more elaborate drawer 
 work in cabinets. Figure 117, one of the earliest of this type, is from the finest 
 period, as its well-proportioned spacing and intarsia designs suggest. The lower 
 body has two doors decorated with an intarsia design composed of vase forms, 
 dolphins, and birds. These are enclosed with bands of inlay of earlier character, 
 while similar patterns decorate the stiles, and the ends have panels inlaid with large 
 geometrical patterns. The front of the upper section is spaced into various com¬ 
 partments, some having doors, others enclosing small drawers. They are inlaid 
 with ribbon scrolls which, like the cornice, bear Latin inscriptions. As is usual 
 in work of this period, especially where intarsia is employed, the moulds are sim¬ 
 ple and delicate, not projecting, rather 
 receding from the stile to the sunken panel, 
 in the characteristic fifteenth century 
 manner. Comparison with the moulds of 
 Figure 114 will serve as a fine illustration. 
 
 One of the most famous cabinets 
 (Figure 118) of this type in existence, said 
 to have once been in the possession of 
 Charles V and, without doubt, made for 
 the Gonzaga, was found near Mantua 
 by Sig. Bardini. It incorporates all the 
 characteristics that represent the climax 
 of High Renaissance design before the 
 influence of Michelangelo had begun to 
 be felt. The upper body of rectangular 
 form with its carved classic cornice and 
 frieze embellished with an intarsia decora¬ 
 tion composed of dolphins, vases, and 
 putti, is supported on consoles derived 
 
 FIG. 182. STOOL CHAIR. FIRST HALF 
 OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 193 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 from antique designs that have the fine feeling of Verocchio, and Mantegna’s 
 interpretation of the same. The fall front, with its surface enriched with 
 coloured intarsia, composed in squares inclosed with an exquisite border 
 of the same medium, reveals the interior with its numerous drawers outlined 
 
 TIG. 183. SGABELLO. URBINO, EARLY XVI FIG. 184. TUSCAN SGABELLO. ABOUT THE 
 CENTURY MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDIN! COLLECTION, FLORENCE FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 with delicate receding moulds. The surface of the two hinged doors on 
 either side shows a decoration of intarsia, with books and other objects in per¬ 
 spective, similar to that shown in the beautiful choir stalls executed by Fra 
 Giovanni da Verona (Figure 90). 
 
 194 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Still another form of the tall 
 cabinet is the following gilded armoire 
 with pastiglia ornamentation in the 
 style of Venetia and Lombardia. The 
 projecting moulds that frame the 
 panels of the doors, as well as those 
 of the base, give to this piece a slightly 
 later appearance than the preceding 
 cabinet, yet its simplicity of form and 
 the evenly scaled rhythmic decora¬ 
 tions, confined in simple rectangular 
 panels, are characteristic of the best 
 expression of the High Renaissance, 
 which held out longer against the 
 prolific baroque style here than in the 
 provinces farther south. The He¬ 
 braic inscription of the frieze proves 
 this piece, which perhaps comes from a synagogue, to be of Jewish origin. 
 
 The Raphael Loggia in the Vatican, the most perfect decoration of this 
 period, no doubt influenced contemporary painted designs, as is illustrated in 
 the Sienese armoire (Figure 122), whose decoration has been attributed to So- 
 doma. Its simple form; its tall rectangular panels painted with fanciful and 
 playful grotesques, putti, and other motifs, framed with receding moulds; and 
 its painted pilasters, which were crowned with fanciful Ionic or Corinthian 
 capitals, recall again the simplicity and richness of this period, summed up in 
 one of the finest existing painted specimens of the High Renaissance. 
 
 Highly characteristic of the sumptuous Roman furniture of that period is 
 the later writing cabinet in two bodies, illustrated in F'igure 123. When com¬ 
 pared with Figure 118, of about forty-five years earlier date, its ornamentation of 
 baroque character, which developed so rapidly after the Roman invasion, is 
 easily discerned. The upper part has an elaborately carved fall front, while the 
 two doors of the lower half bear the arms of Pope Paul III (1534-49). Like 
 
 195 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 much work of this period, the execution is of the highest order and has been 
 attributed to the younger Tasso. This cabinet was included in the Bardini sale 
 that took place in London in 1902. 
 
 FIG. 186. THRONE SEAT. FLORENTINE, FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE CHURCH OF SAN DOMENICO, FIESOLE 
 
 Of more foreign character is the Venetian chest of drawers on a stand 
 with turned supports. The whole is covered with brown leather, decorated 
 with panels and bands which are tooled and gilded with arabesque patternings 
 of floral scrolls, and geometrical interlacings. The fall front of the oblong 
 coffer, which is secured with a hasp and lock, reveals an interior fitted with 
 
 196 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 various compartments, drawers, and doors. These are covered with leather of 
 a brilliant Venetian red tone, forming a background for figures and other dec¬ 
 orations done in gold, green, and brown. Both Venice and Ferrara excelled in 
 the stamped-leather industry. In the “Atti dei Procuratori di San Marco” 
 several masters of this art are mentioned, in the second half of the fifteenth cen¬ 
 tury, while many throughout the sixteenth are noted in the records. During 
 the following century this industry yielded about one hundred thousand ducats 
 a year to the Republic, when there were over seventy shops engaged in the 
 business. 1 Many cabinets, cassoni, and small coffers, as well as mirror frames, 
 were covered with this ornamental leather. 
 
 The credenza, or sideboard the larder of the palace as well as of the 
 smaller house—shows the same design tendencies as are displayed in the cas- 
 sone. The general form of the sixteenth century credenza, with few exceptions, 
 is an oblong rectangle, its front spaced with two or three doors, each inter- 
 
 •Campori, “Sulla manifattura degli arazzi in Ferrara.” 
 
 FIG. 187. CARVED WOOD BENCH. SICILIAN, EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 COURTESY OF SIG. CARLO GIRAUD, FLORENCE 
 
 197 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 sected by narrow vertical panels or 
 pilasters that have brackets or carved 
 ornaments placed directly over them 
 in a frieze containing drawers. The 
 bases are generally moulded and often 
 carved with a gadrooning and raised 
 on lion feet. Figure 126, a typical 
 Tuscan interpretation of this type, 
 coming from the Palazzo Davanzati 
 collection, dates about 1535. The 
 front, with three doors- with decora¬ 
 tions of an escutcheon and fluted 
 rosettes -is separated by narrow ver¬ 
 tical panels, all of which, together with 
 the doors, are framed with wider 
 carved moulds, such as appear in most 
 characteristic design between the 
 years 1520-1550. Directly over the 
 
 doors, drawers —with fluted panels alternating with voluted modillions—com¬ 
 pose the frieze. The vigorous carved base rests on lion feet, while an applied 
 carved mould enriches the top. A modification of this composition is seen 
 in the following figure, the general form and arrangement being identical. 
 Fluted pilasters take the place of the vertical panel, while the decorations of 
 
 G. 189. SEDIA SAVONAROLA. FIRST 
 HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDIN1 COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 the doors and the treatment of the modillions in the frieze vary only in their 
 ornamentation. The more prominent moulds suggest a design of somewhat 
 later date than the preceding credenza. 
 
 In Figure 128, the lion feet are omitted, the credenza rests instead on a 
 heavily moulded base having as one of its members a boldly carved mould. 
 The general composition is the same as those of the foregoing, while the 
 pilasters are carved with a rosette decoration, and a slight variation is shown 
 in the design of the modillions, the carved moulds, and the circular panels placed 
 in the centre of the doors. 
 
 199 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 About the same time much smaller cabinets with but one door began to 
 be made, like the example shown in Figure 129. In these smaller designs the 
 same style of composition appears; in fact they may be called a section of the 
 larger credenza. The specimen illustrated is one of the more elaborate ones 
 of this type, much enriched with carving. 
 
 The majority of credenza designs dating after 1540, especially those for 
 domestic pieces, show a preference for two doors, which are still separated by 
 panels or pilasters. In Figure 130 the drawer panels and those separating the 
 doors, as well as the moulds of the doors, and the heavy base, are carved with a 
 form of Guilloche pattern that became prominent in the decoration of all 
 furniture about this time. The ends are left severely plain, as in many ornate 
 examples, just before the middle of the century. 
 
 Combinations of features typical of two epochs are seen in the credenza 
 illustrated in Figure 131. The general arrangement is again with two sections, 
 a slight variation being obtained by means of double doors. The moulds 
 of the doors and the turned and carved shafts composed of forms adapted 
 from the antique and crowned with Ionic capitals are designed in the style of 
 the late Cinquecento, while the breaking of the entablature and base mould 
 around the shaft and the character of the grotesque placed directly over it, 
 separating the drawers in the frieze, are marked traits of later sixteenth 
 century design. One of the earliest examples in cabinet work of breaking 
 the entablature around the order, is found in the panelling of the Sagrestia di 
 Santa Maria in Organo at Verona (1525)- The columns here are also turned 
 and decorated. In the work of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Mati in the 
 Residenza nel Palazzo, Pistoia (1535), the same practice occurs. 
 
 Figure 132 is a Sienese example with three doors flanked at either end by 
 fluted and astragalled pilasters as well as narrow, vertical panels that appear to 
 have been rearranged. It would be more in accord with the design then 
 prevailing if they had been placed between the doors, supplying a support to 
 which the centre one might be hinged. The doors are beautifully panelled 
 with moulds carved with a Guilloche and bead decoration much in the manner 
 of the fine woodwork seen in the choir of San Pietro at Perugia, done 
 
 200 
 
FROM THE LOUVRE, PARIS 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 about 1533, and in the walnut doors (dating about 1536-40) shown in Figure 
 
 137 - 
 
 Illustrated in the following credenza is another example with the base and 
 cornice breaking around fluted and astragalled pilasters placed in the centres 
 of the end panels, flanking a pair of doors. The moulds of the doors, simple 
 and delicate in the manner of earlier work, like the small band of inlay 
 placed just within the panel, contrast with the later practice of the broken 
 base and cornice. One of the magnificent credenze surviving from this pe¬ 
 riod is shown in the succeeding illustration (Figure 134) with an unfortunate 
 perspective that does not do justice to its design. The front is divided into 
 two sections by fluted and astragalled pilasters crowned with carved capitals, 
 each division having a panelled door flanked by similar narrower panels. 
 Though undecorated, the moulds are prominent as in most cases when associ¬ 
 ated with broken entablatures and heavy carved bases. When compared with 
 the credenza of similar design shown in Figure 131 the more correct composi¬ 
 tion of this specimen is discerned. 
 
 Two credenze dating about the middle of the century, shown in Fig¬ 
 ures 135 and 136, illustrate the stage of excessive ornamentation of furni¬ 
 ture reached about this time. The contour of the moulds in Figure 135, 
 especially those of the doors, is not in keeping with the exuberant ornamen¬ 
 tation, although, in spite of many simple pieces having been “enriched” by 
 the antiquary, this decoration is undoubtedly of that period. The moulds 
 in Figure 136 are characteristic types often used in conjunction with the 
 ornamentation that enriches them. The fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals 
 support a cornice in which a vigorous mould, carved with leaves and scrolls, 
 takes the place of the more usual drawers. Framing the panels of the doors are 
 uncommonly wide moulds which, like the panels that they inclose, are 
 elaborately carved with a consistently scaled ornament of a high order. Pilasters 
 flank end panels which are also carved. Only in the finest examples of these 
 more elaborate pieces are the end panels found decorated in a manner con¬ 
 sistent with the front. 
 
 A combination writing table and cabinet is shown in Figure 138. The 
 
 202 
 
WALNUT AND GOLD BED. NORTH ITALIAN, MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 triglyph frieze that contains the two drawers with bronze handles made its ap¬ 
 pearance in furniture design during the third and fourth decades of the sixteenth 
 century, at the same time that it became prominent in the architectural designs of 
 
 FIG. 192. BRONZE CANDLESTICK. FLOR¬ 
 ENTINE, EARLY XVI 
 CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 193. LOWER PART OF A CARVED 
 WOOD CANDLESTICK. FLORENTINE, 
 EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 Peruzzi and Sanmichele, from which source it was evidently derived. As early 
 as 1525 a frieze of this nature appears crowning the panelling in the Church of 
 Santa Maria in Organo at Verona. The lighter receding moulds of the table 
 illustrated have the character of those seen in earlier work, and the graceful 
 brackets carved with an imbricated pattern are free from baroque interruptions. 
 
 204 
 
The long tables of the High Renaissance still have 
 tops resting on ends secured with stretchers, as in the 
 fifteenth century, but as in other work, it undergoes the 
 refining and enriching process of this period. The 
 elaborately designed ends do not generally allow the 
 stretcher to pierce them; instead, a socket is cut on the 
 inside which holds in place the stretcher of more orna¬ 
 mental character, as illustrated in the monumental table 
 of Venetian origin shown in Figure 139. The armourial 
 decoration of the ends together with the cornucopia-like 
 volutes that outline them, stamp this piece with a richness 
 of Venetian design which, if not from one of her patri¬ 
 cian palaces, has its origin in Mantua or Ferrara, both 
 provinces having been under the influence of Vene¬ 
 tian art at that time. The stretcher of curved form 
 which is placed close to the top is held in sockets cut 
 in ends that are enriched on the inner sides as well. 
 
 In Figure 141 the ends are of similar form, but the wide 
 ornamented moulds that frame the panels between the 
 consoles place this design several decades later. The 
 stretcher (which is missing) was secured in the manner 
 of the preceding table. In the cabinet work that Michel¬ 
 angelo designed for the Biblioteca Laurenziana at Flor¬ 
 ence in 1550, consoles of very similar style are prominent. 
 
 Late in the fifteenth century edges of table tops be¬ 
 gan to show a decoration of simple fluting; later, a mould 
 carved in this manner was applied just under the top, giv¬ 
 ing an appearance of added thickness. Still later, just 
 before the middle of the century, tops of the more elab¬ 
 orate tables had heavily gadrooned moulds similar to those of the bases of 
 contemporary cabinets. Of these, Figures 142 and 143 are excellent examples, 
 both having ends whose designs were inspired by the antique. Figure 142 has 
 
 205 
 
 FIG. I94. CARVED 
 WOOD CANDLESTICK 
 TUSCAN, EARLY 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE TOLENTINO GALLERY 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN 
 
 FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 195. CARVED WOOD “CANDELABRO.” SIENESE, 
 EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 
 ATTRIBUTED TO FRA GIOVANNI DA VERONA. MONTE OLIVETO, SIENA 
 
 206 
 
 ends designed in the manner 
 of those of the late fifteenth 
 century, the arrangement of 
 lion feet, scrolls, and acan¬ 
 thus leaves showing the in¬ 
 spiration of the antique, 
 while the heavy mould of the 
 top, each member of which 
 is carved, is characteristic of 
 later work. The form of the 
 stretcher, as well as the crude 
 way in which it is secured, 
 contrasts even more with the 
 treatment of the top. Fig¬ 
 ure 143 is a more consistent 
 design of a few decades 
 later. The character of the 
 grotesque head and the vo- 
 luted forms of the ends, as 
 well as the scrolls outlining 
 its base that ends in lion feet, 
 are in perfect accord with the 
 heavily moulded and carved 
 top. This design marks 
 the transition from the more 
 strictly classic models to 
 those tables with pronounc¬ 
 ed baroque forms, at the 
 same time representing the 
 best of this style dating about 
 1525-35 before the baroque 
 style had become quite 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 aggressive and ex¬ 
 aggerated. 
 
 Figure 145 
 illustrates an early 
 sixteenth century 
 table of highly 
 characteristic de¬ 
 sign inspired by 
 the antique, before 
 baroque features 
 had begun to 
 manifest them¬ 
 selves. The ends 
 terminate in lion 
 feet from which 
 springs the acan¬ 
 thus leaf in a sim¬ 
 ilar manner to that 
 of the earlier de¬ 
 sign shown in 
 Figure 82. In the 
 later design a coat 
 of arms fills the 
 place which was 
 left free to accom¬ 
 modate the pro¬ 
 truding pinned stretcher in the earlier example. The edge of the top is carved 
 with a Guilloche design, while just beneath it is placed an applied dentellated 
 mould. 1 
 
 Figures 146, 147, and 148 all illustrate structure of this character with 
 
 *A table of identical design is at present in the excellently arranged Museo Civico, at Milan. 1 hough 
 tables may have been designed in pairs during this period, the cleverness of the artisan to-day inclines one 
 to speculate as to the authenticity of both. 
 
 196. CARVED WOOD CANDLESTICKS. EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE PERUZZI DE’ MEDICI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 20 7 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 variations shown in the forms and dec¬ 
 orations of their end supports as well as 
 in the placing and the shape of their 
 stretchers. Of these, Figure 146 is the 
 most notable because of the appear¬ 
 ance of the drawers on which are pro¬ 
 jecting or bevelled panels, which came 
 into use about the middle of the cen¬ 
 tury. This work, like the stretcher 
 with interrupted curves, is of later 
 character. More raised panel work is 
 seen in the cabinet table shown in Fig¬ 
 ure 150 which, in spite of its earlier 
 moulds, simple inlay top, and general 
 primitive appearance is a product of 
 the fourth or fifth decade of the cen¬ 
 tury. Simple tables like the little model 
 shown in Figure 149 are more difficult 
 to place. Simplicity of design and 
 primitive structure are met with in 
 many provincial pieces, often having 
 features of several periods combined. 
 
 About the middle of the century, 
 a long heavy table, elaborately carved 
 and constructed in the manner of the 
 Ligurian table, was produced at Flor¬ 
 ence. An authentic one illustrated in 
 Figure 152 is highly representative. Ends were usually formed of a mass of 
 well-executed carving, often pierced and having the human head or body ending 
 in vigorous scrolls and lion feet; invariably a horizontal stretcher was braced 
 between the bases of the ends. These stretchers formed bases for balusters, 
 supporting arches on which rested the top with elaborately carved moulds. 
 
 208 
 
 FIG 
 
 I97. CARVED WOOD CANDLESTICKS 
 TUSCAN, EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF ERNESTO G. FABBRI, ESQ., 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. I99. CARVED WOOD FRAME. EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 Of similar design and perhaps a few years earlier date, is the example 
 shown in Figure 153, originally coming from the Palazzo Torregiani. The 
 bold, sweeping forms of the ends, composed of heads terminating in scrolls, re¬ 
 call the designs of Jacques du Cerceau and Hugues Sambin, especially the en¬ 
 graved designs of Du Cerceau, inspired by the models he saw while in Italy 
 about the middle of the century. Many of the French tables used during 
 the period of Henry II and Henry IV were without doubt directly imported 
 from Italy; even those made by Frenchmen in this style are often impossible to 
 distinguish from Italian examples. 
 
 210 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 A typical Ligurian model of the mid-century is shown in Figure 155. 
 Little variation is found in the form of these tables, while their decoration is 
 generally composed of the type of foliated scroll and grotesque heads seen in this 
 example. They were as a rule of much shorter proportion than the Florentine 
 specimens of this construction. The Ligurian structure influenced the tables 
 not only of Tuscany for occasionally a design bearing the mark of Lombardy or 
 Venetia is met with, built in this manner, as illustrated in Figure 154. The 
 decoration on the arch-headed panels of the ends is in the Lombard style or 
 possibly that of Verona and its vicinity, but more especially characteristic of the 
 last-named section is the triglyph frieze spaced with circular ornaments, a feature 
 employed in cabinet work as well as architectural design after the development of 
 the style of Sanmichele and Palladio. 
 
 Pedestal tables, and those supported on brackets radiating from a central 
 shaft, besides showing a greater variety of form, display more elaborate ornamen¬ 
 tation. Those of the first two decades of the sixteenth century, though much 
 enriched, have a dignity and restraint that are nicely exemplified in the Floren¬ 
 tine and Sienese specimens, Figures 156 and 157. Figure 156 has a square 
 pedestal, the rectangular panels of which are framed with moulds carved with 
 the Guilloche and bead, while the base is heavily moulded and raised on lion 
 feet. The radiating brackets that support the top are free from baroque inter¬ 
 ruptions, while the whole design is representative of the finest period of the 
 Renaissance. Though of slightly later date, the following table shows a nice 
 sense of antique adaptation and is within the confines of the same period. Of 
 equal artistic reserve is the pedestal table with an octagonal top whose sides and 
 drawers, as well as the eight-sided shaft and base, are completely carved with a dec¬ 
 oration of fluting, marking the richness and simplicity of the best Sienese work. 
 Even during the most exaggerated phase of the Late Renaissance and Baroque 
 styles, these expressions at Siena were tempered by that pre-Renaissance aus¬ 
 terity that pervades the atmosphere of Siena up to the present day. The example 
 illustrated in Figure 159, also with an octagonal top containing drawers with 
 a fluted decoration separated by carved animal heads, is supported on three 
 voluted bracket legs ending in lion feet. It evinces the Florentine sense of 
 
 211 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 fine proportion and classicism, and at the same time proves that for tables of 
 this description, like the oblong models, the thick moulded and carved top was 
 preferred in the fourth and fifth decades of the sixteenth century. 
 
 It was with the sixteenth century that the table constructed in the manner 
 of our usual modern table began its development. The first of these were 
 generally of rectangular or octagonal form. Occasionally they were round, 
 but these were more often of the pedestal type. They were supported on turned 
 or square legs that were invariably braced with stretchers placed between them 
 at the base. It is extremely doubtful if any primitive examples were constructed 
 in this manner, 1 however, it was not until the high period of the Renaissance 
 that any of decorative character as important as that shown in Figures 162 
 and 163 were constructed in this way. 
 
 The hexagonal and octagonal, as well as the round form previously design¬ 
 ed with radiating bracket supports or pedestals, were now constructed in the 
 manner of the preceding tables. This is illustrated in the Bolognese model, of 
 about 1500, having brackets separating the panels just beneath the top, and 
 bands of inlay of much earlier character than the construction of the table. Figure 
 166 is another of the earlier examples of this type with turned supports and 
 fine intarsia decoration, coming probably from the vicinity of Urbino. 
 
 Great strides were made in the development of chairs during the sixteenth 
 century. In the first decades the arm chairs of X form of both structures were 
 commonly used, the upholstered type known as the Dante chair growing in 
 favour for domestic interiors of importance as the century advanced. Both types 
 show a tendency toward more carving, while the upholstered models were 
 covered with fine stuffs enriched with fringes and other trimmings. Two 
 chairs of this character, illustrated in Figures 168 and 169, show a richer treat¬ 
 ment than those seen in the preceding chapter. 
 
 It is the X form, known as the Savonarola chair, that received the attention 
 of the carver, because the greater expanse of the surface of its back allowed him 
 wider scope. The backs often display a coat of arms arranged with arabesques 
 
 ‘The author has not encountered, in reality, or in any pictorial or literary document, tables constructed 
 in this manner previous to this period. 
 
 212 
 
and other mo¬ 
 tifs, in addi¬ 
 tion to bands of 
 carved decora¬ 
 tions filling the 
 surface of front 
 supports, in the 
 manner of those 
 shown in Fig¬ 
 ures 170 and 
 171, both mod¬ 
 els dating from 
 the third or 
 fourth decades 
 of the sixteenth 
 century. The 
 later chairs of 
 
 , . , FIG. 200 . CARVED WOOD FRAME. VENETIAN, EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 
 this period from the south KENSINGTON museum, London 
 
 show carving of 
 
 more vigorous, naturalistic, and sometimes grotesque, character, while all the 
 more elaborate models were supplied with loose seat cushions covered with 
 fine materials. 
 
 With the sixteenth century began the development of the high-back arm chair 
 of rectangular structure, with upholstered back and seat, that may be called the 
 forerunner of the modern chair. These chairs were found arranged against the 
 wall with the cassone and credenza in all formal rooms of the sixteenth century. 
 Their decorative quality is obtained through their fine proportions, beautiful up¬ 
 holstery, and sparing but effective use of carving. In the first part of the cen¬ 
 tury they were of higher forms, with the effect of a deeply upholstered seat aug¬ 
 mented by fringes. These, with supports both turned and square, invariably 
 rest on runners, ending in front in a carved decoration of the leaf or animal 
 foot. These features are nicely shown in Figures 172, 173, and 174, all of which 
 
 213 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 are covered with em¬ 
 bossed and gilded 
 leather, while the top 
 of the upright struc¬ 
 ture of the back is 
 crowned with carved 
 and gilded finials. 
 
 Figure 175 il¬ 
 lustrates one of a set 
 of Venetian chairs 
 of this character, of a 
 little later date, as its 
 structure, omitting 
 the base runners, 
 would indicate. Car¬ 
 ved stretchers placed 
 just below the seat in 
 front were generally 
 used when the base 
 runners were omitted, and the seat was less deeply upholstered. The succeed¬ 
 ing illustrations show variations of this model from different sections, dating 
 about the middle of the century. Of these Figures 176, covered with purple 
 velvet, and 180, with embossed leather, illustrate the use of the curved arm. 
 
 A Ligurian model of unusual character is shown in Figure 179. The 
 square supports of the seat have, placed between them at the front and back, a 
 stretcher that is carved and pierced with an interlacing pattern showing the in¬ 
 fluence of Moorish or Eastern design. The back is formed of a similar panel 
 placed between two upright supports ending with carved finials. The flat arms 
 are supported on forms that appeared about 1550 and were generally used in 
 the high-back arm chair of this type throughout the century. 
 
 Stool-chairs as well as stools and benches were still numerous, but of these 
 the stool-chairs or sgabelli are of greater importance. That in Figure 183 re- 
 
 214 
 
sembles very closely the form of those shown in the foregoing chapters but, as 
 in the embellishment of all furniture of its period, a preference for carving over 
 intarsia is shown. Figure 184 is of a slightly later date, and is characteristic 
 of the simpler types that were numerous. 
 
 FIG. 202 . CARVED WOOD FRAME. EARLY XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 The fifteenth century bed, raised on a dais or enclosed with panelling to 
 the base, is still met with in the first years of the century but gives way later 
 to the bed of modern construction, as shown in the Venetian example illus¬ 
 trated in Figure 190. The moulded cornice with a carved frieze of scrolls and 
 leaves is supported on four fluted columns whose lower part, turned with vase 
 
 215 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 forms, terminates in a leaf and lion foot, while the whole is crowned with a Cor¬ 
 inthian capital, around which breaks the entablature of the frieze. Though of 
 doubtful authenticity, the design is highly characteristic of the magnificent and 
 sumptuous Venetian beds, showing baroque features combined with an earlier 
 
 FRAMES WITH PAINTED DECORATIONS. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 FIG. 203. 
 
 type of more delicate ornament, in vogue before Sansovino’s arrival. Head 
 boards, when used, were elaborately carved but not overscaled, while the foot 
 boards are invariably omitted from beds of this style. Counterpanes and hangings 
 were in accord with the sumptuousness of these beds. From the Colonna 
 archives we learn that the beautiful and lofty-minded Vittoria presented as a 
 
 216 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 wedding gift in 1509 a bed spoken of as being in the French fashion, “with the 
 curtains and all the hangings of crimson satin lined with blue taffetas; with 
 three mattresses and a counterpane of crimson satin of similar workmanship; 
 and pillows of crimson satin garnished with fringes and tassels of gold.” 
 This bed was undoubtedly similar to the one shown in Figure 190, and the 
 foregoing description furnishes an excellent indication of the rich trappings then 
 in fashion and prevailing throughout the sixteenth century. A document dated 
 1541 records sheets with insertions of the finest lace and counterpanes of 
 damask with gold fringes. 
 
 What appears to be a transition from the bed raised on a dais to the one 
 of more modern construction, is pictured in a wall decoration of Sodoma’s in 
 the master’s bedroom in Agostino Chigi’s villa at Rome. The canopy, com¬ 
 posed of classic cornice and carved frieze, is supported on four fluted col¬ 
 umns with modified Corinthian capitals. From the frieze hangs an embroid¬ 
 ered valance with fringe and ample curtains. The heavy carved base is 
 enclosed to the floor and does not rest on a dais. 
 
 Illustrated in Figure 191 is a walnut bed of the mid-sixteenth century with 
 four high carved posts ending in vase forms. The rails as well as the low 
 head and foot boards are carved with a scroll and leaf decoration. The form 
 of the head and foot boards is outlined with baroque scroll, which, together 
 with all the carved decorations, is heightened with gold on a walnut ground. 
 
 FIG. 204. CARVED WOOD PANEL FROM A COFFER. FIRST HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 217 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE LATE RENAISSANCE 
 
 THE SECOND HALF OF THE SIXTEENTH 
 CENTURY 
 
 HE supremacy of Spanish power in Italy, decided by the vic¬ 
 tory of the Battle of Pavia (1525) resulting in the Treaty of 
 Cambrai (1529) and that of Cateau-Cambresis (1559), turned 
 the art and social life of the Italians away from the intellectual 
 freedom and adventure of the Renaissance into the narrower 
 channel of a stilted and haughty Spanish society, despising industry and com¬ 
 merce and the ease and freedom of Italian social intercourse. The last vestige 
 of Renaissance life and culture was annihilated by the atmosphere which the 
 ascendency of the Hapsburgs diffused over Italy, completely deadening its 
 spiritual element and excluding the gay, variegated, and irresponsible immorali¬ 
 ties of the Renaissance. 
 
 Milan, under Spanish governors since 1535; Sicily and Naples with 
 Spanish viceroys, whose chief business it was to raise money by oppressive 
 taxation; Florence under the rule of the severe and prudent Cosimo (1537-74), 
 bowing to Spain and the Papacy for his security: the little coterie of duchies 
 formed by Ferrara, Urbino, Modena, Parma, and Mantua, holding out 
 through the sixteenth century, while Genoa and Lucca were allowed to re¬ 
 main republics, all came under the tyrannical influence of Spain. 
 
 Spanish domination had a telling effect on society and art. The 
 courts became swamped with petty nobles bearing recent titles of Spanish 
 bestowal, jostling old aristocratic families, spending their all on their impos¬ 
 ing houses and pretentious furnishings emblazoned with their arms, and in 
 the maintenance of servants and gilded coaches which they thought suitable to 
 their new positions. Possession of titles or landed estates was a necessary 
 passport to society, so the rich borghesi abandoned commerce, built vast 
 palaces and villas, bought titles and flaunted their pretentiousness. There was 
 
 219 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 no longer the old intimacy between patron, artist, and humanist, while wit 
 and talent were not held in the same high esteem. Since commerce was 
 abandoned the only occupation for the upper classes was the army or the 
 church; so militarism was exalted while idleness, folly, and extravagance lost 
 Italy her place as the financial centre of Europe. The result of an im¬ 
 poverished society, demanding a pretentious display, was naturally an inferior 
 and more ornate expression of art. Yet to say that all artistic expression of 
 the late sixteenth century fell to such depths would be an unfair verdict, as 
 it was not until the succeeding century that the Baroque style held undivided 
 sway and even during the seventeenth century there is much fine design that 
 must be acknowledged. 
 
 The year 1540 has been set by an eminent historian as the limit of the 
 “Golden Age”. After that date—running parallel with a rapidly declining 
 taste encouraged by the followers of Michelangelo, with their limited vision 
 of that great master’s work -was the scientific and scholarly work of Palladio, 
 the last great architect of the Renaissance to carry on the tradition of Peruzzi 
 and Sanmichele. Michelangelo by his false use of architectural features and 
 exaggerated scale had, by the middle of the century, led architecture into the 
 ways of the Baroque. His great fame as sculptor and painter sanctioned his 
 followers’ tendency to exaggerate all his weaker architectural features in their 
 later work. While the work of Palladio exhibits Baroque characteristics, it 
 has dignity and grandeur in spite of the poor materials that fell to his lot, 
 dictated by the limited purse of his pretentious clients. 
 
 Perhaps the Reformation in the north found a contemporary tendency 
 in the Catholic Revival with its Inquisition, working with the suppressing 
 Spanish etiquette to pull together the morals of society while the theoretical 
 Palladio strove to give a better moral tone to the architecture of the period. 
 These influences were as dogmatic as they were unsuccessful. The Italian 
 intellect and taste could best express themselves in the environment of the 
 liberal Medici and in the equally autocratic court of Lodovico, where the 
 individuality of genius was given the greatest freedom and patronage. The 
 charm of all Italian expression lies in its spontaneity, vitality, and inex- 
 
 222 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 haustible aesthetic inventiveness, impressed with striking individuality. The 
 unpleasant, coarse, and barbaric grotesque may be associated with the relent¬ 
 less cruelty of the Inquisition and a less cultivated taste that is exhibited in 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 CARVED AND GILDED BED. NORTH ITALIAN, LATE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIC. LUIGI ORSELLI, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 some contemporary Spanish work, while the sweeping, vigorous, and showy 
 baroque forms—emblazoned with aggressive arms and heraldic devices, pic¬ 
 turing the pretentious display of a vain, impoverished, and striving grandi - 
 embody the true Italian spirit of the late sixteenth century and exhibit many 
 fine qualities of design. 
 
 Venice, free from the influence of Spain and the dominion of the Papacy, 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 maintained the brilliancy of the Renaissance. In spite of the loss of her 
 possessions to the Turks, she had regained most of her mainland terri¬ 
 tory taken by the League of Cambrai (1508) and when Sansovino was 
 called there from Rome by Doge Andrea Gritti (1523) he found her at the 
 height of her material pomp. While Sansovino took on the spirit of the 
 pageant of Venice he inaugurated a new style that was to herald the Venetian 
 Baroque. In his work, the Palazzo Carnora della Ca’ Grande (begun in 1523) 
 -and which Vasari says “passes all in majesty, grandeur, convenience and 
 perhaps is the most splendid residence in Italy” -and are shown symptoms 
 of the Baroque in the shell-form windows of the crowning frieze. Titian, 
 Veronese, and Tintoretto, like Sansovino, sustained throughout the greater 
 part of the century the grand manner of the High Renaissance and reflected 
 the prevailing and encroaching Baroque style only in subordinate parts. 
 
 Perhaps no city at any time was so proud and magnificent in her festivals, 
 her pageants, and her social life as was Venice at this period. Veronese ade¬ 
 quately sums up this spirit of the age: banqueting scenes, ladies in shot silks and 
 satins; canopies of brocade, plate, fruit, sceptre and crown, in a confusion of 
 proud materialistic frigidity are staged with settings of blue skies, marble balus¬ 
 trades, and noble architecture. Sensuous magnificence is her ideal, yet it is 
 wholly without the grossness and repellent quality sometimes displayed in the 
 works of those of Italy’s masters who aimed at colossal grandeur, such as 
 Bandinelli and Ammanati, who have filled the public squares and gardens of 
 Italian cities with Neptunes, Satyrs, and figures of Hercules which, as an eminent 
 art critic has said, have nothing Greek about them but their names, their 
 nakedness and their association with myths. 
 
 Though Lombardy lay prostrate under Spanish tyranny, Mantua enjoyed 
 a long and prosperous rule under Guglielmo (1550-87). He added consider¬ 
 ably to the artistic accumulation of the Gonzaga while he led a luxurious 
 life, entertaining potentates and the illustrious men of his age, in the treasure- 
 filled Reggia, Palazzo del Te, and the various Gonzaga villas. His successor, 
 Duke Vincenzo I (1589-1612), maintained this lavish expenditure to such a 
 degree as to deplete the Gonzaga fortune beyond repair. He, at the close of 
 
 226 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the century reared the celebrated Palazzo della bavorita, one of the largest and 
 most ornate of the Gonzaga country houses, called the Versailles of Mantua. 
 Only a single wing of the ruin is now standing and this has been despoiled 
 of its decorations and furnishings which we learn were very important. 
 Of these only a few marbles, now preserved in the Museo Civico at Milan, 
 can be accounted for. 
 
 FIG. 212. CARVED WOOD BED. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THF. DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 It is difficult to grasp the vastness of the Reggia, the principal royal 
 residence of the Gonzaga, with its succession of apartments, halls, and cabi¬ 
 nets, in former days rich in carved and painted ceilings; walls frescoed and 
 hung with tapestries, wainscotings of intarsia and decorations of stucco, 
 forming backgrounds for the finest Italian furniture of several centuries, of 
 which, unfortunately, but very little is known to exist. A recent writer in his 
 excellent descriptive travels says: “I commenced my inspection of the palace 
 city of the Gonzaga—even in its ruined state one of the wonders of the world; 
 
 228 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 and although I kept steadily at the delightful task, nearly a week had elapsed 
 before the completion of the primary examination; without any doubling on 
 my tracks;—which may suffice to give some idea of its size.” 1 
 
 Since we know that the Spaniards and the Lansquenets sacked the Reggia 
 in 1630 and destroyed what they could not carry off, and that depleted dukes 
 in the seventeenth century sold their treasures to the kings of Europe, we can 
 
 FIG. 213 . CARVED WOOD BED. NORTH ITALIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 scarcely believe that when Duke Carlo IV fled in 1708 there still remained 
 such an accumulation that he was able to distribute among the various Mantuan 
 churches and his friends, over 900 pictures, besides many marbles and other 
 objets d’art. It has been said because of the vastness of the Reggia ‘‘the 
 Paradiso” of Isabella escaped the vandals of 1630 only to be defiled by the 
 barbarous Austrians in the eighteenth century. 
 
 We hear from Lassels, who in Italy, between the years 1630-40, writes of 
 
 1 Egerton Williams: “Plain Towns of Italy.” 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the Reggia: “The Duke’s palace was heretofore one of the richest in Italy. 
 I was told it had seven changes of hangings for every room in the house; 
 besides a world of rare pictures, statues, plate, ornaments, cabinets, an organ 
 
 FIG. 214. CARVED WOOD CRADLE. ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 of alabaster; six tables, each one three feet long, the first all emerands, the 
 second of Turkey stones, the third of hyacinths, the fourth of saphyrs, the 
 fifth of amber, the sixth of jasper stone. But the Imperialists swept all 
 away” (1630). 
 
 Three years after the Sack of Rome, Clement VII crowned Charles V 
 Emperor of Rome and from that time the Papacy showed renewed vigour and 
 energy, increasing its power as political and social Italy weakened. By the 
 end of the century Rome could no longer be called “Babylon, the harlot of 
 nations.” The Counter-Reformation had become effective, permeating every 
 class of society. Decorous, seemingly serious, and positively discreet, she 
 screened her greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy with a fine fabric of dogmatic and 
 
 230 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 pompous display, in which cardinals, rich Papal families, and ambassadors 
 rivalled each other in the splendour of their palaces and the number and gor¬ 
 geousness of their lackeys and equipages. Rome, in consequence, became 
 second only to Venice in the number and extravagance of her entertainments and 
 fetes. It was not, however, until the last two or three decades of the century 
 that she had recuperated sufficiently from the crushing invasion to begin the erec¬ 
 tion of those most vast and sumptuous of all European residences for the social 
 establishments of her successive Papal families. Among these structures the 
 Palazzo Giustiniani (1580) designed by Fontana, the Palazzo Ruspoli (1586) 
 by Ammanati, the Palazzo Borghese (1590) by Lunghi, and the Palazzo 
 Sciarra Colonna (about 1600) are among the most notable. 
 
 FIG. 215. CARVED WOOD CRADLE. FLORENTINE, MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF THOMAS F. RYAN, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 Broadly speaking, Genoa begins her Renaissance styles during this period 
 when the alliance between this city and Spain brought great wealth that en¬ 
 couraged an increasing passion for luxury and extravagance. Her merchant 
 
 231 
 
CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 princes, who controlled the finances of the Mediterranean, built many quasi- 
 Baroque palaces in the late sixteenth century so perfectly adapted to the topog¬ 
 raphy of the city that they won for her that justifiable title of “La Superba.” 
 It was Galeazzo Alessi of Perugia who transformed the architecture of Genoa. 
 After his service to the Cardinal of Rimini he was called to Genoa by the Re- 
 
 FIG. 218. CREDENZA. LIGURIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 public where, according to Vasari, he made the new street “with the numerous 
 modern palaces designed by him, so many declare it to be the most magnificent 
 street in Italy, and the richest in palaces.” 1 
 
 lohn Evelyn on his visit there in 1644 saw these palaces in their pristine 
 splendour. After mentioning the rich furnishings of the Palace of the Negros 
 (Negroni)," he writes: “there are numerous other palaces of particular curiositys, 
 
 ‘Among the palaces of this period attributed to Alessi are the Palazzi Brignole-Sale, Grimaldi, and 
 Lercari. 
 
 2The Palazzo Negroni is one of the smaller palaces. The identity of the architect is uncertain, but the plan 
 and design resemble the work of Alessi. Like most Genoese palaces of this period, its court, with arcade and 
 stately stairs, is very fine. 
 
 234 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 for the marchands being very rich have, like our neighbours the Hollanders, 
 little or no extent of ground to employ their estates in; as those in pictures and 
 hangings, so these lay it out on marble houses and rich furniture. One of the 
 greatest here for circuit is that of Prince d’Orias, 1 which reaches from the sea 
 to the summit of the mountains. The house is most magnificently built without, 
 
 FIG. 219. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. FLORENTINE, MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 nor less gloriously furnish’d within, having whose tables and bedsteads of massy 
 silver, many of them sett with achates, onyxes, cornelians, lazulis, pearls, tur- 
 quizes, and other precious stones. The pictures and statues are innumerable.” 
 There are several accounts of silver furniture from the old travellers, especially 
 those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This sumptuous idea had its 
 inception in Italy toward the close of the sixteenth century and found expres¬ 
 sion in the houses of the most magnificent and pretentious lords in the last years 
 
 ‘This is the well known palace reared for Andrea Doria. It was begun in 1522 and remodelled 1529-47. 
 1 he gardens and many of the decorations of the interior were not completed until the end of the century. 
 Kings and emperors were entertained here by the renowned Andrea, Charles V being included among the royal 
 trains. 
 
 2 35 
 
I 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1(J. 220. CREDENZA, FROM THE VICINITY OF VENICE. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SALVADONI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 I. WALNUT CREDENZA, FROM THE VICINITY OF VERONA. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 COURTESY OF CHAS. A. PLATT, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 236 
 
of the sixteenth and in the first 
 decades of the seventeenth cen¬ 
 turies. In England, in Knole 
 House, there are pieces of fur¬ 
 niture executed in silver for 
 James I, while we have docu¬ 
 ments confirming the fact that 
 the Galerie des Glaces, at Ver¬ 
 sailles, was most magnificently 
 furnished with tables of the 
 same description. Thomas 
 Gray, who was in Italy during the 
 eighteenth century, also speaks 
 of the silver tables in the Palazzo 
 Doria in his illuminating ac¬ 
 count of the furnishings of this 
 palace. After remarking “I 
 should make you sick of marble, 
 
 if I told you how it was lavished here upon the porticoes, the balustrades, 
 and terraces, the lowest of which extends to the sea,” he tells us that “the inside 
 is by no means answerable to the outward magnificence; the furniture seems 
 to be as old as the founder of the family. Their great embossed silver tables 
 tell you, in bas-relief, his victories at sea; how he entertained the Emperor 
 Charles, and how he refused the sovereignty of the Commonwealth when it was 
 offered him; the rest is old-fashioned velvet chairs and Gothic tapestries.” 
 
 Nearly two centuries later Lady Morgan records the decayed and melan¬ 
 choly splendour of these ornate interiors. She tells us that “the sole occupant 
 of these magnificent structures (where there is any) is a cobbler or a stocking- 
 grafter, who pays for being permitted to ply his profession, amidst the sculp¬ 
 tures of Michael Angelo and the frescos of Carloni,' by keeping out dogs, or 
 preventing the idle and filthy from sleeping on the stairs or corridors -all open 
 
 ‘Giovanni Carlone (1590-1630) and Giovanni Battista Carlone (1594-1680). 
 
 237 
 
 CARVED WOOD CABINET. SECOND HALF 
 OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 to public intrusion.” She writes of 
 her visit to the Palazzo Durazzo, 1 that, 
 after repeatedly ringing at the entrance 
 to the ante-room on the Mezzari nobili 
 superiori she was at last admitted “by 
 a man with a boot on one hand and a 
 brush in the other who, at once under¬ 
 standing the object of her visit, drew on 
 a fine old livery coat, which hung upon 
 a marble bust of Filippo Parodi, and 
 led the way through that long and in¬ 
 terminable suite of apartments, whose 
 walls were enriched with chefs-d’oeuvre 
 of the arts, whose floors were marble 
 and whose roofs were gold. Galleries, 
 cabinets, terraces, rooms variously named 
 and variously decorated, appeared in end¬ 
 less succession -all covered with dust, 
 touched by decay, and abandoned to solitude.” A list of notable palaces fol¬ 
 lows, “all characterised, like those described, by the generic feature of Genoese 
 sumptuosity; all filled with pictures, gilding, arabesques, frescos, moths, and 
 cobwebs. Ancient splendour and present desolation are the images stamped 
 upon these patrician abodes, which the wealth of Europe once assisted to raise, 
 when the merchants of Genoa were the creditors of all the potentates.” 2 
 
 Vicenza, the home of Scamozzi, and the great Andrea Palladio, was one 
 of the most important centres of domestic architecture of the Late Renais¬ 
 sance. 3 Montaigne on his visit there in 1580, when it was at the height of its 
 
 'This is evidently the larger Durazzo palace known as the Palazzo Marcello Durazzo begun in 1556, 
 as Lady Morgan also mentions the smaller palace of the nephew Philip, the Palazzo Durazzo-Pallavicini, 
 built in the seventeenth century. 
 
 -’“Lady Morgan’s Tour in Italy.” London, 1824. Vol. I, chap. XI. 
 
 3 Banister Fletcher, in his “Andrea Palladio, his Life and Works,” gives plans, elevations, and descrip¬ 
 tions of many of Palladio’s Vicenza palaces, including the Palazzi Thiene, Valmarana, Barbarino and in 
 addition to Porto, the last named with its fine courtyard surrounded by a colonnade of Composite columns 
 which, two stories in height, support an entablature surmounted with a balustrade. 
 
 238 
 
 FIG. 223. CARVED WOOD CABINET. SEC¬ 
 OND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 beauty, tells us it was “full of noblemen’s palaces,” while John Evelyn, who 
 visited there in the succeeding century, declares that “this sweet Towne has more 
 well built Palaces than any of its dimensions in Italy, besides a number begun 
 and not yet finished (but of stately design).” 
 
 Florence, while not so prolific in palace building, fostered a most im¬ 
 portant industry. 1 Cosimo I (1537-74), cruel and merciless tyrant that he was, 
 raised to a high degree the political importance of Tuscany. The first ten 
 years of his rule he spent in strengthening his position. Afterward he re¬ 
 decorated and enlarged the Palazzo Vecchio 2 and the Pitti Palace. He 
 
 and his successor, Francesco, with the assistance of Vasari and Bronzino, en¬ 
 
 deavoured to bring together the scattered masterpieces of the Medici collec¬ 
 tion, for which Vasari designed the Uffizi Palace, where most of these 
 treasures are still housed. 
 
 The important “Florentine Tapestry Manufactory” was founded by 
 Cosimo. He brought from Flanders Nicholas Karcher and Jean Van der 
 
 Roost who taught the art to a number of Florentines. The industry soon 
 
 grew to such importance as to rival the Flemish output and even to surpass it 
 in colour and design. Renowned F'lorentine masters, among whom may 
 be included Vasari, made designs for the Flemish weavers. Giovanni della 
 Strada who worked in oil and fresco, was, according to Vasari, principally 
 occupied in preparing cartoons for these weavers. He supplied a number 
 for the tapestries used in the various chambers of the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 These were to correspond with the fresco decorations of the ceilings and 
 upper parts of the walls that had been executed by Vasari, as this art his¬ 
 torian relates, “to the end that the tapestries below may be in harmony 
 with the pictures above.” For the Halls of Saturn, Ceres, Jupiter, and 
 others, Giovanni made designs for about thirty pieces, besides those for the 
 
 ’The magnificent palaces reared in the previous periods overshadowed all succeeding efforts, yet the 
 Palazzo Uguccione, by Folfi (1550), the Palazzo Lardarel, by Dosio (1558), the Palazzo Guigni, by Am- 
 manati (1560), as well as the Palazzo del Uffizi, by Vasari, and the Palazzo Altoviti built by Cosimo I’s great 
 rival, Rinaldo degl’Albizzi, are only a few of the Florentine houses of importance built during this period. 
 
 2 Vasari redecorated the apartments in the Palazzo Vecchio that had been occupied by Cosimo, for the re¬ 
 ception of Francesco I’s bride, Joanne of Austria. In the courtyard scenes of Austrian towns were painted 
 in compliment to the bride, while the columns were covered with the stucco ornament which still remains, 
 though without its former gilding. 
 
 240 
 
upper apartment oc¬ 
 cupied by the Prin¬ 
 cess. Four of these 
 Vasari records, “are 
 devoted to the virtues 
 of women, and dis¬ 
 play histories of 
 Roman, Hebrew, 
 
 Greek, and Tuscan 
 ladies, taken from the 
 lives of Sabina, Es¬ 
 ther, Penelope, and 
 Gualdrada.” For one 
 of the halls the same 
 master made fourteen 
 
 panels delineating the F]G . 227. carved wood cabinet, second half of the 
 “Life of Man” and XVI century 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 for those in the apart¬ 
 ments of the Prince he produced various designs illustrating stories from 
 the lives of David, Solomon, and others. Nor was this mode of de¬ 
 coration confined to the town palaces of the Medici; for the Villa 
 of Poggio-a-Caiano, we learn, “twenty chambers are to be supplied with 
 arras now daily making progress.” At the suggestion of the Duke a 
 delightful series of hunting scenes was designed by Giovanni, exhibiting 
 “all kinds of animals of the chase, various modes of fowling and fishing 
 with the most singular and beautiful fancies.” 1 This craft lasted about 
 two hundred years, closing with the death of the last Medici grand duke 
 in 1737. At this time there were scattered among the numerous Medici 
 palaces and villas one hundred and twenty-four of these tapestries, besides 
 a number of Gobelin and Flemish weaves. All of these were presented 
 by the last Medici, the Electress Anna Maria Ludovico, to the city of 
 
 ‘“Vasari’s Lives,” Mrs. Foster’s translation, Vol. V., p. 483. 
 
 243 
 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Florence, where in the Galleria degli Arrazi they may be studied and com¬ 
 pared with the fine Gobelin and Flemish examples that are hung with them. 
 
 The country house or villa became fashionable and the patrician families 
 actually beggared themselves in the building and maintenance of these enor¬ 
 mous estates and vast edifices. Throughout the sixteenth century and especially 
 
 FIG. 228. CREDEN2A. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 in the second half, many beautiful villas were built along the Brenta, on the 
 hills of Vicenza and Verona, in the plain of Friuli and in the Marca Tre- 
 vigiana in the severe classic style of Palladio. They were embellished with 
 sculpture and painting by the renowned masters of that day, including the great 
 Veronese, whose works enriched villas at Fanzolo, Thiene, Romaziol, Maser, 
 and numerous others that we know of only from old records. The Brenta is 
 especially rich in villas. Mrs. Piozzi, on her visit in the eighteenth century 
 to this enchanting pleasure ground of the Venetian patricians, seeing these 
 fair pleasure houses, as well as those erected in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 
 244 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 centuries, before ruin, desolation, and destruction had wrought their havoc, 
 writes of “the sublimity of their architecture, the magnificence of their 
 orangeries, the happy construction of the cool arcades, and the genial air of 
 festivity which breathes upon the banks of this truly wizard stream, planted 
 with dancing not weeping willows.” 1 The now-ruined and melancholy 
 
 FIG. 229. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIG. LUIGI ORSELLI, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 “Villa Malcontenta,” built by Palladio with a loggia having Ionic columns and 
 faded frescos by Zelotti, was at one time the scene of many splendid entertain¬ 
 ments. In 1574 the Foscari entertained Henry III of France there, when this 
 monarch, on passing up the Brenta, expressed his admiration and amazement 
 at the number and splendour of the villas that graced its shores. 
 
 That bizarre genius, Anton Francesco Doni, who enjoyed the hospitality 
 of the Venetian patricians in their villas, has left us a treatise on the method 
 of building and adorning a villa of which he distinguishes four kinds,—the 
 
 ‘“Glimpses of Italian Society in the 18th Century.” Mrs. Piozzi. 
 
 245 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 princely villa, or pleasure house; the gentleman’s villa, meant for repose; 
 the merchant’s villa, designed for economy; and the artisan’s or farmer’s villa, 
 meant for practical use. The villa of Francesco Morisini at Noale was an 
 ideal gentleman’s country house with “clear streams of water flowing through 
 the greenery, a large and handsome entrance leading to a cortile, a colonnade 
 on one side communicating with well-appointed guest chambers having a loggia 
 with great windows.” 1 Vasari tells us that Federico Priuli erected a more 
 princely country house at Tre Ville in the Trevigiano during this period, having 
 its exterior as well as its interior painted by Giuseppe Porta del Salviati (1520- 
 1575).' 2 Doni claims that the floors were polished like mirrors while the carved, 
 painted, and gilded ceilings were unrivalled. Paintings by the great masters, 
 including Titian, hung on the walls, while the chairs, carved bedsteads, hang¬ 
 ings, embroidered curtains, and canopies were superb. Extravagance was so 
 rampant in furnishings that in 1595 and 1598 laws were enacted limiting 
 those of a governor’s villa. He was forbidden to hang the hall and cham¬ 
 bers in silk. Satin, camlet, and stamped leather, unfigured, was permitted, 
 but only to a certain height up the walls. Tapestries could be used in one 
 room only, while carpets, table cloths of silk and gold, and silk window 
 curtains were allowed only in the principal room. Not more than twelve 
 chairs were permitted to be upholstered with velvet or silk. Carved and 
 gilded benches, carved and gilded doors, carved or painted walnut beds, bed 
 curtains and coverlets embroidered in gold were not allowed. Later the se¬ 
 verity of this law was relaxed and in 1770 we find six thousand ounces of plate 
 instead of the fifteen-hundred-ounce allowance of the late sixteenth century. 3 
 
 That ideal pleasure villa of the Gonzaghi, the Palazzo del Te, was 
 completed by Guilio Romano in 1535 and was embellished with frescos by 
 this master as well as with stucco decorations by the renowned Primaticcio 
 before Federigo II permitted him to go to the Court of Francis I. Though 
 completed during the High Renaissance and called by Symonds the most 
 
 ‘Doni, Attavanta, Villa. Firenze, 1857. 
 
 2 Vita di Francesco da Salviati XII, 81, ed. Lemonnier. 
 
 3 Molmenti. 
 
 247 
 
 F 
 

 Iner.fv.ttl 
 
 
 vrryiy » * >. '—' T va ** 1 i t? 
 
 ' fl ‘'-" ’ ' 
 
 MM 
 
 PIMV 
 
 FIG. 23I. CARVED WOOD CABINET. LIGURIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE HARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 perfect production of that 
 epoch, it combines with the 
 more delicate and classical 
 charm of Romano’s earlier 
 Raphaelesque manner the 
 later fulness of his splendour- 
 loving fancy, marking the 
 border line between the dec¬ 
 oration of the High Renais¬ 
 sance and the Decline. It 
 is one of the earliest villas 
 built in the new medium of 
 stucco which became the 
 favourite material for the 
 vast villas of the late six¬ 
 teenth and seventeenth cen¬ 
 turies. Federico preferred 
 stone for the new villa, 
 jut as there was none procurable, Romano, as Vasari says, contented him- 
 ;elf with brick and other substitutes which he covered with stucco, and out 
 3 f these materials made columns, bases, capitals, cornices, doors and windows, 
 ill in the most perfect proportion and beautifully decorated. This monument 
 of art remained in favour with the Gonzaga dukes for over two hundred years. 
 It was an ideal setting for the lavish entertainments of the extravagant and 
 magnificent Guglielmo and Vincenzo I. 
 
 The Villa Pratolino is representative of the more ambitious Late Renais¬ 
 sance villas of Tuscany. Begun by Francesco I in 1573, he used, as Montaigne 
 relates, all the five senses in its embellishment. We are greatly indebted to 
 Montaigne for an account of this villa just after its completion. Though like 
 
 FIG. 233. CARVED WOOD CABINET. TUSCAN, SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 most foreign travellers of his day he was interested in the curious, and unfavour¬ 
 ably critical of dissimilar modes of living, he gives some of the pleasant details of 
 the house and gardens. In his time, he says, it was claimed that the house 
 
 250 
 
FIG. 234. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE VILLA RE ALE DI POGGIO A CAIANO, NEAR FLORENCE 
 

 237. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 contained one hundred and twenty rooms, “and ten or twelve of the finest of 
 these we saw, the furniture being pretty, but not magnificent.” He further says: 
 “ The beauty and splendour of this place cannot be set forth properly by details. 
 Below the mansion is an alley, fifty feet wide and about five hundred paces in 
 length, which at great cost has been made level. On either side are long and 
 
 FIG. 238. CARVER WOOD CREDENZA. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE CASTELLO DI VINCIGLIATA, FLORENCE 
 
 very beautiful benches of worked stone, every five or ten paces. Along by these 
 benches are built in the wall the mouths of artificial fountains, so that all down 
 the alley are jets of water.” He speaks of a marble table in one of the chambers, 
 “with places for six, each of which is fitted with a cover to be raised by a ring. 
 Beneath each of these covers is a basin with a supply of fresh water, 
 wherewith each guest might cool his glass.” John Evelyn on his visit to 
 this Medici country house about the middle of the following century, while 
 sharing Montaigne’s appreciation of the gardens, is more enthusiastic about 
 the furniture as he informs us that “the palace may compare with any in 
 
 2 53 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Italy for furniture of tapestry, beds, etc., and the gardens are delicious and full 
 of fountains.” 
 
 For the Farnese, Vignola built the Villa Caprarola, a royal pleasure house 
 that retains much of its original splendour. Vasari gives us an excellent descrip¬ 
 tion of this palace in which he sums up the artistic ambitions of the period. 
 
 FIG. 239 . CARVED WOOD CREDEN 7 .A. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE VILLA REALE DI POGGIO A CAIANO, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
 He writes: “The cardinal showed as much judgment in selecting his arch¬ 
 itect as in undertaking such a noble work, which though situated in a place 
 where it can give but little pleasure to the generality, is marvelously placed for 
 one who wishes occasionally to withdraw from the worries and tumult of the 
 city. The building is pentagonal and divided into four parts, excluding the 
 front containing the principal door, and a loggia forty palms broad by eighty 
 long. On one side is a spiral staircase ten palms in width, with a light of twenty 
 palms in the middle. It ascends to the third floor and rests upon double col¬ 
 umns with cornices following the steps, both rich and varied, in the Doric, 
 
 254 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders, with rich balustrades, niches, and other 
 fancies, rendering it most beautiful. Opposite, on the other side of the loggia, 
 is a suite of rooms, beginning with a round hall of the size of the staircase, and 
 leading to a large room eighty palms long and forty broad decorated with stucco 
 and paintings of the birth of Jupiter, his nursing by the goat Amaltea, his cor- 
 
 F1G. 240. CARVED WOOD CREDENZA. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE VILLA REALE DI POGGIO A CAIANO, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
 onation, and two other scenes, one, of her being placed in heaven among the 
 forty-eight images and the second also relating to the same goat ( capra ), all 
 alluding to the name Caprarola. The walls contain perspectives of buildings 
 drawn by Vignola, coloured by his son-in-law, of great beauty, and make the 
 room appear larger. Next this is a hall of forty palms, nearly in the following 
 angle, containing paintings of Spring. Following this, to the beginning of a 
 tower, three rooms, forty palms by thirty, are entered. The first is decorated 
 with stucco and painting representing Summer, the second for Autumn, and the 
 third, toward the north, for Winter. Hitherto I have only spoken of half the 
 
 255 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 pentagon on the right 
 above the cellars con¬ 
 taining the kitchen, 
 buttery, larders, and 
 offices. On the left are 
 an equal number of 
 rooms of the same size. 
 With the five angles of 
 the pentagon Vignola 
 formed a round court 
 with doors to each 
 room entering into a 
 round loggia eighteen 
 palms broad. The dia¬ 
 meter of the court is 
 ninety-five palms five 
 inches. The gardens 
 are filled with rich and 
 varied fountains, grace¬ 
 ful shrubberies and 
 lawns, and every re¬ 
 quisite for such a royal 
 villa. On mounting 
 the spiral staircase to 
 the first floor one finds 
 
 FIG. 241. FURNITURE CARVING. SECOND HALF OF THE 
 
 xvi century as many rooms as those 
 
 FROM THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS -11 1 
 
 mentioned above and a 
 
 chapel in addition, opposite the principal staircase. In the hall above that of 
 Jupiter, Taddeo and his assistants made rich decorations in stucco of the acts of 
 illustrious members of the Farnese house.” 
 
 It would be impossible to note in so limited a space the various villas that 
 sprang up in the environs of Rome, Florence, and Genoa, besides those of 
 
 256 
 
FIG. 242. 
 
 CARVED WOOD CABINET. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Venetia and Lombardy. For these a quantity of furniture designed in the new 
 manner was produced, which adds considerably to the number of pieces sur¬ 
 viving from this period. 
 
 The monumental scale and pedantic correctness of the exterior are re- 
 
 FIG. 246. INTERIOR OF LATE XVI CENTURY WRITING CABINET 
 
 fleeted in the important apartments of the interior. The late sixteenth century 
 interior is marked by its vast formal plan, and the great growth in scale of its 
 subordinate parts. Lofty ceilings and vast expanses of wall surfaces were 
 covered with brilliant frescos peopled with heroic forms. In some of the 
 enormous apartments, especially of the Villas of Palladio, when walls were 
 not covered with frescos with figures, elaborate architectural schemes with 
 pilasters, cornices, niches with figures, and pediments over doors 
 
 26l 
 
FIG. 247. WRITING CABINET. LOMBARD, SECOND HALF 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF W. HINCKLE SMITH, ESQ., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 262 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 painted en grisaille in the most decep¬ 
 tive manner. In the Palazzo del Te is 
 an example of an earlier architectural 
 scheme painted in the same manner. 
 
 In one of the chambers a coffered ceil¬ 
 ing, decorated in gold and green, has a 
 frieze of putti intertwined with arabes¬ 
 ques. On the walls an elaborate archi¬ 
 tectural scheme is painted with coupled 
 pilasters, between which are antique fig¬ 
 ures and busts pictured in the same 
 manner. Similar schemes are found in 
 many of the Venetian villas. Painted on 
 the walls in the vestibule of the Villa of 
 Fanzolo, is a pergola with bronze figures 
 on either side, while in the same villa the 
 great hall has Corinthian columns well 
 given in chiaroscuro. This was un¬ 
 doubtedly done to reduce the tremendous cost that would have been entailed 
 in carrying out these designs in a more concrete substance. From the 
 decline of the Renaissance throughout the eighteenth century, it seems that 
 labour and the skill of the artificers were held at a lower estimate than the 
 materials that were required. Yet designs were sometimes executed in marbles 
 or other fine materials and in some Florentine cabinet work executed for 
 Cosimo I, the most extravagant materials were employed. 
 
 The Villa Giacomelli (1580) is one of the finest examples of the monu¬ 
 mental Palladian villa, with heroic fresco decorations by the illustrious Ver¬ 
 onese. The great dining hall, with its lofty arched ceiling, peopled with a 
 spectacular assemblage of classic gods and goddesses, has on the wall over 
 the entrance a splendid banquet scene. Up along the sides of the room is 
 painted, in a most realistic manner, a running balustrade from which figures 
 in silken cinquecento costumes with parrots, monkeys, and dogs looked down 
 
 263 
 
 FIG. 248. WRITING CABINET. SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 on equally picturesque 
 hosts. In the same villa are 
 luxuriously furnished bed¬ 
 rooms and living rooms with 
 frescoed ceilings and walls. 
 On the walls of one of the 
 bed-chambers are decora¬ 
 tions in the Pompeian style 
 in which pleasing little land¬ 
 scapes are combined with 
 grotesques, while several 
 others are painted with archi¬ 
 tectural schemes and con¬ 
 tain their old canopied beds. 
 
 The famous Gallery of 
 the Palazzo Farnese— 
 painted by Agostino Caracci toward the end of the sixteenth century- of 
 which John Evelyn writes on his visit to Rome in 1644, that “nothing is more 
 rare in art, so deepe and well studied are all the figures that it would require 
 more judgment than I confess I had, to determine whether they were flat or 
 emboss’d.” He speaks of another chamber “painted in chiaroscuro, re¬ 
 presenting the fabulous history of Hercules,” and of another hung with 
 crimson damask embroidered with gold. 
 
 Walls were often hung with velvets, tapestries, and other fine stuffs. 
 The deep-toned red velvet which came into fashion for wall covering in the 
 early part of the sixteenth century was still used in the state rooms of the 
 magnificent palaces in the early decades of this period and especially at Venice 
 where the wealth of the Venetian nobles allowed them to indulge in this pas¬ 
 sion for hanging walls with the richest of velvets as well as damasks and other 
 silks. A Venetian interior in the Palazzo Trevisan, hung with painted silk, 
 aroused the admiration of the Florentine Ambassador on the occasion of the 
 marriage of Bianca Cappello with the Grand Duke of Tuscany in the second 
 
 264 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 half of the sixteenth century. For the reception of Henry 111 of France the 
 old Venetian Palazzo Foscari was redecorated. The vestibule was hung with 
 tapestry and the ceiling was covered with blue cloth sewn with stars. On 
 the floor above, the three bedrooms reserved for the king give some idea of 
 the richness of the furnishings. The first room had a great chimney piece of 
 precious marbles and a table of black marble with a green velvet cover. The 
 hangings were of cloth-of-gold and crimson silk relieved by strips of cloth-of- 
 silver wrought in gold with figures and monograms. The carpet was of crim¬ 
 son velvet and a gilded arm chair under a cloth-of-gold canopy stood by the 
 bed whose sheets had borders worked with gold thread and crimson silk. 
 The furniture of the second chamber was very similar, the hangings here were 
 of blue satin seme of fleur-de-lys relieved with strips of yellow satin. The 
 third chamber selected by the king was hung with green and gold brocade. 
 The gilded bed had curtains of crimson silk, the canopied chair was hung 
 
 • • t ■ ■ • • • 
 
 i.t * t 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FIG. 251 . CHEST OF DRAWERS. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE CASTELLO D1 VINCIGLIATA, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
 266 
 
CHEST OF DRAWERS. END OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE PALAZZO MANSI, LUCCA 
 
 with cloth-of-gold and the table was of alabaster.' Though furnished for 
 the reception of a king, the descriptions of these apartments are of great 
 value as there are practically no interiors of this period with their furnish¬ 
 ings intact to-day. They give not only an idea of the furniture and the 
 colour schemes but a picture of the prevailing passion for oppressive sump- 
 tuosity as well. 
 
 Francesco Sansovino, writing of the Venetian interiors in the second half 
 of the sixteenth century, says he cannot describe their incredible richness. 2 
 Giacomo Franco, also writes in 1610: “The buildings of this marvellous city 
 arrest the eyes of them that admire it from without. But, seen within, one is 
 dumfounded and amazed at the abundance of beautiful pictures, sculpture, 
 and other precious ornaments, so that, should I attempt to recount it, I should 
 seem a liar to all that have not seen it with their own eyes.” 3 
 
 ■DeNolhac and Solerti: “II viaggio in Italia di Enrico III,” p. 109. 
 
 2 F. Sansovino: “Venetia,” p. 381. 
 
 3 Franco, Habiti (Martinioni, 40. Venet. 1663). 
 
y/'.' 
 
 't/.y 
 
 yy 
 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Beginning with the sixteenth century leather hangings were sometimes 
 used instead of tapestries. 1 Montaigne while on the “ Grand Tour” (1580-81) 
 
 says that in Rome “apartments are ordinarily somewhat better furnished 
 than in Paris, especially as they have a great deal of gilt leather with which 
 
 ‘L. T. Belgrano, op. cit. p. 77. 
 
 FIG. 253. LEGGIO. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE CATHEDRAL OF SIENA 
 
F URNITURE 
 
 silk and cloth-of-gold, quite like a royal palace.” He decided that the 
 magnificence of the furniture was not only useless in itself but keeping it from 
 
 1 Among the wedding gifts of Donna Bonna-Sforza (married 1517) are mentioned forty-eight sets of 
 stamped leather hangings. 
 
 ITALIA N 
 
 the walls of apartments of a certain grade are hung.” 1 He relates that for 
 the same price he could have “hired a more luxurious apartment hung with 
 
 FIG. 254. LEGGIO. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM S. MARIA NOVHLLO, FLORENCE 
 
 269 
 
ITALIAN 
 
 R N ITUR E 
 
 hurt would be too great a burden, 
 as “there was not a bed in the 
 place which was not of the esti¬ 
 mated value of four or five hundred 
 crowns.’ 11 
 
 Sculptural as well as fresco 
 decorations were the ambition of 
 the great palaces. By the end of the 
 century collections of antique sculp¬ 
 ture had been formed and these, 
 together with modern work in the 
 ancient style, adorned the houses of 
 the princes. John Evelyn naively 
 writes of an apartment in the Far- 
 nese palace that was “totally en¬ 
 vironed with statues; especially 
 observable was that so renowned 
 piece of Venus looking backward 
 over her shoulder, and divers other naked figures by the old Greek masters.” 
 He speaks of the adjoining chamber “full of statues most of them y c heads 
 of philosophers, very antiq.” The villas rivalled the palaces in these am¬ 
 bitious schemes of decoration. In their vast halls and salons, numerous fig¬ 
 ures, busts, and vases were arranged on pedestals and brackets, besides being 
 placed in niches and roundels and on magnificent stone tables of classic 
 design; nor were they confined to the interiors of the house, they adorned the 
 terraces and gardens as well. 
 
 Stucco decorations, which so often played an important part in the 
 scheme of the interior, sometimes achieved fine decorative effects. In the 
 first half of the century Primaticcio had established the vogue for this style 
 of decoration that became so popular in the Late Renaissance, as well as so 
 dominant and exaggerated in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. 
 
 ^Vater’s “The Journal of Montaigne Travels,” p. 73, vol. II. London, 1903. 
 
 270 
 
FIG. 257. CASSONE. ROMAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE VILLA TAVERNA, FRASCATI. NOW IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DUVEEN BROTHERS, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 271 
 
FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Those in the Palazzo del Te executed by the famous Primaticcio are among 
 the most beautiful of the earlier work in this style. On the vaulting of several 
 chamber ceilings, combined with the frescos of Guilio Romano, are panels of 
 charming classical figures in flowing robes in low white relief on a pale green 
 ground, while in the Camera delle Medaglie are sixteen beautiful panels of the 
 same relief representing recreations and activities of life. In the same apartment 
 the panelled ceiling—with signs of the zodiac and mythological and historical 
 figures- is executed in the same medium. Primaticcio’s chefs-d’oeuvres are to 
 be seen in the Sala degli Stucchi. Filling the double frieze of this beautiful 
 apartment are countless figures in antique Roman costumes while in the follow¬ 
 ing chamber there is a similar frieze with mythological and symbolical figures 
 on a marbleized ground with reddish veining, as well as various panels and 
 medallions on marbleized grounds of different colours. 
 
 In the dilapidated old town of Sabbioneta, near Mantua, the ruined Palazzo 
 del Giardino contains traces of charming stucco decorations such as adorned 
 the less pretentious houses of the Late Renaissance. Several of the ground 
 floor rooms are now inhabited by a peasant who, with his humble household 
 utilities, is naturally oblivious to the fact that these decayed frescos and 
 fragments of stucco decorations were once associated with tapestried walls, fine 
 furniture, and other objets d’art. Placed directly below the frieze in one of 
 the apartments are shell-like roundels with pedestals on which were placed 
 marble busts. Besides the ruins of a great white ballroom with carved ceiling 
 and wall decoration of stucco and painting, there is an enchanting little Gabi- 
 netto del Bagno with its mass of convoluted stucco foliage and marble pavement 
 of red, white, and faded black. In the wing of the Reggia at Mantua erected 
 by Bertani in 1562, is a long apartment known as the Loggia dei Frutti. 
 Its well-preserved stucco decorations of exquisitely modelled festoons and gar¬ 
 lands, composed of fruits and leaves painted in naturalistic colours, orna¬ 
 menting the cornice and the beams of the coffered ceiling, are among the 
 finest decorations in the palace. 
 
 When ceilings were not frescoed they were panelled and coffered in 
 elaborate designs and were sumptuous in colour. Chimney pieces were still 
 
 273 
 
FIG. 259. CASSONE. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE CASTELLO DI VINCIGLIATA, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 260. CASSONE. TUSCAN, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO NATIONALS, FLORENCE 
 
 27+ 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 monumental and, like the architraves of doors, were more vigorously moulded 
 and without the delicate rhythmic ornament of the former epoch. Colossal 
 caryatides and bold figures often supported the heavy architraves of the 
 chimney piece. 
 
 In these large apartments, with their big cartouche decorations combined 
 with vigorous figures painted or modelled in the round, we can readily see 
 
 FIG. 261. CARVED WOOD CASSONE. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE VILLA REALE DI POGGIO A CAIANO, NEAR FLORENCE 
 
 how the credenza or cassone of the preceding epoch —with its delicate moulds 
 and exquisite intarsia, painted or carved decoration, designed for backgrounds 
 with the same fine detail—would dwindle into insignificance. On the other 
 hand, the more vigorous designs with their bold relief and perfectly scaled 
 parts made a fine showing when placed in these interiors. 
 
 Sculpture and architecture exerted a strong influence on furniture design, 
 which follows closely their development. About the middle of the century 
 there was an abundant use of carving in exaggerated scale and relief, with the 
 human figure and the grotesque prominent, also a decided enlargement of 
 form, encouraged by the enormous interiors with their vigorous decorations. 
 
 275 
 
FIG. 264. CASSONE. VENETIAN OR UMBRIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 FIG. 265. CASSONE. VENETIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 77 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Projecting moulds are bold and complicated, and in the work of the late 
 sixteenth century the mould without ornamentation is preferred. Entablatures 
 and bases are more elaborate and complicated, often breaking around the 
 orders when used. In panel work the projecting panel is prominent, while 
 its form is more varied, being rounded often at the top and bottom. In the 
 curves of brackets and consoles, and in those outlining stretchers of chairs 
 
 FIG. 266. CASSONE WITH INTARSIA DECORATIONS. LOMBARD, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 and tables, chair backs, etc., we find the reverse curve, concave and convex 
 meeting at a point. This form was introduced in the second quarter of the 
 sixteenth century and is the prevailing curve line in baroque design. The 
 boldly modelled caryatid of the mid-century was later succeeded by a panelled 
 or decorated pilaster that tapered toward the base, as well as a colder type of 
 pilaster showing the influence of Palladian design. 
 
 Though the furniture design of each province still showed its individual 
 characteristics, these were less marked than in the work of the earlier styles. 
 
 278 
 

 From many old documents we learn of the great richness of beds and 
 their furnishings. In the second half of the century the bed in the “French 
 fashion” - with a canopy supported on four posts and hung with rich stuffs— 
 was in favour. An example designed in this style is shown in Figure 205. 
 Four slender columns, entwined with a flat decoration of vines done in gold, 
 support a canopy whose blue and gold cornice is crowned at each corner with 
 a carved and gilded vase from which flames issue forth in a decorative manner. 
 Suspended from the simply moulded rails, raised on turned and carved supports, 
 
 279 
 
 I T A LI AN FURNITURE 
 
 In former periods the local geniuses drew their influence from the same source, 
 yet the provincial traditions and the local materials produced a decided variation 
 of style. About the middle of the sixteenth century these traits became less 
 obvious, as practically all architecture became a direct imitation of Roman 
 models and greater universality was manifested alike in painting, sculpture, 
 and furniture design. 
 
 FIG. 267. CASSONE. VENETIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO,. MILAN 
 
 ' 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 are pendant-like carvings with cherub heads. These, as well as the brackets 
 placed where the rails join the uprights, are of decided baroque character. 
 The ceiling of the canopy which is shown in the next illustration is the most 
 important feature of the bed. Designed in the manner of many architectural 
 ceilings, it is panelled with various forms each filled with painted decorations 
 having the character of the work of the school of Volterra.' In the centre 
 rectangular panel “The Coronation of the Virgin” is pictured, while in the 
 variously shaped ones that surround it are sibyls, groups of angels, and other 
 sacred subjects. 
 
 Of similar design, but of much later date, is the bed shown in Figure 208. 
 The canopy resting on shafts with simple bands of decorations and carved 
 capitals has a moulded cornice, below which are placed mouldings carved with 
 a leaf-and-bead decoration. The rails have pendant ornaments of curved form 
 and convex panels framed with moulds, all embellished with a fine line decor¬ 
 ation. Carved vase-form turnings with rectangular moulded bases support the 
 bed. The ceiling of the vaulted canopy (Figure 209) is elaborately designed, 
 with numerous panels, filled with painted decorations, radiating from a centre 
 medallion bearing a coat of arms. Filling these radiating panels are motifs 
 composed of little land- and sea-scapes, putti, floral and other fanciful adorn¬ 
 ments resembling much of the decoration of the early seventeenth century. 
 
 Dating from the last decade of the century is the following carved and 
 gilded four-post bed coming from the castle of the Duke of Verzuolo. The 
 elaborately ornamented head-board is composed of a series of arches each filled 
 with a shell. These arches rest on pilasters carved with angels in high relief, 
 the whole being surmounted by a carved and pierced cresting of foliated scrolls 
 flowing from the centre medallion embellished with an Annunciation scene in 
 low relief. Supporting the original purple velvet valance trimmed with gold 
 galloon and fringes, are four shafts having the lower parts carved with winged 
 amorini dancing and playing, and the upper portion enriched with spiral 
 turning, ending with vases placed above the canopy in the manner of Figure 205. 
 
 'Giovanni Ricciarelli, known as Volterra, flourished 1568-90. He was a nephew of the greater Volterra 
 whose real name was Daniele Ricciarelli. The latter was the greater painter, a pupil of Sodoma, and a master 
 highly thought of during his period. 
 
 280 
 
FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Important beds of this period were sometimes without canopies, as Figure 
 211 testifies. The four posts with spiral flutings and bands carved with putti, 
 swags, and shields are surmounted by vase forms with more putti, these dec¬ 
 orations being similar to, and of a date contemporary with, those seen in Fig¬ 
 ure 210. The simple rails supported on bulbous turnings were undoubtedly 
 covered with a rich counterpane or bed cover in the manner of all important 
 beds of this period, while against the richly carved head board were pillows 
 similar to those shown in Figure 207. Following, in Figures 212 and 213, are 
 variations of the same design. One, with fluted and astragalled posts, topped 
 with an artichoke form, has an ornamental head board formed of a succession 
 of arches resting on turnings; these arches support a richly carved cresting of 
 baroque form, while the low foot piece is outlined with similar forms. The 
 bed shown on the opposite page, though of more simple structure, is richer 
 with a more graceful baroque decoration, composed of urns, swags, and other 
 characteristic motifs. 
 
 FIG. 269. CASSAPANCA. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 282 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 The cradles of the patrician, equally splendid, survive in numbers, and 
 show the same tendencies of design as are displayed in the stately beds. Fig¬ 
 ure 214 is a Tuscan model with a characteristic form and decoration, while the 
 one that follows it is of more princely origin, bearing the arms of the Salviati of 
 Florence on the carved escutcheon of the square head board. The incurving 
 body is carved with a slightly curved fluting and acanthus leaves in the manner 
 of Figure 214, while the straight sides are ornamented with gilded medallions 
 terminating in the leaf. The bases of the rockers are carved as well. 
 
 By the middle of the century, throughout Italy, the credenza had be¬ 
 come the important article of furniture in the ordinary dwelling as well as in 
 the magnificent palace. The number and variety of fine examples still surviv¬ 
 ing attest their popularity. As in the former period, the favourite composition 
 is with two or three doors separated and flanked by pilasters or narrow vertical 
 
 FIG. 270. CASSAPANCA. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE DUVEEN BROTHERS, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 283 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 panels that are ornamented in a variety of ways. In the frieze, placed directly 
 over the doors, drawers are generally found, separated by corbels, grotesque 
 marks, or other forms of decoration. 
 
 Figure 216 is a fine piece of cabinet work illustrating many characteristic 
 traits of the period. The heavy base, carved with a kind of baroque gadroon- 
 
 FIG. 271. CASSAPANCA. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 ing with a coat of arms placed in its centre, is still raised on lion feet. The two 
 doors, panelled with wide and simply carved moulds, have in their centres 
 circular medallions further framed in rectangular panels outlined with similar 
 moulds. They are hinged to narrow vertical panels showing a variation of 
 the characteristic raised panel work of this period, broken by circular ornaments. 
 The frieze, with the same circular ornaments placed at wide intervals, has an 
 entablature and cornice breaking around the pilaster panels. The ends of the 
 cabinet are treated in a simpler manner. 
 
 Many tendencies of Late Renaissance design are displayed in Figure 217. 
 
 284 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 The front is spaced in the usual way, while the panelled doors with knobs 
 formed of carved rosettes have the appearance of earlier work than the de¬ 
 corative forms with which they are separated and flanked. The placing of 
 columns in re-entering angles of the corner, the motif decorating the drawer, as 
 well as the way the shafts are placed in relation to the frieze decoration, show 
 how the desire for originality encouraged a disregard for the finer architectural 
 
 FIG. 272. CASSAPANCA. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 traditions of the preceding epoch. In the centre of the frieze appear the arms 
 of the Medici family. 
 
 A Ligurian credenza, dating from the middle of the century, is shown in 
 Figure 218. The simple base is an inaccurate restoration, as its elaborately 
 carved moulds would suggest. Walnut is very susceptible to decay and worm, 
 and it is to be expected that bases of many cabinets have suffered through 
 centuries of unappreciation and abuse. The doors are carved with a typical 
 Ligurian decoration, bearing a close resemblance to French designs of the 
 periods of Henry II and Henry III, while the tapering pilasters, another marked 
 trait of late Renaissance design, are decorated with a sort of semi-strap work 
 
 285 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 pattern similar to that profusely used in English, 
 French, and Flemish work, dating about 1600. 
 This example being of the fifth or sixth decade 
 of the sixteenth century inclines one to credit the 
 origin of this ornament to Liguria, as it was less 
 often used in other provinces of Italy. Placed 
 between the two drawers and flanking them are 
 grotesque carved heads, while other heads, from 
 which flow foliated scrolls, adorn the drawers as 
 well. The side panels also are richly carved. 
 
 The credenza in the succeeding figure ex¬ 
 hibits a highly developed baroque design. The 
 doors are carved with forms that recall those 
 associated with the architecture of the period. 
 The base mould breaks below a pilaster com¬ 
 posed of a bracket surmounting a carved panel. 
 In the frieze pairs of smaller brackets are placed 
 directly over the large ones. The sides are deco¬ 
 rated in the manner of the front and the whole displays the fine craftsman¬ 
 ship that is evident in much work of this type. Figure 220 is of a few years 
 later date and shows the influence of Palladian design. Though the panel 
 work of the doors and drawers is of earlier character, the fluted pilasters 
 and Ionic capitals, with their heavy base moulds and frieze breaking around 
 them, are seen in all important cabinet designs after Palladio’s work became 
 popular. The round knobs of the doors placed in the centre of circular 
 panels were frequently used. In much cabinet work done between the years 
 1550 and 1580, especially in the vicinity of Verona, design shows more restraint 
 and the coldness of Palladian work, exhibiting baroque features in a subordinate 
 way, as illustrated in the bases of the columns of this figure. With the develop¬ 
 ment of a more classic type of order there is a more sparing use of ornament, 
 the moulds in most cases being unornamented and the preference for a more con¬ 
 centrated use of decoration gives an appearance of greater scale to the whole 
 
 286 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 design. Figure 221 is one of those simpler and colder pieces, from the vicinity 
 of Verona, of which many genuine examples have come into the market of recent 
 years. The beautiful colour and velvety texture of the lighter-toned walnut give 
 much warmth and interest to these otherwise cold and cruder pieces. 
 
 Smaller cabinets appear more frequently in this period. They have one or 
 
 FIG. 275. CARVED WOOD TABLE. FLORENTINE, ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF HENRY PAYNE WHITNEY, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 two doors and, in design, resemble the larger credenze. Both Figures 222 and 
 223 date from the early years of the second half of the century, 223 having a 
 heavily moulded base, without the lion feet, that was used in conjunction with 
 the more classic type of order growing in favour about that time. It also has the 
 coarsely carved mould that preceded those of the full, undecorated type, gen¬ 
 erally used in cabinet work influenced by Palladian design. The base, with its 
 decorated moulds breaking around the pedestals of the pilasters between which 
 is placed a panel also framed with a carved mould—is a restoration of apparently 
 correct design. Fluted and astragalled pilasters with Corinthian capitals are 
 
 288 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 placed on either side of doors having panels with incurving corners, a prac¬ 
 tice that became more exaggerated as the century advanced and one that 
 prevailed in seventeenth century work. Even in these smaller cabinets the 
 broken base and entablature, the prominent mould, and the coarser type of more 
 spotted ornament of increased scale are often employed. Figure 222, with a 
 
 FIG. 276. CARVED WOOD TABLE. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF HENRY PAYNE WHITNEY, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 gadrooned base, lion feet, and richer type of carved ornament, belongs to a 
 period some ten years earlier than the example preceding it. 
 
 The library cabinet shown in Figure 224 not only illustrates how baroque 
 motifs have been well subordinated to structure, but shows a higher type of 
 design of this period. The lower body is formed of a series of doors with simple 
 moulds enclosing raised panels of baroque form. These are separated by flat 
 tapering consoles crowned with grotesque heads, forming pilaster decor¬ 
 ations around which break the moulds of the base and entablature. The circu¬ 
 lar ornaments of the frieze, placed directly over the pilasters, as well as those at 
 
 289 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the corners of the doors, appear frequently in cabinet work of this period. The 
 upper body is spaced into divisions of shelves flanked by fluted and astragalled 
 pilasters having fanciful Ionic capitals with grotesques, the whole being crowned 
 with an interrupted frieze, simply carved. 
 
 Perhaps the following similar form was originally an apothecary’s cabinet, 
 
 FIG. 277. CARVED WOOD TABLE. NORTH ITALIAN, SECOND HALE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 on the shelves of which were once arrayed majolica jars of beautiful form and 
 decoration. The cabinet work in apothecary shops, as well as that found in 
 ecclesiastical edifices and public libraries, was often of the highest order. The 
 lower body of this example shows variety of spacing, the double doors, together 
 with the narrow vertical panels flanking them, illustrating excellent late six¬ 
 teenth century panel work with their full projecting moulds without ornamen¬ 
 tation, raised bevelled panels and modified lozenge forms. The fluted and 
 astragalled pilasters of the upper part, resting on brackets carved with winged 
 figures and garlands, are surmounted with modified Corinthian capitals that 
 
 290 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 support an interrupted frieze of colder feeling. The bronze hardware is 
 noticeably fine. 
 
 The Flemish influence which grew so prominent in a period of the seven¬ 
 teenth century, first began to be felt in the last three or four decades of the 
 sixteenth century, especially at Florence, during the reigns of Cosimo I and his 
 
 FIG. 278. CARVED WOOD TABLE. TUSCAN OR UMBRIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE SALVADORI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 successors Francis and Ferdinand. Cosimo I encouraged the coming of Flemish 
 craftsmen when he established the tapestry industry, while the works of Flemish 
 painters were already in great demand, many residing in Italy about this time. 
 Numerous portraits of the later Medici were painted by the Flemish master, 
 Sustermann. 
 
 In Figure 226 especially noticeable is a Flemish feeling in the applied 
 turned ornaments, dropping pendant-like from the equally Flemish motif placed 
 at the top of the fluted pilaster, both motifs introduced at the time that the 
 tapering pilasters became popular. Another noticeable practice of this period 
 
 291 
 
FIG 279. CARVED WOOD TABLE. FLORENTINE, LATE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 is to raise pilasters on pedestals incorporated into a higher form of base in the 
 manner illustrated in this figure. Though the composition of the whole is 
 similar to those of the preceding period, there is a tendency toward a taller form 
 in cabinets of this type, while the introduction of moulded and panelled drawers 
 in the base between the pedestals of the pilasters is an innovation. The wide 
 moulds of the doors inclose raised panels, in the centre of which are bronze 
 handles almost identical with those of Figure 225. The modillionsof the frieze 
 and the use of pilasters on the ends sum up the characteristics of the period. 
 Figure 227 also has tapering shafts as well as drawers enriched with a typical 
 Tuscan ornamentation, these incised lozenge forms ornamenting the door 
 panels appearing frequently in work of this period. It is doubtful whether 
 the base is an accurate restoration as the bottom mould appears too heavy. 
 Perhaps in the original the tapering pilasters rested on pedestals, interrupting 
 the moulds, in the manner of the succeeding illustration. 
 
 FIG. 280. CARVED WOOD TABLE. LIGURIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 293 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 The Florentine cabinet in Figure 228 bears a close resemblance to the large 
 cabinet in Figure 226. The way in which the pedestals of the pilasters have 
 been incorporated into the base and the way the lower base moulds have been 
 broken through only on the outside of the end pilasters exhibit the refinement 
 sometimes seen in Tuscan work after 1550. The tapering pilasters are partly 
 fluted and astragalled, and partly ornamented with applied ornaments of Flem¬ 
 ish character, while the whole is crowned with Ionic capitals. Above the doors, 
 framed with wide stiles and delicate receding moulds, is the frieze composed 
 of two drawers with raised panel work, alternating with small square bevelled 
 panels. The sides of the body are simply panelled and the top is more heavily 
 and richly moulded than in earlier work. 
 
 Figure 229 shows how the effect of wider stiles or moulds was often 
 obtained by applying a mould within another and shows as well a variety 
 of tapering pilasters and modillions. The base appears inadequate and 
 undoubtedly has suffered through decay and equal misfortune in restoration. 
 
 Practically a grammar of ornament and cabinet architecture of the period 
 is shown in the “Armadio,” coming from the Sacristy of Santo Spirito at Flor¬ 
 ence (Figure 230). Like that of earlier times the ecclesiastical work of the 
 period is a reliable and illuminative source of study where the prevailing motifs 
 of the period are generally expressed in their highest form. The lower body of 
 the example under discussion has features seen in several foregoing credenze 
 with a slight variation as to arrangement, such as the tapering pilasters arranged 
 in pairs and the frieze composed of a series of numerous modillions. The 
 double panelled doors are framed with wide stiles and projecting moulds. The 
 upper part is rife with the more abstract ornament of the period and the 
 baroque manifests itself in the disturbed lines of the pediment, the way the head 
 of the arch is carried up through the space where the entablature and frieze are 
 expected, and in the disturbed curved lines of the brackets placed on either 
 side at the top. 
 
 Many tall cabinets, designed in two bodies, have their origin in this 
 period, those coming from Liguria being especially notable and numerous. 
 Illustrated in Figure 231 is one from this province with all the prevailing 
 
 294 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 motifs, bearing a close resemblance to many of the French examples that 
 were contemporary with it. It has, like many French models, an upper and 
 a lower body designed in the same manner, each having two doors divided 
 and flanked by pilasters. Rarely are cabinets found from other Italian prov¬ 
 inces with a narrower and more vertical upper section, proportions that are 
 distinguishing characteristics of the French ones. 
 
 FIG. 281. TABLE. LOMBARD OR VENETIAN, MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CIVICO, MILAN 
 
 Succeeding Figure 242 is a Tuscan interpretation of the tall cabinet. The 
 lower part is in the form of the earlier writing cabinet shown in Figure 138, but 
 the latter example is of a more consistent design, the wider moulds of the doors 
 being more in accordance with the carved console brackets of Vasarian character 
 that support the fluted and astragalled frieze containing drawers with bronze 
 handles of elaborate design. The upper body is divided into two parts, each 
 having doors with extremely wide stiles and projecting moulds. These are 
 
 29S 
 
CARVED WOOD TABLE. UMBRIAN, MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 flanked by narrow, vertical,sunken 
 and moulded panels while the 
 frieze contains two panelled 
 drawers separated and flanked by 
 small square panels placed directly 
 over those narrow vertical ones, 
 separating and flanking the doors. 
 
 Figure 233 is an elaboration 
 of the credenza designs seen in 
 Figures 228 and 229. The base 
 has been raised considerably and 
 carved brackets with swags substi¬ 
 tute the more refined pedestals of 
 Figure 228. The double doors, as 
 well as the drawer placed directly over them in the frieze, show a more elaborate 
 interpretation of a Tuscan motif that is also seen in contemporary Venetian work. 
 Figure 235 is an ornate example highly characteristic of Lombardy and adjacent 
 Liguria. The unusual spacing of the doors and various drawers is occasionally 
 seen in examples coming from these provinces. The base mould is less pro¬ 
 nounced than those of the same character employed in more southern provinces, 
 while the ornamentation of the whole and the bracketed feet are typical of the 
 finer examples of the few surviving Lombard pieces dating about 1540-60. 
 
 It is between the years 1550-70 that the type of grotesque caryatid or 
 pilaster decoration, carved with the human figure, had its greatest vogue. It 
 succeeded the High Renaissance pilaster and those narrow vertical panels carved, 
 painted, or inlaid with delicate arabesques, vase forms and playful grotesques, 
 in the Raphaelesque manner. These were succeeded later by pilasters both 
 panelled and fluted, that tapered toward the base. The caryatid is especially 
 noticeable in credenza designs, although it appears constantly in ecclesiastical 
 work. It is prominent in the frieze of the famous choir stalls of the Siena 
 Cathedral, done by Bartolommeo Neroni between the years 1567-1570, in the 
 more exaggerated designs that Ambrogio Santagostino did for the choir stalls of 
 
 FIG. 283. TABLE END. TUSCAN, ABOUT THE 
 MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SALVADORI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 297 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the church of San Vittori al 
 Corpo at Milan about 1583 and 
 in numerous other instances 
 that all date after the middle 
 of the century. 
 
 In Figure 237 pilaster 
 decorations of this character 
 appear on a credenza associ¬ 
 ated with a bold base mould 
 carved with a kind of fluting 
 and raised on lion feet. These 
 features, as well as the doors 
 with carved moulds without 
 stiles, are often seen in the 
 work of this period. The cen¬ 
 tre door is ornamented with a 
 vigorous cartouche motif, the 
 drawers of the frieze are boldly 
 fluted and separated by equally 
 prominent brackets carved 
 with a leaf, the whole being 
 consistently scaled. In the 
 credenza just preceding, a 
 coarser and later type of gro¬ 
 tesque appears with other feat¬ 
 ures of contemporary char¬ 
 acter. Though of doubtful 
 authenticity, the design, which 
 is of a representative char¬ 
 acter, is worthy of study. The 
 base has been heightened to 
 accommodate the pedestals on 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 M 
 
 which rest the grotesques end¬ 
 ing in brackets. These flank 
 doors with wide moulds and 
 raised panels embellished with 
 a conventional pattern of inlay, 
 characteristic of the sparingly 
 used wood intarsia of this 
 period. Brackets of Late 
 Renaissance style separate the 
 panelled drawers of the frieze 
 in the usual fashion. In Fig¬ 
 ure 234, a type of grotesque is 
 combined with heads and 
 pendants of leaves and fruit 
 forming panel decorations. 
 Figures of equally bold mod¬ 
 elling fill the end panels, while 
 aggressive mask heads com¬ 
 bined with other motifs com¬ 
 pletely fill the panels of the 
 doors. Practically every part 
 of the moulds, with the excep¬ 
 tion of those framing the side 
 panels, is sumptuously carved 
 in this over-decorated ex¬ 
 ample. 
 
 Figure 239 is one of the 
 finest examples of these cre- 
 denze excessively carved with 
 the debased ornamentation of 
 the period,the general arrange¬ 
 ment of the whole being of the 
 
 299 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 usual order. The pilaster decorations, though coarsely conceived, are finely 
 modelled. They separate and flank doors with panels filled with foliated scrolls, 
 in which are centred grotesque heads, the whole being framed by wide moulds 
 richly ornamented. Moulded and carved, the base is raised on grotesque feet, 
 while in the centre of the base is a pendant-like decoration of the same character. 
 
 FIG. 286 . CARVED WOOD TABLE. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 Directly over the pilaster carvings are equally coarse and aggressive heads, separ¬ 
 ating drawers with leaf and grotesque motifs. To the top has been applied a 
 carved mould. 
 
 Grotesque caryatid pilasters of exaggerated scale and coarseness, combined 
 with exuberantly carved moulds and aggressive elliptical panel decorations on 
 the doors, appear in Figure 240. The top is more heavily moulded than usual 
 because the drawers and frieze are omitted, and the base rests on figures of 
 lions instead of the more common feet. In Figure 238 canted corners vary the 
 form of a credenza, embellished with grotesques of more pleasing scale. About 
 
 300 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 this time the credenza of rectangular form began to give way to those with 
 canted and rounded corners, developing into even more complicated structures 
 in the following century. 
 
 Tall vertical writing cabinets in two sections were in vogue at this time. 
 Excellent spacing and a subordinate use of baroque ornamentation in Figure 
 
 FIG 287. CARVED WOOD TABLE. NORTH ITALIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 242 again illustrate the supremacy of the Florentine designer. The upper 
 body with its fall front missing is spaced with numerous and variously shaped 
 drawers that recalls the work of about 1500, while the projecting moulds of 
 the whole, with their unusually delicate profiles, are not found before this 
 period. The caryatids, crowned with Ionic capitals, and the broken base and 
 entablature all point to a school of cabinet design after 1550. 
 
 Illustrated in Figure 243 is another type of the tall writing cabinet often 
 met with in the second half of the sixteenth century. The lower body with 
 moulded base, resting on figures of grotesque animals, has doors panelled with 
 
 301 
 
ITALIAN FURNITU R E 
 
 arched tops. At the corners 
 are placed female figures 
 standing on brackets, com¬ 
 posed of a leaf in high relief. 
 In the frieze directly over 
 the doors is a long drawer 
 with a guilloche decoration 
 and bronze handles. The 
 drawer is flanked with gro- 
 fig. 288. table. Bolognese, late xvi century tesque heads. The upper 
 
 COURTESY OF CHAS. A. PLATT, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 body with stile decorations 
 composed of tier upon tier of figures coarsely carved in the round, has a fall 
 front which reveals an interior fitted with various drawers and secret compart¬ 
 ments. The sides of the upper body are filled with an arch-headed panel, flanked 
 with sculptured stiles like those of the front. The inner cabinet revealed by a 
 fall front displays an elaborate architectural scheme with sculpture and broken 
 pediments. 
 
 It is quite evident that the upper sections of these cabinets were sometimes 
 made to be placed on cabinets or tablets of independent design, as a large 
 number of these, designed in the same style, survive without a lower body. 
 Those seen in Figures 244 and 245 are placed on cabinets of the same period 
 that were not designed as a part of them. The exteriors of both show little 
 change from those of the preceding illustrations, while the interiors reveal a 
 variety of elaborate baroque architectural schemes. Though of the last decades 
 of the period, the cabinets on which they rest are excellent specimens of the 
 cabinet-maker’s art, especially Figure 244 which appears to be in its original 
 condition, with an unusually slight restoration. The lowest member of the base 
 is, however, doubtful as to origin and correctness of design. The arrangement 
 of the columns in the re-entering angles of the corners recalls the fine Medici 
 credenza shown in Figure 217, while the tapering shafts and their ornamenta¬ 
 tion, the way in which the pedestals break the lines of the base, as well as the 
 arrangement of the modillions in the frieze containing the drawers, are familiar 
 
 302 
 
FIG. 289. CARVED WOOD TABLE. UMBRIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE SALVADORI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 Figure 248 shows a slight variation of Figure 243 and has its fall front and arch¬ 
 headed door panels veneered with burr walnut in the manner of many cabinets 
 of this type. Figure 249 is Lombard or Ligurian work. It without doubt 
 had a fall front and perhaps rested on an enclosed lower body ornamented in 
 a manner harmonious with it. 
 
 As the century advanced the demand increased for the tall cabinet; to¬ 
 ward its close a change took place in construction, the lower part becoming a 
 stand on which the elaborate cabinet of the upper part rested. On these 
 articles of furniture the craftsman and designer displayed their most marvellous 
 technique and elaborate decorative schemes. Exotic woods soon became 
 insufficient to satisfy the ever-growing luxurious taste, so inlays of semi- 
 
 303 
 
ITALIAN 
 
 FURNITURE 
 
 precious stones such as agate, lapis lazuli, and porphyry, besides bronze, tortoise¬ 
 shell, crystal, ivory, and mother of pearl were used to enrich these cabinets of 
 ebony and walnut. Many of these were produced at Florence in the second 
 half of the sixteenth century for the Medici palaces, besides those supplied by 
 the Italian designer for the aristocratic houses of Europe, especially those of 
 France where, from the reign of Henry III, they were highly prized. 1 Several 
 cabinets of this description are now in the Pitti Palace at Florence, while one 
 supposed to have belonged to Maria Gonzaga, Queen of Poland - is at Paris 
 in the Cluny Museum. Beds as well as cabinets were evidently ornamented 
 in this excessive manner. John Evelyn saw in a nobleman’s palace at Padua a 
 very ingenious cabinet “set thick with achats, turquoises, and other precious 
 stones, in the midst of which was an antiq of a dog in stone scratching his eare, 
 
 'Andrea Saglio, in his “French Furniture,” says: “The use of bronze in the ornamentation of French fur¬ 
 niture, of which so many examples exist, was without doubt suggested by the delightful combinations of gold 
 and silver designed by cabinet makers on the other side of the Alps. The use of tortoise-shell plaques, in 
 which the Boulles excelled, was evidently suggested by the mosaics which Florentine artists began in the mid¬ 
 dle of the sixteenth century to work into their little cabinets and the tops of their tables.” 
 
 FIG. 290. CARVF.D WOOD TABLE. TUSCAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF PAYNE WHITNEY, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 304 
 
FIG. 29I. TABLE. ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THF. BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 In addition to cabinets, we hear of tables designed in this sumptuous 
 manner. Vasari, speaking of particular pieces of his day, mentions a “splendid 
 library table” made for Francesco de’ Medici. It was constructed of ebony 
 with columns of eliotrope, oriental jasper, and lapis lazuli, having bases and cap¬ 
 itals of chased silver. It was further enriched with ornaments of silver and 
 
 305 
 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 very rarely cut, and comparable to the greatest curiositie I have ever seene of 
 that kind for y e accuratenesse of y" worke.” He speaks of an adjoining chamber 
 in this palace with a “bedstead all inlaid with achats, chrystals, cornelians, 
 lazuli, &c., esteemed worth 16,000 crownes.” 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 little figures interspersed with miniatures and terminals of silver and gold in full 
 relief. Tables constructed of stone and alabaster were occasionally inlaid with 
 precious stones. In addition to those in the palace of the Duke of Mantua 
 mentioned by Lassels we learn that Bernardino di Porfirio, a renowned Floren¬ 
 tine master of this art, produced tables in the same style for the Medici dukes. 
 Bernardino executed, after a design of Vasari’s, a table wholly formed of 
 oriental alabaster inlaid with camelian, jasper, and lapis lazuli; even jewels were 
 added to its embellishments and Vasari claims that it was valued at twenty 
 thousand crowns. 
 
 The earliest chest of drawers that may be called the prototype of a com¬ 
 mode, seems to have made its appearance during the vogue of the tall writing 
 cabinets described in the preceding illustrations. The only Renaissance ex¬ 
 amples we have date from the last decade of the sixteenth century and show a 
 similar decorative treatment. Figure 250 rests on a base with variously carved 
 moulds on which rest the stile decorations of the front and sides. These are 
 composed of figures carved in the round and arranged tier upon tier in the 
 manner of those seen on the writing cabinets. The drawers, divided by heavily 
 carved horizontal members, are framed with carved moulds and have handles 
 composed of grotesque figures carved in wood. The top section is divided 
 into two drawers, between them a panel decorated with figures in unusually 
 high relief. In chests of this kind surfaces of the drawers were often veneered 
 while the edges of tops were invariably carved and moulded. The next example 
 (Figure 251) varies only in its decorative detail, the general form and arrange¬ 
 ment of drawers being identical. Though Figure 252 has the same general 
 arrangement, variety is shown in its stile decorations, the carved moulds, and 
 the raising of the whole on lion feet. 
 
 The ecclesiastical work of the Late Renaissance is rich and prolific, 
 and the student will find it a valuable and reliable source of study,—a verita¬ 
 ble encyclopedia of the ornament of this period. Two fine leggii, seen in 
 Figures 253 and 254, reproduce many design characteristics of the finest 
 quality that have been analyzed in foregoing illustrations. 
 
 Though the cassone became less prominent in the furnishings of the house 
 
 306 
 


ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 as other forms of household furniture 
 became more varied and comfortable, 
 it persisted throughout the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries in elaborate 
 form. In former periods it was the 
 principal receptacle for the storage of 
 various household articles, but with 
 the advent of the credenza, the cabi¬ 
 nets in two bodies, and the chest of 
 drawers, the demand for it grew 
 gradually less. The sarcophagus 
 form was retained throughout this 
 period and just after the middle of 
 the century began to display the same 
 design tendencies seen in the cre¬ 
 denza and other forms of the cabinet. 
 Figure 256 is the earliest of the following examples, dating about the middle of 
 the century. The form rests on lion feet, between which is arranged a base 
 outlined with baroque curves, while the front panel is divided into sections con¬ 
 taining carved panels depicting classical subjects, such as are seen in those of 
 earlier work. At the comers and separating the panels are coarse figures end¬ 
 ing in tapering shafts that are prominent in later design. Placed in the centre 
 panel are the arms supported by putti, while the moulds of the domed top are 
 carved with a leaf decoration. Figure 257, of a few years later date and some¬ 
 what restored, shows fluted and astragalled pilasters that taper toward the lion 
 feet, dividing panels elaborately carved with grotesques and foliated scrolls, the 
 centre panel again showing putti flanking the coat of arms. The interrupted 
 frieze is carved with a motif seen often in decoration between the years 1550-70, 
 the top is ornamented with a debased use of the leaf, and the decoration of the 
 whole is partly gilded. 
 
 Of unquestioned authenticity is the rectangular cassone dating about 
 1550 60, shown in Figure 258. On carved bases of complicated forms stand 
 
 FIG. 295. PEDESTAL TABLE. LATE XVI 
 CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF PAYNE WHITNEY, ESQ., 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
 310 
 

ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Atlantes carved in the round, flank¬ 
 ing the long rectangular panel of the 
 front. This is framed with a promi¬ 
 nent mould carved with fruit, while 
 the moulds of the base and the edge 
 of the top also are richly carved. 
 The ends are simply panelled and 
 have wrought-iron handles. Though 
 not belonging to this example, the 
 stand on which chests of this type 
 were often raised is highly inter¬ 
 esting because few original ones are 
 to be found. 
 
 In Figures 262, 263, 264, and 265 
 are shown modifications of the rect¬ 
 angular form, coming from Venetia. 
 Though the sarcophagus form is occasionally met with from this and adjacent 
 provinces the rectangular shape was commonly used. Figure 262, though 
 dating about 1550 or later, is representative of the carved wood Venetian chest 
 after Sansovino’s arrival and has a front panel carved with a type of decoration- - 
 formed of an ellipse and rectangles with additions of grotesque heads and 
 scrolls that is sometimes distinguished by that master’s name. The spacing 
 of the front into one long panel flanked by two vertical projecting ones—around 
 which break the base and cornice moulds—is typical of these designs. Though 
 the boldly modelled base is employed it is less pronounced and less often carved 
 with gadrooning, while feet composed of scrolls are preferred to lion feet. 
 Chests of this type were often supplied with cushions richly covered, making 
 them more comfortable as seats. The composition of the cassone illustrated in 
 Figure 263 has been varied with two panels separated and flanked by projecting 
 ones carved with grotesque mask-heads and scrolls of Venetian Late Renaissance 
 character, around which break the carved moulds of the base. The lion feet 
 appear to be an inaccurate restoration, the original ones being, without doubt, 
 
 312 
 
 FIG. 297. PEDESTAL TABLE. LATE XVI 
 CENTURY 
 
 FROM THF. BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 in the form of those in the accompanying illustrations. It is also doubtful 
 whether the undecorated panels are original, as the elaborate moulds suggest 
 frames for more decorative ones. Those following in Figures 264 and 265 are 
 excellent examples of the Venetian chests of the Late Renaissance. Of identical 
 arrangement, they are embellished with representative Venetian designs. 
 
 FIG. 299. TABLE. UMBRIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 Two higher forms of more architectural design are shown in Figures 266 
 and 267. Of these the former has a simply moulded base resting on frankly 
 restored feet supporting a front spaced into three sections by tapering pilasters. 
 The central division contains a baroque architectural feature, which like the 
 divisions on either side, with arched tops—is completely covered with a fine sur¬ 
 face decoration composed of grotesque heads and scrolls. The hinged top and 
 the sides are spaced with simply moulded panels. Illustrated in Figure 267 is 
 a Venetian cassone from the Museo Civico at Milan displaying a more ambitious 
 architectural scheme influenced by the Palladian school. 1 hough the lowest 
 
 3 r 4 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 member of the base is of doubtful origin, the base in which the pedestals of the 
 columns have been incorporated is authentic and is embellished with intarsia of 
 the period. Especially characteristic is the pattern ornamenting the pedestal 
 bases and the interrupted frieze of the crowning cornice, a design derived from 
 the elaborate semi-precious stone and marble inlay work with which cabinets 
 
 FIG. 300. TABLE. UMBRIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 constructed of ebony and other fine woods were sometimes embellished. Doric 
 columns space the front into three divisions, the centre with a rusticated arch 
 filled with intarsia showing architecture in perspective, while that on either side, 
 with more complicated architecture, is embellished in a similar manner. Be¬ 
 tween the columns are niches that in the more elaborate examples often con¬ 
 tained figures of carved wood, ivory, or bronze. The ends holding the wrought- 
 iron handles are simply treated with an arch-headed panel. 
 
 The cassapanca was still prominent in the Tuscan living apartment of the 
 period, and its large form afforded the designer an opportunity to display his 
 
 3i5 
 
FIG. 301 . CENTRE TABLE. BOLOGNESE, LATE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE DAVANZATI PALACE COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 furniture as well as on the pediments of architecture. In this example 
 the moulded cornice of the back is surmounted by a pediment composed of 
 volutes on which recline two nude figures of bronze-like beauty holding a swag 
 of drapery, while a pedestal placed between the figures supports a vase 
 form showing the arms of the Orsini family. The chest-like seat with curved 
 sides and front raised on a finely proportioned dais with rounded comers, has 
 scroll-shaped arms placed directly over the mask heads, forming a kind of 
 pilaster decoration around which break the moulds of the base and cornice. 
 A fine patina and beautifully coloured walnut, combined with harmonious 
 
 316 
 
FIG. 303. CARVED WOOD CENTRE TABLE. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF PAYNE WHITNEY, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 lines and proportions enhanced by the excellence of its sculpture, give to 
 this piece an unusual rarity. 1 
 
 Less successful is the design illustrated in Figure 270. The seat, raised on 
 a dais with a carved mould, has a sarcophagus-like front carved with a vigorous 
 decoration composed of swags and foliated scrolls placed on either side of a 
 winged grotesque head, in addition to a band of scroll-like decoration placed 
 just below the hinged top of the chest. Curved-form arms, carved with winged 
 heads of exceptional fine sculptural quality rest on panelled pedestals with gro¬ 
 tesque heads that flank the sarcophagus-like front. The carved back is sur¬ 
 mounted with an elaborate ornamental cresting displaying putti of excellent 
 modelling flanking the arms of the Medici, undoubtedly those of Cosimo I, as 
 the crown and the baroque character of the whole suggest. 2 As in most cases, 
 the superb quality of the walnut and its beautiful patina give to these pieces a 
 distinguishing quality that is lost in photographic reproduction. Before its 
 acquisition by the Duveen Brothers, this cassapanca had the distinction of being 
 included in two famous collections, those of M. Jules Poges and Sig. Cav. 
 Stefano Bardini. 
 
 Figure 272 of a date contemporary with the preceding is of similar form 
 without the crowning decoration at the back. Though equally coarse and 
 vigorous, its decadent ornamentation is more successfully applied. A cassapanca 
 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Figure 271) shows more restraint in the 
 application of its baroque ornamentation, as does the example varied with curved 
 forms, illustrated in Figure 269. 
 
 Many monumental tables of this period were still constructed with tops 
 resting on ends braced with ornamental stretchers. Though Figure 274 has 
 the stretcher secured with wooden pins in a primitive manner, the disturbed 
 curves of the end supports, formed of reversed volutes ending in lion feet, as 
 well as the form of the stretcher, clearly indicate a date after 1550. Figure 275 
 displays all the characteristic motifs of the period incorporated in the end- 
 
 1 This is one of the pieces that were retained by the Italian Government after they had been catalogued 
 for the sale of the Davanzati Palace Collection, which took place at the American Art Galleries in the 
 autumn of 1916. 
 
 2 A crown of the same design is seen in the portrait of Cosimo I, by Bronzino. As Cosimo was the 
 first duke of Tuscany, the crown would not be found associated with the Medici arms before his rule. 
 
 319 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 support of a table. The reverse curves of the brackets that outline the ends, the 
 tapering pilasters on which rest parts of human figures supporting Ionic 
 
 capitals, the interrupted 
 base moulds, and the 
 over-lapping disk dec¬ 
 orations of the pilasters, 
 are all favourite motifs 
 with the Late Renais¬ 
 sance designer. 
 
 Throughout the 
 period Venetian design 
 displays more grace 
 and a less frequent use 
 of the unpleasant gro¬ 
 tesque as shown in the 
 table (Figure 276) dat¬ 
 ing about 1550. The 
 design of the ends are 
 based on the cartouche, 
 a motif appearing fre¬ 
 quently in design of the 
 Late Renaissance and 
 the seventeenth cen¬ 
 tury. As in many of 
 the finer tables of the 
 mid-century the sup- 
 
 FIG. JOG. CONSOLE TABLE. SECOND HALF OF THE 
 
 xvi century porting ends rest on 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 bases outlined with 
 
 curved forms ending in lion feet. Bracing the ends is a stretcher of baroque 
 character having in its centre a cartouche motif. 
 
 The north Italian table, illustrated in Figure 277, showing the influence of 
 Ligurian structure, has two draw leaves laid on an apron that is inlaid with 
 
 320 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 lozenge forms of lighter woods. These are separated by carved modillion- 
 shaped brackets and from the corners of the apron are suspended turned 
 pendants. Elaborate supporting ends of indefinite form have braced between 
 
 FIG. 307. WALL TABLE. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 them at the base a stretcher carved with panels of guilloche ornament. On 
 this rest the turned members which seem to support the top. This figure 
 together with the one that follows it are two of the most ornate types of the 
 Decadent period. Figure 278 has in its apron numerous drawers each carved 
 with a panel decoration, a Tuscan motif prevailing during the rule of Cosirno I 
 and that of his successor. The heavy mould carved with a modified gadrooning 
 
 321 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 placed just beneath the drawers, together with the excessively ornamented 
 drawers and top, gives an appearance of heaviness that is seen in the more 
 elaborate tables dating after the middle of the century. Baroque volutes, and a 
 debased use of the shell, form the ends, which terminate in grotesque animal 
 feet. Though much of the ornamentation of this table is common to Tuscany, 
 the heaviness of the whole and its general proportions suggest Umbrian design, 
 in spite of its elaborate character. 
 
 Illustrated in Figure 279 is one of the earlier examples of these tables 
 with pierced ends. Voluted scrolls outlining ends of lyre form enclose scrolls 
 and a fleur-de-lis to which the square-moulded stretcher is secured with keyed 
 jaws. Rarely are authentic tables of this style found dating from this period, 
 they generally being of the florid seventeenth century Spanish type with braces 
 of wrought iron. 
 
 Liguria and her principal centre, Genoa, produced a type of table shown in 
 Figure 280 that varies little in its design. Liguria has, not unjustly, been 
 accused of a lack of artistic imagination. Rich and prosperous, she pursued 
 her arts as she did her trades: her painters, like her shop keepers, carrying on 
 their traditions for generations. Four generations of the Baroni, five of the 
 Orsoloni, and as many as seven of the Calvi, painted her pictures. An equal 
 lack of originality was displayed in sculpture, while none of her great architects 
 was native born. Only a slight difference is seen between the table of Fig¬ 
 ure 280 and that shown in Figure 155, of only a few years earlier date. The 
 structural form is identical and the decorations similar, with the exception of the 
 intertwining vine motif, carved on the end columns of the former, which gives 
 it an appearance of slightly later character. 
 
 The beautiful Umbrian table designed about 1550-60, illustrated in Figure 
 281, disarms the critic who condemns as a whole the work of this period. 
 Though the console brackets composing its ends are of typical baroque form, 
 the fine proportion of the whole and the simplicity of its beautiful lines give an 
 effect of dignity that is met with in Palladio’s best work. Both this example 
 and the one following, with carved and voluted ends and simply moulded top, 
 are excellent illustrations of a type without stretchers, inspired by the designs of 
 
 322 
 
FIG. 309. ARM CHAIR. FLORENTINE, SECOND HALF XVI CENTURY FIG. 3IC. ARM CHAIR. LATTER PART OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 antique stone models. Figure 281, perhaps from Lombardy, has ends show¬ 
 ing a more elaborate interpretation of the forms seen in Figure 282. The 
 ends rest on bases outlined with scrolls terminating in lion feet, instead of the 
 more architectural forms of the preceding, while the space between the volutes 
 of the ends are carved with a fleur-de-lis motif. To the top has been applied 
 a mould with a simple carving. 
 
 FIG. 313. ARM CHAIRS WITH LEATHER BACKS AND SEATS. SECOND HALF OF THE XVI 
 
 CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 Though the rectangular table with four turned supports connected by 
 simple stretchers placed near their base had been occasionally used in the former 
 period, before the century closed it had practically supplanted the table con¬ 
 structed on solid ends. Of the larger types Figures 284 and 285 are of the 
 highest order, the former with its partly fluted and turned supports and richly 
 carved apron being of slightly earlier date. The latter has—nicely subordinated 
 to its structure -turned supports, applied circular ornaments, and voluted brackets 
 that can be recalled in many foregoing illustrations of furniture of this period. 
 
 326 
 
Figure 286 is a shorter form and 
 is contemporary with the preceding ex¬ 
 ample. The bulbous turning of the 
 legs is modified while the circular orna¬ 
 ments appear again; the drawers are 
 moulded and, together with the ends 
 of the apron, have convex panels carved 
 with a guilloche decoration, these being 
 separated by brackets showing a de¬ 
 based use of the inverted leaf. The 
 thin moulded top is not in scale with 
 the other features. 
 
 Northern work, during the phase 
 of excessive ornamentation, though 
 
 FIG. 315. ARM CHAIR. UMBRIAN, SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF H. H. ROGERS, ESQ., NEW YORK CITY 
 
 FIG. 314. ARM CHAIR. LOMBARD, LATE 
 XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE MUSEO CJVICO, MILAN 
 
 often crude, shows a lighter interpreta¬ 
 tion. This is illustrated in the pro¬ 
 fusely ornamented table in Figure 287, 
 where the carved turned legs are less 
 bulbous and retain some of the deli¬ 
 cacy of former work. The drawers are 
 carved with a then-prevailing oblong 
 motif showing northern interpreta¬ 
 tion. To the top has been added an 
 elaborately carved ornamentation, 
 circular ornaments are prominent at 
 the joinings, and the stretchers are 
 carved with a fluting. 
 
 Tables of this style are often 
 

 LIGURIAN FIG. 31 J. ARM CHAIR. LIGURIAN, ABOUT l6cO 
 

I T A L I A N 
 
 FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 321 . CARVED WOOD SIDE CHAIR 
 BRESCIAN, SECOND HALF OF 
 THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FIG. 322 . SIDE CHAIR. VENETIAN, LATE 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARD1NI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 constructed with square legs, caryatids and other varieties of support as seen in 
 the four illustrations following. Figure 289 is one of the coarser decorative 
 types, perhaps from Umbria, with turned supports that are carved near the 
 base with a leaf decoration and surmounted with an Ionic capital. These sup- 
 
 330 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 ports are braced with coarsely 
 ornamented stretchers. The 
 top, with a carved edge, rests on 
 an apron with a decorated 
 member. The design of the 
 following table, formerly in the 
 Davanzati Palace collection, 
 has been attributed to Vasari. 
 
 Of exceptional thickness, the 
 top is supported on legs of un¬ 
 usual design formed of consoles 
 ending in lion feet that have been 
 placed in the re-entering angles 
 of square supports; around 
 these the moulded apron of the 
 table breaks. Figure 290, one 
 of the numerous tables of this 
 character belonging to the 
 second half of the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury, came from the vicinity of 
 Bologna. Supports, invariably 
 square, rarely carved, but often 
 decorated with inlay, were con¬ 
 nected with simple stretchers, 
 sometimes with a mouldapplied 
 
 FIG. 323. ARM CHAIR. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 in the manner shown. In the from THE ,,ARIHN[ collection, Florence 
 
 angle under the apron contain¬ 
 ing the panelled drawers with wooden knobs, brackets are generally found and 
 in many examples they are seen placed where the stretcher joins the legs. 
 Whether plain or with applied fluted mould, the tops have an appearance of 
 unusual thickness. The brackets separating the drawers are characteristic. 
 
 Rarely are tables of the quality of Figure 291 found in this unrestored state. 
 
 33i 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Of unusual proportion, it is supported on grotesque Atlantes between whose bases 
 an ornamental stretcher is placed. The moulded and carved top rests on an apron 
 spaced with voluted brackets between which are compartments with doors; this 
 apron, in turn, is supported by a moulded cornice that rests on the carved figures. 
 
 Many fine authentic tables like the one shown in the following illustration 
 
 FIG. 324. SIDE CHAIR. SECOND 
 HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FIG. 325. SIDE CHAIR. BRESCIAN, 
 LATE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE liARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 (Figure 292) come into the market to-day. They date from the last decades of 
 the sixteenth and beginning years of the seventeenth century and are peculiar to 
 Bologna and its vicinity. Distinguished by their fine colour, they vary but 
 slightly in design, being invariably supported by turned legs of this character 
 and having plain stretchers and thick handsome tops. They vary in the decora¬ 
 tive treatment of the drawers, which are sometimes moulded, and sometimes have 
 raised panels showing the rounded corners that became popular about this time. 
 The applied circular ornaments on the bases of the supports continued to be in 
 vogue, while the prominent knobs of drawers were often of brass or of bronze. 
 
 332 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Many pedestal tables and other smaller ones having their origin toward 
 the end of this period, give indication of more numerous and comfortable 
 furnishings. They are more often found with hexagonal tops, supported on 
 variously turned shafts showing equally varied bases, Figure 293 has an eight¬ 
 sided top with carved edges and rests' on a turned member with a rectangular 
 
 no. 326. SIDE CHAIR. 
 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 327. SIDE CHAIR. 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 moulded base, while the following table has an undecorated top of the same 
 form supported by a more complicated pedestal that rests on a three-cornered 
 carved base raised with lion feet. 
 
 Figures 295 and 297 are elaborated examples of the same type with drawers, 
 the former being of fifteen or twenty years earlier date, with a top of eight un¬ 
 equal sides. The deep apron is carved with a kind of guilloche, while the turned 
 pedestal rests on an elaborately moulded eight-sided base that is raised on four 
 lion feet. Figure 299, more profusely ornamented and of later date, has a six- 
 sided top and a deep apron ornamented with elaborate raised panel work. The 
 
 333 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 carved melon turning rests on a square base surrounded by four radiating 
 baroque brackets. 
 
 The magnificent centre table shown in Figure 296 owes much of its dec¬ 
 orative value to its fine sweeping lines and the beautiful colour of its walnut. 
 Ihe carved and moulded top, which is about two meters in diameter, rests on a 
 
 FIG. 329. SGABF.LLO. MIDDLE OF THE 
 XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, 
 
 FLORENCE 
 
 FIG. 328. SGABELLO. MIDDLE OF THE 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE COLLECTION OF CARL W. HAMILTON, ESQ., 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
 334 
 
central turned support surrounded 
 by three console brackets of curved 
 form. These in turn rest on a mould¬ 
 ed three-sided base raised on lion feet. 
 
 Centre tables of this period were 
 still constructed, as in the early six¬ 
 teenth century, with supports formed 
 of consoles and brackets radiating 
 front a central member, but the de¬ 
 mand for them gradually grew less as 
 they underwent the transformation 
 that affected all artistic design. 
 
 Though of cruder form, the original 
 state of Figure 298 makes it an espe¬ 
 cially valuable and interesting study 
 of these tables which are so represen¬ 
 tative of those coming from the 
 Marches at this time. The thick un¬ 
 decorated top is supported on scrolls 
 of interrupted lines ending in lion feet 
 which radiate from a round member 
 with a turned pendant. Following 
 this is a richer treatment of the same 
 type of table, while Figure 300 shows 
 a moulded and carved top of hexago¬ 
 nal form and more elaborately carved 
 bracket legs of baroque form. 
 
 The three tables succeeding are more characteristic of centre table construc¬ 
 tion of the late sixteenth century. Of these F’igure 301 exhibits a more unusual 
 structure in having crossed stretchers connecting turned supports that rest on 
 square bases. The octagonal top is laid on a deep apron with canted corners 
 and raised panels, while below the apron is applied a sawed-out ornamentation. 
 
 335 
 
 FIG. 33O. 
 
 SGABELLO. MIDDLE OF THE 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Figure 302 is constructed in the more usual manner, its round moulded top 
 with an applied sawed-out decoration rests on an apron with elaborate panel 
 work separated and flanked by brackets. 
 
 Trestle tables were rarely used in the Late Renaissance, yet a curious 
 specimen of this period is shown in Figure 304. In the lower illustration another 
 table of this character is shown. Each trestle is constructed with sawed-out 
 vase-form ends resting on runners and connected by a central stretcher, in the 
 manner of many smaller tables. 
 
 Two wall tables that were evidently used for writing in some monastic in¬ 
 terior are seen in Figures 306 and 307. Both are designed in a similar manner, 
 the former having console ends with more disturbed lines and raised panel work. 
 The deep apron has in front two panelled drawers flanked by modillions crudely 
 carved, on which rests a top ornamented with an applied carved mould. The 
 table that follows has carved console brackets of more definite form supporting 
 an apron with two simply panelled drawers and moulded top. 
 
 FIG. 33I. “SGABELL 1 .” LATE XVI CENTURY 
 
 336 
 
i— V 
 
 FIG. 332. STOOL. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDIN I COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
 ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 By the end of the century the 
 chair of rectangular form had become 
 the important arm chair of the palace, 
 practically supplanting the chair of X 
 form. Those of this period have more 
 elaborately ornamented frames and 
 are more richly upholstered in fine 
 stuffs and trimmings. Supporting 
 members are often turned and carved, 
 while the finials crowning the upright 
 structure of the back are more elabo¬ 
 rate and prominent. Front stretchers 
 are elaborately ornamented and like 
 the finials are often touched with 
 gold. Most of the chairs of the period 
 do not rest on runners, but are strengthened by stretchers instead. An 
 unusually fine, though ornate model is shown in Figure 308. The square 
 members supporting the seat are carved near the base, while between them at 
 
 the front and sides are placed richly 
 decorated stretchers. Wide, flat 
 arms, typical of this period, are 
 supported on equally ornate mem¬ 
 bers. The seat and back are covered 
 with red velvet of the period and are 
 trimmed with braids and fringes. 
 
 In Figure 309 the carved front 
 stretcher is of more vigorous design 
 and contrasts more with the square 
 supports incised with a simple line. 
 The straight, narrower arms, as well 
 as the design of its carved sup¬ 
 ports and the finials of the back, 
 
 FIG. 333. CARVED WOOD STOOL. ROI 
 ABOUT 1600 
 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, FLORENCE 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 indicate an earlier date than the preceding one. The seat and back are 
 covered with embossed and gilded leather. One of a set of important chairs of 
 this type, with an original covering of high decorative value, is shown in Figure 
 
 310. The design is composed of a pattern of red applied on an old gold 
 ground. Rarely are original chairs of this importance found. In most cases, 
 after their restoration, they have been covered with decorative embroidery and 
 other fabrics of ecclesiastical origin. When chairs, especially those of the late 
 sixteenth century, were covered with highly ornamented materials, the up- 
 
 338 
 
 FIG. 334. ECCLESIASTICAL CHAIR OF IRON AND BRASS. END OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 COURTESY OF MESSRS. P. W. FRENCH & CO., NF.W YORK CITY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 holstery was often brought so deep below the seat that the ornamental stretcher 
 was omitted, as it is in this case. The simple square supports rest on runners 
 ending in lion feet in the manner of earlier chairs, while beneath the moulded 
 
 FIG. 335 - WROUGHT IRON AND BRASS FOLD-STOOL. DATED 1604 
 
 FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 arms, on the square members supporting them, are placed voluted brackets of 
 leaf form. The upright structures of the back are topped with carved and 
 gilded finials. 
 
 In higure 311 is shown a model with upholstered arms, rarely found in 
 chairs of this type, although in portraits of the period they are occasionally seen. 
 
 339 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 In this example as well as in that 
 accompanying it, a carved 
 stretcher is placed below the up¬ 
 holstered seat, the decoration of 
 the latter having the character of 
 late northern work. The arm 
 supports are of similar form as 
 well as the decorations that crown 
 the upright members of the back. 
 The three chairs following, in 
 Figures 313 and 314, are varia¬ 
 tions of this type in a less monu¬ 
 mental form, with seats and backs 
 covered with embossed leather. 
 
 One of a set of Umbrian 
 arm chairs follows (Figure 315). 
 The constructional members are 
 square with the exception of the 
 turned arm supports and the front stretcher of an abstract design. The 
 uprights of the back, ending in turned finials, have placed between them a top 
 rail outlined with baroque scrolls and carved with the arms of the Vitelli 
 family, of Citta di Castello. Between this member and a plain horizontal splat 
 are placed little turned spindles. The wooden seat was perhaps at one time 
 supplied with a loose cushion. 
 
 Two chairs of a design peculiar to Liguria are shown in figures 316 and 
 317. Chairs from this section are more often of broader and lower form, those 
 of the later part of the century having extremely broad arms. The decorative 
 stretcher is generally of more geometrical character, while the finials of the back 
 are simply designed. Another noticeable feature of chairs from this province is 
 the prominence of ornamental nail heads. Of the two illustrated 316 is of earlier 
 date. Its structural members are square and unornamented, excepting the 
 simple turning that supports the arms. The pierced ornamented stretcher, like 
 
 FIG. 336. SEDIA DANTESCA. SECOND HALF OF 
 THE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE ALTMAN COLLECTION, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 
 
 340 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the simply fluted finials, is characteristic of Liguria. Figure 317, showing 
 Spanish influence, is of lower form and has wide, flat, carved arms of later 
 character, while the square fluted front supports hold a stretcher ornamented 
 with an abstract design. The back and seat are covered with velvet applique 
 of a foliated scroll pattern, this material being fastened to the frame with nails 
 
 FIG. 337. FOLDING CHAIRS. ABOUT l6oO 
 
 FROM THE MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE 
 
 having large ornamental heads. When seats were covered in this unusual manner, 
 leather was more often used because of the greater strength required of the 
 material. Chairs having seats with this type of covering are peculiar to Liguria 
 and are seldom found elsewhere. 
 
 The three Ligurian chairs, on the page following, show more variations in 
 their design. The wide and slightly curving arms are especially noticeable, 
 while the members supporting those of Figure 320 are of curved form and 
 together with the front legs are carved with a leaf decoration, giving the chair a 
 close resemblance to some contemporary French models. The decoration of 
 
 3+i 
 
FIG. 338. CARVED WOOD FRAME FIG. 339. CARVED WOOD FRAME. SECOND HALF 
 
 END OF THE XVI CENTURY OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
FIG. 34O. CARVED AND GILDED FRAME. VENETIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 the stretcher of Figure 318 recalls 
 that seen on the preceding tables 
 from the same province. 
 
 Another type of chair char¬ 
 acteristic of the Late Renaissance 
 is the elaborately carved example 
 seen in the succeeding figures. 
 Many side chairs survive in this 
 style, but those with arms are more 
 rarely found. Of the three shown 
 in Figures 321, 322, and 323, the 
 second is of earliest origin, as its 
 simpler structure and panels out¬ 
 lined with less exaggerated curves 
 would suggest. Figure 321 has 
 bands of simple inlay outlining 
 the upright supports which hold 
 the splats, and stretchers outlined with a series of baroque forms. As in the up¬ 
 holstered type, the upright structures of the back are invariably topped with carved 
 finials, but more rarely do the front legs end in lion feet, as here shown. The 
 edge of the seat is carved, a practice found only in the most elaborate examples. In 
 Figure 323, the panels contained in the splats of the back and that of the stretch¬ 
 er placed below the seat are veneered; these were also embellished at times with 
 an inlay pattern. The eagle crowning the decoration of the back is evidently of 
 symbolic significance. The elaborate Venetian example succeeding, while of 
 the same arrangement, shows a variation of the more common rectangular 
 panels placed in more ornate splats, while the front legs and the upright 
 members of the back are also carved. 
 
 Figure 324 illustrates one of the finer models with intarsia-ornamented 
 panels, while the one that accompanies it shows the raised panel work of later 
 character. In those illustrated on the succeeding page are other variations of 
 this type, dating from about 1550 to 1570. 
 
 FIG. 34I. MIRROR FRAME. LATE XVI CENTURY 
 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 344 
 
FIG. 342. 
 
 CARVED WOOD FRAME. VENETIAN, SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
FIG. 343. CARVED AND GILDED FRAME FIG. 344. CARVED WOOD FRAME 
 
 LATE XVI CENTURY SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 * 
 
 J 
 
 FIG. 347. CARVKD WOOD LANTERN. VENETIAN, ABOUT 1570 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 Though the sgabelli, like the chairs of X form, became less numerous as the 
 century advanced, they are found among the most elaborate chairs of the period. 
 Like the cassapanca, they seem to have been the medium through which the 
 baroque carver gave vent to his most vehement fancies and decorative orgies. 
 Most examples that we have of these date from the first part of this period, of 
 
 348 
 
a a a a a a 
 
 CARVED WOOD CANDLESTICKS, GOLD AND POLYCHROME 
 SECOND HALF OF THE XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 FIG. 349. CARVED WOOD CAN¬ 
 DLESTICK. FIRST HALF OF 
 THE XVI CENTURY 
 COURTESY OF P. W. FRENCH & CO., 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
 FIG. 35O. CARVED WOOD CANDLESTICKS, GOLD AND 
 POLYCHROME. SECOND HALF OF THE 
 XVI CENTURY 
 FROM THE BARDINI COLLECTION, 
 
 FLORENCE 
 
 these Figures 328, 329, and 330 are highly representative. While of the same 
 general form and structure as those of the earlier period, they are excessively 
 ornamented with all the then-prevailing motifs. Figure 328, an Umbrian inter¬ 
 pretation, has a lyre-shaped front support ending in dolphins, a motif commonly 
 
 35° 
 
A*‘- t.Slh & m'-J zi 1*2. 
 
 
 found in decorations from this sec¬ 
 tion. Their voluted tails support 
 a guilloche mould and rosette form, 
 below which is placed the popular 
 cartouche motif. The sides of the 
 shaped back are outlined with 
 scrolls supporting a cresting 
 formed of similar motifs of inter¬ 
 rupted line, while in the centre of 
 the whole the cartouche motif is 
 repeated. Figure 329, of about 
 the same date, shows the same 
 consistency in design. The lower 
 part is outlined with curved forms, 
 carved with a foliated scroll ending 
 in lion feet; these support a fluted 
 frieze and enclose a grotesque 
 head, while the back, formed of 
 similar motifs, is crowned with a 
 cresting similar to that of the fore¬ 
 going. Though the following ex¬ 
 ample has the fan-shaped back of 
 the more beautiful forms of the 
 High Renaissance, the ornamen¬ 
 tation of its front support outlined 
 with grotesque winged figures 
 ending in lion feet, the coarse and 
 unpleasant grotesque mask that they enclose, as well as the figures that outline 
 the back, were unknown to the designer of that period. The chairs represented 
 in Figure 331 are all characteristic of the debased designs of this period. 
 
 Two chairs of ecclesiastical origin known as faldstools, are shown in 
 Figures 334 and 335. Their frames are of wrought iron, and the turned parts 
 
 35i 
 
 CARVED WOOD AND GILDED 
 CANDLESTICKS 
 
 FROM THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, LONDON 
 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 are of brass. Both date from the end of the period. On the round finial of 
 Figure 337 is engraved, “Celsus Americus Turcus. A Senis Romanus Abbaa 
 1601 + D,” an authoritative date. 
 
 Though practically no change is seen in the form of the Dante chairs and 
 Savonarola chairs of the Late Renaissance, the same tendency toward over¬ 
 
 elaboration is evident. In the last decade of the sixteenth and in the first years 
 of the seventeenth century, however, they were sometimes seen with much 
 higher backs, occasionally formed of two carved or plain horizontal splats. In 
 some cases the backs were upholstered. Figure 336 shows the front of the 
 structure carved with a band of decoration and the outer sides of its arms as 
 well, while at the intersection of the two front constructional members is placed 
 an over-scaled grotesque head. The arms terminate in a scroll with rosettes, 
 acanthus leaves being placed where they flow from the back, much in the manner 
 of those of the High Renaissance. 
 
 CARVED AND GILDED CANDLESTICKS. LATE 
 FROM THF. ORSELLI COLLECTION, NEW YORK CITY 
 
 XVI CENTURY 
 
 352 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 Other folding chairs, of similar structure dating from this period, are 
 pictured in Figure 337. These were usually of simple character, and were 
 invariably covered with leather. Though often called barbers’ chairs, they 
 probably came from some ecclesiastical or public institution. 
 
 Frames of this period, though of a highly ornate nature, are superb 
 expressions of the wood-carver’s craft. Those of rectangular form pictured in 
 Figures 338 and 339 have carved decoration of most intricate and delicate 
 design applied, like the moulds that band it, to the plain surface of the frame. 
 Both coming from Venetia they manifest her preference for a more evenly 
 scaled arrangement of rhythmic motifs. In Figure 342 is another Venetian model 
 composed of carved and pierced decoration combined with more architectural 
 motifs, displaying in her most exaggerated baroque manner a less coarse and 
 vulgar type of grotesque. Of similar design and of contemporary date is the 
 small mirror frame preceding (Figure 341). 
 
 Two fine wall mirror frames of slightly earlier date are illustrated in Figures 
 345 and 346. They both incorporate the then-prevailing motifs in the highest 
 degree. The former of these is of Venetian origin and shows a preference for 
 the rectangular form over that of the earlier round ones, in these designs of more 
 architectural character. The moulds are richly carved, especially those of the 
 cornice supported on pilasters with grotesque figures and the whole is sur¬ 
 mounted by a shell forming a background for two figures of the finest modelling. 
 The accompanying one is of similar design. Partly fluted and tapering pilasters 
 support a triglyph frieze surmounted by a cresting composed of winged 
 grotesques. 
 
 Venetian baroque forms are beautifully displayed in the elaborately carved 
 and gilded wood hanging lantern illustrated in Figure 347. At the canted 
 corners are a sort of caryatid ending in a volute hung with garlands of flowers. 
 These appear to support a moulded and dentellated cornice breaking around 
 the canted corners. The lights are framed with Sansovino forms while the 
 dome-like top is rich with riotous ornament and putti. 
 
 Candlesticks survive in numbers from the late sixteenth century. They are 
 generally of ecclesiastical origin and show an elaborate treatment of prevailing 
 
 353 
 
ITALIAN FURNITURE 
 
 motifs of the period. Those shown in Figure 348 are among the most elab¬ 
 orate specimens of the period, being over six feet in height. The figures are 
 painted in naturalistic tones while the remaining parts are gilded. The tier upon 
 tier of grotesque figures combined with volutes, the curved forms outlining the 
 bases as well as the winged figures at its angles are all familiar motifs of this epoch. 
 
 Variety is shown in Figures 349, 350, and 351. Of these 349 is of earlier 
 design as its motifs are representative of those of the preceding period. The 
 base recalls the antique forms so profusely copied before the sway of the 
 baroque, while the forms that compose the shaft are of a higher order than are 
 those seen in the accompanying compositions. The background of the base is 
 painted dark green, its ornament and the shaft being gilded. Figure 350 is of 
 about the same date as those illustrated in Figure 348. The figures are 
 polychromed in the same manner and the other parts are gilded. Figure 351 is a 
 more uncommon design, yet the square bases, the form of the shaft, and the 
 ornamentation of the whole have a decided character of mid-sixteenth century 
 design. Simpler examples are seen in the smaller ones illustrated in Figure 
 352. Carved and gilded, they are of characteristic form with equally character¬ 
 istic ornamentation. 
 
 354