Veneto, 18th century
Pair of consoles
(2) Carved walnut wood, cm 114 x 61 x 81
Top in yellow marble from Torre del Benaco
The pair of consoles in question, with a shaped top in yellow Verona marble from Torre del Benaco, presents features typical of the 18th-century Venetian style, such as the walnut wood band, carved with a succession of volutes, and the cabriole legs ending in scrolls. The legs are also exquisitely carved with rocaille-style decoration at the knee.
The 18th century is notoriously the century of reason, enlightenment, and the individual. The new philosophical ideas and individual consciences led to a changed attitude towards life and a new desire to experience everyday life. This is also reflected in the furnishings, which become more graceful, sweeter, and more sinuous. Consoles, therefore, take on a certain lightness, resting on agile and curved legs, and in general the structure, fancifully worked, is perhaps more nervous and articulated than the previous Baroque ones. Recurring are the so-called rocaille motifs, which refer to shells, foliage, and garlands. The fragmentation of Italy into many small states led to the development of individual regional languages. Venetian manufacture stands out in particular, adapting to aristocratic palaces and the homes of the mercantile bourgeoisie, which was not bound by the dictates of fashion or courtly taste and therefore was able to develop a type of practical but elegant furniture that reinvented European influences in its own style. In addition to the carved wooden furniture, of which the pair of consoles is a wonderful example, lacquered furniture decorated with oriental motifs and chinoiseries also became famous in Veneto.
