Veneto, 18th Century, Pair Of Consoles

Veneto, 18th century

Pair of consoles

(2) Carved walnut wood, cm 114 x 61 x 81

Yellow marble top of Torre del Benaco

The pair of consoles in question, with top shaped in yellow Verona marble from Torre del Benaco, has characteristics typical of the Venetian language of the eighteenth century, such as the fascia, made of walnut wood, carved with a succession of curls and the cabriolet legs ending in curls. Always the legs are deliciously carved with rocaille taste decoration at the knee.

The 18th century is famously the century of reason, enlightenment and the individual. The new philosophical ideas and individual consciences lead to a changed attitude towards life and a new will to live daily. This is also reflected in the furnishings that become more graceful, sweeter and more sinuous. The consoles, therefore, assume a certain lightness, setting themselves on agile and curved legs and in general the structure, imaginatively worked, is perhaps more nervous and articulated than the previous baroque. Recurring become so-called rugeless motifs, which refer to shells, foliage and garlands. The fragmentation of Italy into many small states leads to the development of individual regional languages. The Venetian manufacture stands out in particular, adapted to the aristocratic palaces and homes of the merchant bourgeoisie, which was not bound by the dictates of fashion or a court taste and therefore knew how to develop a type of furniture practical but elegant that reinvented in a style own European influences. In addition to the carved wooden furniture of which the pair of consoles stands as a wonderful example, also became famous in Veneto lacquered furniture decorated with oriental motifs and cineserie.