Early Italian furniture

During the early Renaissance period (up to around 1500) wealthy Italians paid little attention to how their homes were furnished. They were far more interested in the works of art and statuary that they had commissioned; after all, if you had paid a considerable sum of money to have a fresco painted across your living room wall you would not then order large pieces of furniture that obscured it!

Towards the end of the 15^th century we find the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was one of the prime movers of the Renaissance and patron of artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo and Michelangelo, cautioning his son against overdoing the decoration and furnishing of his home. It was considered poor taste to flaunt your wealth in this way.

To furnish your home you would rely on simple tables and chairs or benches, perhaps dining off oak boards laid across trestles that could easily be moved when the meal was over. In the bedroom, rugs and cushions dominated, the bed itself being on a raised dais. Wall decoration consisted of painted leather draperies or woven tapestries.

The chief item of furniture, throughout the house, was the “cassone” or large rectangular chest that served mainly as a storage facility but also for seating or a table surface. It was the custom for brides to be given a cassone at their wedding and for their possessions to be carried in the cassone through the streets to their new home, with the whole town cheering the happy couple. The cassone therefore became the focus for decoration in furniture, with other items largely neglected.

Taste in furniture throughout this period relied on correct proportions and lines that could be defined as architectural. The furniture had to suit its surroundings and, apart from some cassoni, not be the centre of attention in a room. However, as the 15^th century ended and the 16th century began, certain developments in furniture took place that started to challenge this general attitude.

An early type of chair was the “Savonarola” (also called a “Dante”) that was designed to be folded and moved when not in use. This was based on an X-shaped cross-section with a central pivot below the seat. Many such chairs were elegantly curved and modestly carved, and it is remarkable that such care was lavished on making chairs that were so utilitarian.

However, with the development of fixed dining tables, with solid carved legs, came the need for chairs that matched them, so the “sgabello” was designed for this purpose. This was basically a stool, but it could be richly carved and/or gilded. Some examples resemble Roman triumphal arches in their general shape, even down to an ornamental frieze near the top.

In the bedroom, the cassone ceased to be the sole means of storing clothes and linen when the “cadenza” or side-cupboard was developed. The typical style of bed would have a stout column at each corner standing about four feet high, ornately carved and sometimes gilded.

Another development from the cassone was the “armadio” or high enclosed cupboard, some examples of which show distinctly architectural influences with columns, friezes and pediments.

As the 16^th century advanced, furniture decoration became influenced by mannerism, with its preference for artificial as opposed to natural design elements. Some later pieces appear exaggerated and over-ornamented by comparison with the “purer” forms of the early Renaissance. For later artists and designers, this was when the rot set in, the turning-point being the era of Raphael (who died in 1520), hence the desire of the 19^th century “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” to emphasise the restrained taste and naturalism of the earlier period.

Examples of early Italian furniture can be seen in museums and galleries including the Louvre in Paris, the Victoria and Albert in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

© John Welford