Useful, functional, and appealing open bookcase made of various woods.
The decorative elements that characterize it are inspired by mythology and classical antiquity: carved acanthus leaves, particularly in the upper frame of the furniture. The two feet represent a burlesque "grotesque" face.
The lower frame features a recessed carving in the shape of "empty shells".
Neo-Renaissance style: this is a style that re-proposes, looking at the grandeur of the past, decorative motifs and ornaments typical of the 16th century. Masks, frames, carved columns with herms (anthropomorphic busts) that make up architectural structures typical of Renaissance palaces, are the elements that characterize the neo-Renaissance style.
These elements will remain in the production of furniture until the first half of the 20th century.
Emilia-Romagna: 1930s - 1940s
Measurements: Length cm. 157 Height cm. 119.5 Depth cm. 43
Depth of the two upper shelves cm. 37.5
Depth of the lower shelf cm. 40
www.palazzodelbuonsignore.com
https://www.romagnavirtualtour.it/virtual-tour-palazzo-del-buon-signore/
NOTES:
The period defined as "Eclectic" was an aesthetic trend that occurred in Europe and the United States starting in 1830 and extended until the end of the century in question, manifesting a historical revival inspired by various styles of the past, from Neo-Gothic to Neo-Baroque, Neo-Classical, and Neo-Renaissance.
In Italy, this eclectic trend promoted a national style capable of overcoming regionalism and affirming a common taste for the monumental, recalling some aspects of ancient Rome or the Renaissance period, both typically Italian. A search, therefore, for national identity, which, starting from the spirit of the Risorgimento, also reached the homes and furnishings of the "Italians".
Eclecticism gave free rein to the impulse to furnish the rooms of the house in different ways from one another, resorting to different styles, rejecting the concept of "absolute beauty", without falling into the restrictions of rigid and codified rules, which would have ended up restricting the inspiration of artisans, artists, and skilled industrialists.
Starting from this revival, cabinetmakers, architects, ceramicists, and goldsmiths developed their inventiveness and imagination, generating new personalized interpretations of typical furniture belonging to the past. Virtuosity and elegance were the watchwords of this new current.
Despite the interesting production of this period, it is important to remember how industrialization pushed towards the mass production of many products, a process of imitation of artisanal work carried out with specific machinery, with low-cost and lower technical-aesthetic quality criteria; despite this, there was no shortage of pieces with beauty and prestige.
