.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A hallmark of Gothic Revival furniture is the colourful painted decoration, as seen in the present daybed which is an early example of the style. The blue-painted trefoils and multi-foils with gilt cusps encircled by interlacing roundels of the seat-frame recall the architectural device often associated wit the arch of Gothic stained-glass windows. This motif was similarly reiterated in the decoration of the room where the present lot was almost certainly placed-- the Camera gotica at the Villa Torlonia.
The room was one many restored by Prince Alessandro (1800-1886), the third-born of John Torlonia and heir to the family fortune, who both preserved and expanded the Villa under the guidance of architect Giovan Battista Caretti. The Camera gotica was a rather small yet spectacular space. Alessandro had the walls and ceilings painted trompe l'oeil fashion to re-create a Gothic interior with arches, columns, and multi-foil roundels, interspersed with stained-glass windows by Giovan Battista Bertini (who similarly supplied stained-glass windows for the Duomo di Milano). The original furniture for the camera, which was later exhibited at the Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century Rome in the Sala Torlonia, is reported to have mirrored the decoration. (A. Campitelli, Villa Torlonia: L'Ultima Impresa del Mecentasimo Romano, 1993, pp. 107-110).
Two further chairs very likely from the same suite, were also previously in the Roger Collection. One of the chairs reappeared for sale at Christie's New York March 2001.
The room was one many restored by Prince Alessandro (1800-1886), the third-born of John Torlonia and heir to the family fortune, who both preserved and expanded the Villa under the guidance of architect Giovan Battista Caretti. The Camera gotica was a rather small yet spectacular space. Alessandro had the walls and ceilings painted trompe l'oeil fashion to re-create a Gothic interior with arches, columns, and multi-foil roundels, interspersed with stained-glass windows by Giovan Battista Bertini (who similarly supplied stained-glass windows for the Duomo di Milano). The original furniture for the camera, which was later exhibited at the Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century Rome in the Sala Torlonia, is reported to have mirrored the decoration. (A. Campitelli, Villa Torlonia: L'Ultima Impresa del Mecentasimo Romano, 1993, pp. 107-110).
Two further chairs very likely from the same suite, were also previously in the Roger Collection. One of the chairs reappeared for sale at Christie's New York March 2001.